Cal sweeps first Pac-12 weekly honors of 2015-16

• Hoopfeed’s ballot: Player of the Week: Courtney Range || Freshman of the Week: Kristine Anigwe
  Cheryl Coward, founding editor of Hoopfeed, participates in the weekly Pac-12 voting.
  

After a stellar opening weekend with two victories on the road, including a defeat of No. 8 Louisville, California swept the season’s first weekly honors. Courtney Range was voted Player of the Week and teammate Kristine Anigwe was selected Freshman of the Week. The duo led the Golden Bears to a pair of wins, including a victory over a top-10 team.

Cal’s performance also helped launch them into the Associated Press Top 25 this week at No. 21. The Bears were not ranked in the AP preseason poll but received 14 votes.

Junior forward Range (Manteca, Calif.) nearly averaged a double-double in two games of the opening weekend, leading the Bears with 21.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. She had 19 points in the upset at Louisville, scoring the go-ahead basket with just 34 seconds remaining in the eventual 75-71 win, and grabbed 13 boards, including a team-high five on the offensive glass. She also shot 8-for-15 from the floor, including a three pointer. In the season-opener at Austin Peay, Range was 10-for-17 from the floor, 2-for-4 from three-point range, netting 23 points in the 67-58 win, and added five boards and four steals.

Freshman Anigwe (Phoenix, Ariz.) averaged 15.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in her first two career-collegiate contests, the second-best scoring and rebounding average on the team this weekend. She caused plenty of problems for the then-No. 8 Louisville defense, knocking down 8-of-10 shots, while grabbing eight boards, six on the offensive side. She was also a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line to finish the game with 19 points. Her stellar performance against the Cardinals came after struggling offensively in her collegiate debut at Austin Peay where she was 4-for-15 from the floor and 3-for-8 from the charity stripe, but was strong on the boards with eight rebounds.

It is Range’s first-career weekly honor and Cal’s 42nd all-time weekly nod. It is the fourth freshman weekly honor for the Golden Bears all-time, with Anigwe being just the third to be recognized.

A player of the week has been selected every week since 1986-87, the first year the Conference sponsored women’s sports. A freshman of the week was first selected in 2012-13. The Pac-12 Player and Freshman of the Week are voted on by a panel of media that regularly cover Pac-12 women’s basketball.

The Golden Bears open their home schedule this weekend, welcoming UC Riverside on Friday, Nov. 20, then welcome Cal Poly on Sunday, Nov. 22.

Also nominated:

PLAYER: Taryn Griffey, ARIZ; Lauren Huggins, COLO; Lexi Brando, ORE; Jamie Weisner, ORE; Erica McCall, STAN; Jordin Canada, UCLA; Jordan Adams, USC; Emily Potter, UTAH; Talia Walton, WASH; Borislava Hristova, WSU

FRESHMAN: Taryn Griffey, ARIZ; Alexis Robinson, COLO; Maite Cazorla, ORE; Kennedy Burke, UCLA; Marguerite Effa, USC; Borislava Hristova, WSU