DENVER – Louisiana Tech senior forward Shanavia Dowdell has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 28-Jan. 3. This is the second WAC Player of the Week honor of the season for Dowdell and the sixth of her career.
Dowdell, a Calera, Ala. native, averaged 23.3 points on 62 percent shooting, 14.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 2.0 blocks as the Lady Techsters went 3-0 in a trio of road games on the week, including claiming the championship of the UTSA New Year’s Classic. Dowdell was named to the all-tournament after scoring 14 points and grabbing 16 rebounds in a win over Stephen F. Austin, then following it up with a career-high-tying 30 points to go with a career-high 18 rebounds in a win over UTSA. In Sunday’s win over Southern Miss, she scored 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Other nominees included: Tasha Harris of Boise State just missed a triple-double and posted her first double-double of the season with 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in the Broncos’ victory over Wyoming … Fresno State’s Jaleesa Ross averaged 12.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals as the Bulldogs went 1-1 on the week … Leilani Galdones of Hawai’i averaged 14.5 points in a pair of wins over Kent State … Idaho’s Bianca Cheever tallied 11 points, five rebounds and two steals in a win over UC Santa Barbara … Crystal Boyd of New Mexico State averaged 19.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks as the Aggies went 3-0 on the week, including an upset of No. 21 Kansas, the program’s third-ever win over a ranked team … Utah State’s LaCale Pringle-Buchanan averaged 16.0 points and 2.5 steals as the Aggies extended their winning streak to four games.