DE Assistant Sports Editor

The 5-foot-5-inch junior guard from Gary, Ind., has proven to be a vital asset to the Saluki squad this season, emerging as the team’s leading scorer and most dominant leader.

SIUC women’s basketball coach Cindy Scott said McClendon has remained consistent throughout the season and has come through for the Salukis time and time again.

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Kasia has been solid and steady game in and game out all year long, Scott said. We really feel like Kasia has done more than a lions share of carrying this basketball team.

We give her a hard time. We ask her if we’ve been heavy because she has been the one.

McClendon leads the team in six statistical categories this season, averaging 15.7 points per game, three-point shots made (34), three-point shots attempted (104), average minutes per game (34.3) and assists (72).

For her efforts, McClendon has earned Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week twice this season. She garnered the awarded Jan. 8, and then again Feb. 5.

McClendon said since the Salukis got off to a rough start early in the season with the loss of key players, she simply stepped up her game a notch.

At the beginning of the season we didn’t have Heather Slater or Nikki Gilmore, she said. So I knew a few of us would have to step up and be scorers, and that’s what I did.

Last season McClendon was feared throughout the MVC for her defensive abilities, especially in terms of steals. McClendon said this season she hasn’t gotten as many steals because teams guard the ball more in her presence.

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Her take-away average may have slacked off somewhat but, McClendon only needs seven more steals to break SIU’s career mark at 203 a record that has stood for 13 years.

Scott said McClendon is a very confident player, and the type of player every coach dreams of having as their point guard.

She is very talented and playing with great confidence this year, Scott said. She’s leading us in scoring, assists and, she’s second in rebounding. She is really the complete package as far as anybody you could want on the basketball court.

I think she is definitely the leader on the floor, and that’s what you want from your point guard. She has become a very vocal leader and I think that it’s paying some dividends.

Thanks in part to McClendon’s leadership abilities the Salukis are 9-2 in the conference and in sole possession of second place.

Senior forward Heather Slater said McClendon’s day-in-day-out effort on the court is what makes her a team leader.

Kasia has been a big asset to our team, Slater said. She’s hit the big shots when we needed them. She plays the whole game and never slows up. She’s our workhorse and our leader.

Slater said this season’s Salukis are the type of team that feed off each other, and that excitement motivates other players to increase their level of play.

Kasia hits a shot when we need it, Slater said. Kasia gets excited and everybody else gets excited. We need that excitement to get going and that helps someone else to step up.

Senior guard Nikki Gilmore, who is no stranger to leadership and aggressive play, said playing with Kasia is nothing short of exciting.

Kasia is an outstanding player, Gilmore said. She is so emotional and really exciting to play with. When she is really upbeat I think it feeds off the team and into everybody else.