ST. LOUIS (USBWA) For the season's tenth U.S. Basketball
Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's National Player
of the Week and the organization's women's freshman player honor,
Stanford guard Brittany McPhee is national player
while Oklahoma guard Ana Llanusa has been tabbed
for the freshman citation after each were involved in helping their
teams go unbeaten in games ending the week of Sunday, Feb. 4.
The USBWA weekly honors for Division I women's players will be
handed out each Tuesday this season.
As the Pac-12 player and Big 12 freshman weekly winners, both
were nominated for the awards, which were chosen by Mel Greenberg,
the USBWA coordinator for women's basketball from a pair of lists
of Division I conference players and freshmen players of the week.
McPhee, a 6-0 senior guard from Normandy Park, Wash., averaged
25.5 points per game to help Stanford sweep then-No. 16 Oregon State
and then-No. 6 Oregon on the road the latter being the best road
win over a ranked team since topping No. 3 Rutgers in 2007. Against
Oregon State, she had 18 points and a career-high 12 rebounds before
scoring a career-high 33 points 31 in the second half against
the Ducks, outscoring them at the finish with the final 19 points
of the game.
Llanusa, a 6-0 guard from Choctaw, Okla., averaged 19.0 points
and six rebounds along with 2.5 assists in two wins, the latter
against then-No. 21 West Virginia in which she scored 27 points
and grabbed 12 rebounds while making six 3-pointers. Her 27 points
against the Mountaineers were the most by a freshman in a Big 12
Conference game this season.
Since the 1987-88 season, the USBWA has named a womens National
Player of the Year. For the 2012-13 season, 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 2018 Ann Meyers
Drysdale National Player of the Year will be announced and presented
at the USBWAs annual awards event in Columbus, Ohio, site of the
2018 NCAA Womens Final Four.
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.
2017-18 USBWA Women's National Players of the Week
Week ending Dec. 3: Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon (National); Satou Sabally, Oregon (Freshman)
Week ending Dec. 10: Jaime Nared, Tennessee (National); Braxtin Miller, Oklahoma State (Freshman)
Week ending Dec. 17: Kitija Laksa, South Florida (National); Raneem Elgedawy, Western Kentucky (Freshman)
Week ending Dec. 24: Victoria Vivians, Mississippi State (National); Kianni Smith, California (Freshman)
Week ending Dec. 31: Megan Gustafson, Iowa (National); Eleah Parker, Penn (Freshman)
Week ending Jan. 7: Lashann Higgs, Texas (National); Bre Cavanaugh, Fordham (Freshman)
Week ending Jan. 14: Asia Durr, Lousiville (National); Hailey Brown, Michigan (Freshman)
Week ending Jan. 21: Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame (National); Eleah Parker, Penn (Freshman)
Week ending Jan. 28: Kaila Charles, Maryland (National); Anna Jones, Middle Tennessee (Freshman)
Week ending Feb. 4: Brittany McPhee, Stanford (National); Ana Llanusa, Oklahoma (Freshman)
Week ending Feb. 11: Kitija Laksa, South Florida (National); Destiny Pitts, Minnesota (Freshman)
Week ending Feb. 18: Katie Lou Samuelson, UConn (National); Nicole Carda๑o-Hillary, Georgia Mason (Freshman)
Week ending Feb. 25: Aubree Brown, Drexel (National); Chennedy Carter, Texas A&M (Freshman)
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