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Jan. 7, 2020
For Immediate Release
Contact: Malcolm Moran
814-574-1485

Weekly women's honors continue each Tuesday this season

MACK, JONES ARE USBWA WOMEN'S
NATIONAL, FRESHMAN PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – For the season's eighth U.S. Basketball Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's National Player of the Week and the organization's Tamika Catchings women's freshman player honor, Oklahoma State forward Natasha Mack is national player while Oregon State forward Taylor Jones has been chosen for the freshman citation after each helped their teams go unbeaten ending the week of Sunday, Jan. 5.

As the Big 12 player and Pac-12 freshman weekly winners, both were nominated for the awards, which were chosen by Mel Greenberg, the USBWA coordinator for women's basketball, primarily from a pair of lists of Division I conference players and freshmen players of the week.

Mack, a 6-4 junior forward from Lukfin, Texas, averaged 23.0 points and 15.0 rebounds per game in two appearances in which she reached her 10th and 11th career double-doubles. In the conference opener at home against Kansas in Stillwater, she just missed the second triple-double in the program’s history with 25 points, 20 rebounds, and nine blocked shots. She is just the second player nationally since 1999-00 to record 25-plus points, 20-plus rebounds, and nine blocked shots in a game. The other was Brooke Salas of New Mexico State against Alcorn State on Dec. 21, 2018.

Jones, a 6-4 freshman forward from Forney, Texas, who now has three Pac-12 weekly honors, averaged 15.5 points and 7 rebounds in two games making her debut in conference competition. In the win over Colorado she had a career-high six blocks and played her most minutes at 28 while in both wins she shot 63.2 percent from the field.

Since the 1987-88 season, the USBWA has named a women’s National Player of the Year. For the 2012-13 season, the national and weekly player award became named for Hall of Famer and former UCLA All-American Ann Meyers Drysdale while this is the first season the national and weekly freshman award is being given in the name of former Tennessee all-American Tamika Catchings.

At the conclusion of the regular season, the USBWA will name finalists for both awards, which is voted on by the entire membership of the USBWA.

The winners of the 2020 Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Year and Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year will be announced and presented at the USBWA’s annual awards event in New Orleans, site of the 2020 NCAA Women's Final Four. Both winners will be honored at the USBWA Awards Luncheon hosted by the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis on April 13, 2020.

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 Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.

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