ST. LOUIS (USBWA) – The U.S. Basketball Writers
Association has selected Oregon forward Jillian Alleyne as
its Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's National Player of the Week
for games ending the week of Sunday, Feb. 1. The USBWA's weekly
honor will be handed out each Tuesday through Feb. 17 this season.
As the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week,
Alleyne was
nominated for the weekly award, which was chosen by Mel Greenberg,
the USBWA coordinator for women's basketball, from a list of Division
I conference players of the week.
Alleyne, a 6-3 junior forward from Fontana, Calif., who was
also a USBWA weekly recipient last season, scored 30 points and
grabbed 25 rebounds – two off her school record – in a 67-65 win
over UCLA. In the Ducks' lone game of the week, she scored the
deciding points with 1.8 seconds left in regulation to cap a
14-point comeback. Her 15.3 rebounding average is tied for the
national lead.
Since the 1987-88 season, the USBWA has named a National Player
of the Year. At the Women's NCAA Final Four in Denver, 2012, the
organization announced going forward that the national and weekly
player award has been named for Hall of Famer and former UCLA All-American
Ann Meyers Drysdale. At the conclusion of the regular season, the
USBWA will name finalists for the award, which is voted on by the
entire membership of the USBWA. The winner of the 2015 Ann Meyers
Drysdale National Player of the Year will be announced and presented
at the USBWA's annual awards event in Tampa, site of the 2015 NCAA
Women's Final Four.
Several
other women's awards are also to be announced later this season
associated with more famous names in women's basketball history.
Also in 2012 in Denver, it was also announced that former Tennessee
coach Pat Summitt, who was the female recipient of the Most Courageous
Award for her battle against early onset dementia, Alzheimer type,
would have that award named in her honor.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in
1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers.
With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential
organizations in college basketball. It has selected a women's All-America
team since the 1996-97 season. For more information on the USBWA
and its award programs, contact executive director Joe Mitch at
314-795-6821.
2014-15 Ann Meyers Drysdale National Players of the Week
• Week ending Dec. 7: Morgan Tuck, Connecticut (American Athletic Conference)
• Week ending Dec. 14: Tabitha Richardson-Smith, Seton Hall (Big East Conference)
• Week ending Dec. 21: Alie Decker, Wichita State (Missouri Valley Conference)
• Week ending Dec. 28: Kim Pierre-Louis, UMass (Atlantic 10 Conference)
• Week ending Jan. 4: Blake Dietrick, Princeton (Ivy League)
• Week ending Jan. 11: Betnijah Laney, Rutgers (Big Ten Conference)
• Week ending Jan. 18: Danielle Ballard, LSU (Southeastern Conference)
• Week ending Jan. 25: Cheyenne Parker, Middle Tennessee (Conference USA)
• Week ending Feb. 1: Jillian Alleyne, Oregon (Pac-12 Conference)
• Week ending Feb. 8: Jonquel Jones, George Washington (Atlantic 10 Conference)
• Week ending Feb. 15: Moriah Jefferson, Connecticut (American Athletic Conference)
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