DENVER ? Nevada junior Dellena Criner has been named the Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 24-30.
Criner, from Oakland, Calif. (Fremont HS), helped Nevada go 2-0 last week, including an 84-63 win over in-state rival UNLV, marking the Pack’s first win over the Rebels since the 1999-2000 season. Nevada also beat San Francisco 66-44 on Sunday.
Criner averaged 33.5 minutes per contest and scored 40 points, averaging 20 points per game. She shot 50 percent (12-24) from the field, and went 6-8 (75 percent) from three-point range. Against UNLV, she scored a game-high 22 points and added four assists and three steals. Versus San Francisco, Criner again scored a game-high 18 points and added six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
The third-year guard has scored in double figures in 10 consecutive games. She also added seven assists, seven rebounds, and five steals in Nevada’s two wins to help the Pack push its unbeaten streak to a season-high four games. For the season, Criner leads the team in points per game with 17.0 and is second on the team in steals with 28.
Other nominees included: Boise State guard Tasha Harris was just four rebounds shy of a triple-double in a win over in-state rival Idaho State ... Fresno State guard Tierre Wilson helped the Bulldogs to two road wins last week, averaging 13.0 points per game ... Hawai?i’s Saundra Cariago had a career-high 16 points against Iona and had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds in a win over UC Irvine ... Louisiana Tech guard Tarkeisha Wysinger scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Lady Techsters to a win over Sam Houston State ... New Mexico State senior forward Sherell Neal led the Aggies to a road win over Colorado State, scoring 22 points with 11 rebounds for the 30th double-double of her career ... Utah State guard Jamelah Brown scored 11 points against Brigham Young.