DENVER Nevada point guard Dellena Criner has been named Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for Nov. 24-30. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor of the season for Criner and the fourth of her career.
The senior from Oakland, Calif., was named Nugget Classic MVP after leading the Wolf Pack to its second-consecutive tournament title with wins over Northern Iowa (71-63) and nationally-ranked Louisville (85-82). She started the week with team highs of 19 points, six assists and five steals against Northern Iowa. Criner followed it up with a team-high 25 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor and 10-of-10 from the free throw line vs. No. 7 Louisville for the team’s first-ever win over a Top 25 opponent. She also added seven assists and six rebounds in the victory. For the week, Criner averaged 22.0 points, 6.5 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game.
Other nominees included: Brittany Moore of Boise State averaged 12.0 points and 2.5 rebounds on the week ... Fresno State’s Marnique Arnold averaged a double-double 12.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in a pair of games ... Yinka Olorunnife of Idaho averaged 18.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.3 blocks as the Vandals went 2-1 ... Louisiana Tech’s Shanavia Dowdell averaged 23.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks as Tech went 1-1 on the week ... Madison Spence of New Mexico State averaged 17.5 points and 4.0 assists in a pair of wins ... San Jose State’s Natalie White led the Spartans with 15 points and hit the game-winning shot as time expired in the team’s first win of the season ... Danyelle Snelgro of Utah State led the Aggies to a 2-1 record, averaging 13.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
