The Molten WBBL Player of the Month for December has been awarded to dynamic American guard Jess Wayne of the Durham Palatinates, after her continued run of big performances included one of the best displays of any player all season as Palatinates secured their first win of the campaign.

The Kansas City native averaged 24 points, 13 rebounds, five steals and three assists over two games in December, while shooting 36% from the three-point line, and only sitting for just over one minute in the two contests – she is currently sixth in the WBBL for minutes per game as a key factor in her team’s Play-off chase.

In her second campaign in Durham, overall Wayne is sixth in the league in scoring having significantly upped her scoring load from 12 points per game last season to 18 points per game now; as well as being seventh in offensive rebounding – with a massive 12 offensive boards in the two games in December – and fifth in the WBBL for steals, the latter being a category where she was also top ten last term.

The last month saw Palatinates get a first league win of the season, crucially beating Nottingham Wildcats who are just two places above them in the chase for the WBBL Play-off places. Wayne was instrumental in that victory, finishing with 33 points, 13 rebounds, six steals and three assists in one of the performances of the season. That included seven points in the last two minutes of the first quarter as Palatinates established a lead that they held throughout, and six offensive boards that led directly to 10 second chance points in the 84-74 win.

That points haul was a professional career high for the graduate of Emporia State University, who has become more of an offensive focal point for the team after being voted Durham’s Defensive Player of the Season last year, adding that accolade to her Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) Defensive Player of the Year award while at Emporia State in 2019.

Wayne and her teammates now continue an important run of home fixtures as they host Cardiff Met Archers and Oaklands Wolves in January, two of the teams in the four positions above them with the seventh-placed Archers currently occupying a Play-off spot.