Western Kentucky Lady Toppers guard Meral Abdelgawad (30) shoots during WKU's 75-60 win over Old Dominion on Saturday, January 5, 2019, at E. A. Diddle Arena. (Austin Anthony/photo@bgdailynews.com)

Western Kentucky freshman Meral Abdelgawad on Monday was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week for the second straight week, becoming WKU’s first player in program history to earn back-to-back freshman weekly awards.

The Cairo, Egypt, native helped to lead WKU to a pair of victories to open C-USA play last week, knocking off Charlotte 76-58 on Thursday before downing Old Dominion on Saturday 75-60. With the two wins, WKU has now started 2-0 in conference play each of its five seasons as a member of C-USA.

Abdelgawad is the first C-USA player to earn outright back-to-back Freshman of the Week awards since Marshall’s Ashley Saintigene accomplished the feat Dec. 23, 2016, and Jan. 2, 2017. She also joins Tashia Brown (three times in 2014-15) and Raneem Elgedawy (four times in 2017-18) as the only Lady Toppers to earn Freshman of the Week honors more than once.

On Thursday against Charlotte, Abdelgawad tallied seven points and three steals as WKU led nearly wire to wire over the 49ers.

The freshman shined Saturday, pouring in 22 points and also collecting five rebounds, two assists and two steals to help knock off the Monarchs. Of Abdelgawad’s 22 points, 11 came during the third quarter as she caught fire from the 3-point line, knocking down three triples in a 2 1/2-minute span to turn a seven-point WKU advantage into a 14-point lead.

Over her last three games dating back to Dec. 29 against Union (Tenn.), Abdelgawad is averaging 18.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game while shooting 65.5 percent (19-of-29) from the field. With her 22-point game Saturday, she also became the first WKU true freshman to have multiple 20-point games since Alexis Govan during the 2011-12 campaign.

Abdelgawad and the Lady Toppers will remain off until Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. when Marshall visits E.A. Diddle Arena.{&end}