Warfel and Blount Recognized as NAIA Players of the Week

NAIA Release (Offensive) | NAIA Release (Defensive) | TU Honors Page

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Taylor University's Kaycie Warfel and Celina Blount made history Tuesday when both were named NAIA Women's Basketball Player of the Week after dominant performances. The Trojan duo became the first set of teammates to earn NAIA Women's Basketball Player of the Week honors simultaneously since the organization began awarding separate Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week awards before the 2024-25 season.

Warfel, a freshman from Pendleton, Indiana, earned NAIA Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 37.5 points and shooting nearly 60 percent from the field. The 5-foot-9 guard is off to an incredible start to her college career and leads the NAIA in scoring at 34.3 points per game. She led TU to a pair of victories last week with a 38-point outing in the Trojans' impressive 111-90 home win on Wednesday over RV Olivet Nazarene and followed that up with 37 points during Saturday's 87-62 victory at IU Columbus which featured 18 points during a big third-quarter run. For the week, Warfel shot a combined 70 percent from three-point range (7 of 10), while going 20 for 23 (87%) at the free-throw line. Warfel is the first player in school history with 37 or more points in three consecutive games.

Blount, a sophomore from Liberty Township, Ohio, delivered 11 blocks and produced back-to-back double-doubles to earn the NAIA Defensive Player of the Week honor. For the second time in four games, Blount tied the TU single-game record for blocks with eight against RV Olivet Nazarene, which nearly gave her a triple-double after posting 14 points with a career-high 16 rebounds. The 6-foot-2 forward continued her paint dominance with a career-best 15 points, 12 boards and three blocks in the road victory over IU Columbus. Blount has registered three double-doubles in four outings and leads the NAIA in blocks per game at 4.8 (among leaders that have played more than one game). Overall, through four contests, she's averaging a double-double with 13.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per night.

Blount and Warfel are the first Trojans to earn NAIA Player-of-the-Week recognition since All-American Kendall Bradbury did so in January 2019. Across all sports, the Trojans have now claimed six NAIA National Athlete-of-the-Week honors during the 2025-26 school year.

TU (4-0) will return to action on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Trinity Christian (0-3) for a 2 p.m. ET tipoff inside DeVos Gymnasium.