Redshirt senior forward Dee Givens added to the Conference USA Player of the Week honor she received on Monday by also being selected to the NCAA Weekly Starting Five, the program announced on Thursday.

The Starting Five is an award given to the five NCAA Division I players who were considered to have the best week among all players. 

Givens is the fifth WKU player to earn this prestigious award.

Prior to Givens, the most recent honoree was Alexandria, Egypt, native Raneem Elgedawy. She earned a spot in the Starting Five as a sophomore after posting back-to-back 25 point games. 

Chastity Gooch was the first Lady Topper to receive this recognition of achievement in 2014-15. She was followed by fellow WKU student-athletes Kendall Noble in 2015-16 and Tashia Brown in 2016-17. 

Givens joins an exceptional group of women on this week’s Starting Five list, including Kiah Gillespie (Florida State), Rhyne Howard (Kentucky), Kamaria McDaniel (Penn State) and Megan Walker (Connecticut).

The Lexington native earned C-USA Player of the Week honors on Monday after scoring a gaudy 41 points on the road against Ball State on Dec. 7.

This scoring outburst broke a 25-year-old Worthen Arena record and tied the second most points ever scored by a Lady Topper. It was also tied for the third most points scored by an NCAA Division I player this season.

Givens helped WKU to a 74-63 win over Oklahoma on Dec. 4 by dropping in 18 points. This was the first Lady Topper victory against a Big 12 team since 1990.

She shot 42.2% from the field on the week and drained half of her attempts against Ball State en route to her record breaking night.

She knocked down nine 3-pointers on the week and shot 100% from the line against the Cardinals. She also snatched down seven rebounds in both games.

Givens is now ranked 23 on WKU’s all-time scoring list with 1,294 career points. She ranks sixth in made 3-pointers with 189 on her career, and her 85.1 free throw percentage is best in Lady Topper history.

In addition to her on-court success, Givens will graduate with a master’s degree with a 4.00 GPA this weekend.

Reporter Jesse Spencer can be reached at [email protected]. Follow Jesse on Twitter at @jesse_spencer_5.