HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Following her first two games at the collegiate level, the Lady Eagles’ Melyia Grayson has been awarded Freshman of the Week honors by Conference USA for her performances against Nicholls and William Carey.

After failing to score in the first half of her debut, Grayson found her footing, dropping 10 points in the second half against the Colonels. In just her second game in the Black & Gold, Grayson scored 21 points to lead Southern Miss to a 57-50 victory over the Crusaders on Saturday night. Her 21 points matched the most from a freshman since teammate Kelsey Jones also had 21 against Blue Mountain College back in 2018.

The Hattiesburg native averaged 15.5 points to go along with 11 rebounds, two blocks and two steals over the course of the opening weekend. She was the only player to be in double figures in both games and is the first Lady Eagle to earn a weekly award since 2018.

Grayson and the rest of the Southern Miss women’s basketball team return to action on Jan. 1 as they open C-USA play on the road at UTEP.