Sky's Prince and Sparks' Ogwumike Named Players of the Week
June 11, 2012 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) News Release
NEW YORK, June 11, 2012 - Epiphanny Prince of the Chicago Sky and Nneka Ogwumike of the Los Angeles Spark were named the WNBA's Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week presented by Boost Mobile, respectively, for games played June 4 - June 10.
This marks the first season that Boost Mobile - the leaguewide marquee partner of the WNBA - has presented the WNBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week awards.
For Prince, now in her third WNBA season, the Player of the Week award presented by Boost Mobile is the second such honor of her career and the second in as many weeks. The product of Rutgers led Chicago to a 2-0 record on the week that raised the Sky's overall mark to a franchise-best 6-1 start. In the process, Prince, whose league-leading 25.3 points per game thus far in 2012 is equivalent to the WNBA's all-time single-season points per game mark, tied a WNBA record for consecutive games with 30-or-more points and hit yet another game-tying, three-point shot as time expired in regulation play. The 25.3 ppg also is nearly double that of her previous best (13.6, set last season).
Prince, opened the week by tallying 32 points, including a running three-pointer with 0.1 second on the clock to force overtime vs. the Tulsa Shock in a game Chicago went on to win, 98-91. In addition to scoring a combined 19 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, Prince finished the game with five assists and three steals. But it was her third straight effort of 30-or-more points that equaled a league record set by Cynthia Cooper, then of the Houston Comets, in 1997. Two days later, Prince's 26 points paved the way for a 73-64 road win over New York, thereby snapping the Liberty's three-game winning streak.
The first overall pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft presented by Boost Mobile, Ogwumike has made a strong professional debut, earning the league's Rookie of the Month honor in May and now her first Western Conference Player of the Week presented by Boost Mobile award.
The Stanford product has helped the 6-1 Sparks to the second-best record in the West, with their only loss coming at the hands of the undefeated, defending WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx.
In the Sparks' 90-74 win over the visiting Phoenix Mercury, Ogwumike recorded her first double-double as a professional, set personal career-highs in points (25) and rebounds (12), and also contributed three steals. In the process, she ranked second in the Western Conference in terms of field goal percentage (.786 on 11-of-14 shooting).
Other candidates for WNBA Players of the Week presented by Boost Mobile were Atlanta's Angel McCoughtry, Connecticut's Kara Lawson, Indiana's Tamika Catchings, New York's Cappie Pondexter, and Washington's Crystal Langhorne in the East, as well as Minnesota's Maya Moore, Phoenix's DeWanna Bonner, and Tulsa's Temeka Johnson in the West.
The WNBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week presented by Boost Mobile are part of a series of on-court performance awards called the WNBA Performance Awards presented by Boost Mobile. The series, currently in its first season, also includes the WNBA Players of the Month presented by Boost Mobile and four of the WNBA's most prestigious year-end honors: WNBA Most Valuable Player presented by Boost Mobile, WNBA Defensive Player of the Year presented by Boost Mobile, WNBA Sixth Woman presented by Boost Mobile, and WNBA Most Improved Player presented by Boost Mobile.
For more information on this week's Players of the Week presented by Boost Mobile winners, visit www.wnba.com/awards.
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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from June 11, 2012
- Sparks Forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike Named Player of the Week - Los Angeles Sparks
- Prince Named WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week Again - Chicago Sky
- Mystics Update - Washington Mystics
- Sky's Prince and Sparks' Ogwumike Named Players of the Week - WNBA
- Lynx to Host Free Basketball Clinics Throughout June - Minnesota Lynx
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