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Pac-12 announces women's basketball players of the week

Dec 15, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO - WASHINGTON STATE’s Tia Presley was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week, while Stanford’s Kaylee Johnson was tabbed the Freshman of the Week, as announced by the Conference on Monday.

Senior guard Tia Presley (Spokane, Wash.) had a big game as she returned to her hometown of Spokane for the Cougars’ matchup with Gonzaga. Presley scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the Cougars to a 59-58 win over Gonzaga, snapping the Bulldogs’ 27-game home winning streak. Presley scored 18 of her points in the second half to help the Cougars overcome a 10-point halftime deficit for WSU’s second-straight win at Gonzaga. WSU is now 4-0 this season when Presley scores 20-plus points. Presley currently ranks third in the Pac-12 in scoring, averaging 19.6 ppg.

Cardinal forward Kaylee Johnson (Benicia, Calif.) earns Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season after scoring nine points and grabbing 22 rebounds to help Stanford to a 82-43 victory over Santa Clara. It was Johnson’s second 20-plus rebound game of the season, as she recorded 22 boards at New Mexico on Nov. 24. The freshman is the only player in the nation with a pair of 20-plus rebound games this season. Chiney Ogwumike is the only other Cardinal player to have multiple 20-plus rebound games in a career (4). Johnson is averaging 12.4 rebounds per game this year, which ranks first in the nation among freshmen and tenth overall.

A player of the week has been selected every week since 1986-87, the first year the Conference sponsored women’s sports. A freshman of the week was first selected in 2012-13.

Washington State plays at home on Saturday, Dec. 20 against Montana State at 1 p.m. PT. Stanford heads east for road matchups with Chattanooga on Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 6 p.m. ET., and No. 11 Tennessee on Sunday, Dec. 20 at 1 p.m. PT.

Also Nominated:

PLAYER: Sophie Brunner, ASU; Jillian Alleyne, ORE; Kaylee Johnson, STAN; Nirra Fields, UCLA; Kaneisha Horn, USC; Taryn Wicijowski, UTAH; Kelsey Plum, WASH

FRESHMAN: Lexi Brando, ORE; Recee’ Caldwell, UCLA; Kristen Simon, F, USC, Joseta Fatuesi, UTAH, Brianna Ruiz, G, WASH

2014 Player of the Week History

Week Player Freshman
Nov. 17 Kelsey Plum, WASH Joeseta Fatuesi, UTAH  
Nov. 24 Lili Thompson, STAN Mikayla Cowling, CAL  
Dec. 1 Jasmine Davis, WASH Kaylee Johnson, STAN  
Dec. 8 Brittany Boyd, CAL Brianna Ruiz, WASH