BOSTON, Mass. -- The efforts of Shawnee State women's basketball head coach DeWayne Burroughs, his staff, and his team over the past weekend has officially allowed Burroughs to claim his second career NAIA Women's HoopDirt.com National Coach of the Week honors -- according to officials associated with the outlet Tuesday evening.

Burroughs, who also earned NAIA Women's HoopDirt.com National Coach of the Week honors on Feb. 25, 2025 following the conclusion of the 2024-25 regular season where Shawnee State won the River States Conference Regular Season Championship outright en route to clinching its first NAIA National Tournament berth since the 2020-21 campaign, repeats the honor after a fantastic weekend that saw the Bears go 2-0 in its Thanksgiving road weekend trip to Florida.

Down four key contributors due to injury, Shawnee State -- who is receiving 16 votes in the latest NAIA Women's Basketball National Top 25 Poll -- pulled out two gritty wins Saturday and Sunday afternoon, defeating Warner (62-50) and No. 23 Southeastern (66-64) to help Shawnee State improve to 7-2. The Bears have won three straight games and eight out of their last nine -- their only loss a one-point defeat to No. 7 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), 71-70 -- since its season-opening setback.

Defensively, Burroughs' groups have excelled -- as Shawnee State held Warner to 32.8 percent shooting and No. 23 Southeastern to 33.8 percent shooting. The Bears also forced 21 turnovers in its 12-point victory over the Royals, while the Fire were held under 40 percent shooting, as a team, for the first time in the 2025-26 campaign.

As a group, Shawnee State has put together another fantastic group that now ranks among the national top-25 units defensively. The Bears are 22nd nationally in defensive field goal percentage (34 percent) and are 24th in the NAIA in defensive points per game allowed (57.2), all despite playing two nationally-ranked teams and a third unit receiving votes in its first nine contests of the year.

Shawnee State (7-2) has another big test ahead of it when the Bears play host to No. 18 Cumberlands, Ky. (10-1) Thursday evening. The nonconference matchup between the two highly-regarded units tips off in Waller Gymnasium at 6 p.m.

For more on the Shawnee State women's basketball program, visit the Bears on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/shawneestatebears_wbb/ or on X at https://x.com/SSUWBB.