Valerie Nainima Earns Third Choice Hotels NEC Rookie of the Week Award

12/11/06 -- Long Island University freshman Valerie Nainima (Suva, Fiji) continues to turn heads around the Northeast Conference, garnering her third Choice Hotels NEC Rookie of the Week award. The 5-foot-5 guard averaged 17 points per game last week as the Blackbirds split their first two NEC contests of the season.

In Long Island’s 59-54 win over St. Francis (N.Y.) on Dec. 7, Nainima scored a game-high 22 points en route to being named the most valuable player of the Battle of Brooklyn. She shot 8-for-16 from the floor, including a pair of trifectas, and added three assists and a pair of rebounds. Nainima netted 12 points in the Blackbirds 57-56 loss at Central Connecticut State on Dec. 9. She shot 6-for-9 from the field, pilfered three steals, snared two rebounds and dished out an assist as Long Island fell to 1-1 in conference action.

The rookie has led her team in scoring in six of 10 games this season and ranks third in the NEC in scoring (16.2 ppg). Nainima also ranks fifth in the conference in three-point percentage (39.5 percent) and seventh in free-throw accuracy (83.8 percent).

The Blackbirds (6-4) will return to the court on Saturday, Dec. 16 when they travel to Boston to take on Northeastern. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m.