At 5’7” senior point guard Madison Weekly is the smallest player on the Panther roster. She is also a team leader as well as a conference leader in many different offensive categories.

As of Jan. 23, Weekly is ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) for threes made (32), fifth in minutes per game (32) and free throw shooting (78.8 percent) and third in assists per game (4.2) and points per game (15.8).

Perhaps her most impressive stat is her assists to turnover ratio -— 75-29 or 2.6 assists for every turnover. It’s the best in the MVC.

When asked about her substantial minutes per game, her response was simple and honest.

“I like that just because I’m able to help lead his team,” Weekly said.

She does more than dominate the statistic books -— she leads her team by example. Weekly came into her senior season as the only consistent starter from the 2015-2016 campaign. With all eyes on her to start the season, Weekly said she felt very little pressure.

“The coaches did really good keeping the pressure off of me,” Weekly said. “They never said ‘you’re the only one coming back so we need you to do this.’”

However, she did come into the season knowing things would be different.

“At the end of last year[…] they [coaches] mentioned I would have to step up as a leader,” Weekly said aboutthe plans for this season.

The team is currently in the middle of a 10-game winning streak putting them tied for first with Drake in the MVC. Weekly said the team doesn’t focus on the streak as a whole.

“We tune it out[…] Every game day is ‘win today. At the end of the day we want to be 1-0.’ That’s our motto,” Weekly said.

The streak sprang from the ashes of an 88-39 loss to Iowa.

“It wasn’t that we lost the game, it was the margin we were disappointed in[…] We had to learn from it […] we’ve moved and have used those lessons to get the wins,” Weekly said.

This team has many weapons and can shift identities, but there is one consistent feature noteworthy throughout: Defense.

“We rely on our defense,” Weekly said. “We can always defend.”

She also remarked on the youth of this team and with only three seniors. Weekly also explained how close they are.

“We’re really good friends on and off [the] court, and I think that helps us.” Weekly said.

When asked how this year would affect the Panthers, Weekly said:

“We are a very hard working group this year [….] Defense. That’s what you can [count on from] this team.”