Jan. 4, 2010

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 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.

The Calera, Alabama native was named to the all-tournament team 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.

Dowdell is the third straight Louisiana Tech player to win the WAC Player of the Week award after teammate Adrienne Johnson claimed it last week.

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.