NEW ORLEANS - Two big performances and a 2-0 finish last week over Georgia Southern and Georgia State propelled Appalachian State University women's basketball guard Joi Jones to being named the Sun Belt Conference's Student-Athlete of the Week, the league announced on Monday.

In the thick of the race for a tournament spot in the 2016 Sun Belt Championships, Jones averaged 21.5 points, four assists and 3.5 rebounds per game while shooting 68 percent (17-for-25) from the floor and 72.7 percent from the free throw line. For Jones, it's the first conference player of the week award of her career and the second player of the week accolade for a Mountaineer this season (Madi Story - Feb. 8th, 2016).

In the 68-62 victory over archrival Georgia Southern, Jones had a hand in 16 of the final 18 points (eight points, three assists), including six-straight points when the game was tied, 60-60, with 2:56 left in regulation that sealed the win for the Black and Gold.  Jones scored eight of her 15 points in the fourth quarter, which all came in the final five minutes where she went 2-for-2 from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. It was also the third game this season where Jones notched at least 10 points, five assists and one turnover.

Against Georgia State, Jones went off for a career-high 28 points on 12-for-17 shooting (62.5 percent) from the floor and pulled down six boards in 38 minutes of action. Jones tallied 17 of her points in the second half and shot 7-for-10, while 11 of those points came in the fourth quarter and seven in the final five minutes of the contest.

The 28 points for Jones is the highest scoring output on the road this season for a Mountaineer and the highest on the road since Maryah Sydnor scored 31 at Troy on Jan. 19, 2015.

Jones was clutch in the second half, most notably in the fourth quarter and final five minutes of both games where she averaged 7.5 points per game and shot 4-of-6 from the field and 7-for-9 from the free throw line. Jones scored 27 of her 43 points in the second half and shot 10-for-16 from the floor.

The floor general for App State has certainly upped her playing down the stretch where she has scored in double figures in six-straight games, which is a career long. Jones is averaging 18.3 points on 52.9 percent shooting, six rebounds and 3.5 assists during the stretch while scoring 20 points in two of out of the past three games.

Her exceptional play as of late has vaulted her into the top 10 in the Sun Belt in scoring, assists, assist to turnover ratio and in the top 20 in rebounding.

Jones and the Mountaineers will have their hands full this weekend when they host the top two teams in the conference, starting with Little Rock on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Holmes Center. The Black and Gold will conclude the regular season against undefeated and the regular season champions in Arkansas State on Saturday at 1 p.m.