Women's Basketball | 2/27/2017 11:26:00 AM

SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Senior guard Rachel Howard is seeing the fruits of her labor over the home stretch of the regular season as she took home West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors for the second week in a row.
 
Howard helped the Dons finish the regular season on a season-best four-game winning streak by scoring 29 points in a win over Loyola Marymount on Thursday and following that up with a career-high 37 points in a Senior Day victory over Pepperdine on Saturday. 
 
Howard set a program record by going a perfect 14-of-14 from the free throw line against the Lions, while handing out a team-high five assists and grabbing seven rebounds. 
 
In her final home game, Howard erupted for her second 30-point scoring effort of the season, tallying 14 of her 37 points in the first quarter alone where she went 4-for-4 from the perimeter en route to a season-high six 3-pointers on the day. Her scoring total was the third-highest total in USF history. 
 
Overall in the two wins, Howard averaged 33 points, six rebounds and four assists, while shooting 47 percent from deep and 96 percent from the free throw line. Howard has been on fire of late, averaging 27 points per game over the team's final four home contests.  
 
The back-to-back conference honors are the first two player of the week awards for Howard. She joins LMU's Jackie Johnson as the only other consecutive player of the week honoree this season.  
 
Howard and the Dons (17-12, 11-7 WCC) head to Las Vegas for the WCC Championships this week where they will matchup with Loyola Marymount at 8 p.m. on Thursday from the Orleans Arena in their opening game.