Pac-12 Players of the Week: Washington’s Kelsey Plum and Washington State’s Borislava Hristova
- Hoopfeed’s ballot: Player of the Week: Kelsey Plum (Washington) || Freshman of the Week: Borislava Hristova (Washington State)
Cheryl Coward, founding editor of Hoopfeed, participates in the weekly Pac-12 voting.
For the week of Jan. 11-17. Washington’s Kelsey Plum was voted the Pac-12 Player of the Week for the first time this season, while Washington State’s Borislava Hristova is the Conference’s Freshman of the Week for the second time this season and first time since Nov. 23.
The nation’s leading scorer averaging 27.3 ppg, junior guard Plum (Poway, Calif.) led Washington to a weekend sweep of two ranked teams, No. 17 UCLA (64-56) and No. 25 USC (69-60). Plum averaged 27.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists in the two big victories. Against the Bruins, Plum made 11-of-12 from the foul line en route to 23 points for the game, and also added five rebounds and four assists as the Dawgs earned their first win over a top-25 team of the year. Plum was a menace to the Trojan defense, scoring 21 of her 32 points in the second half helping UW overcome a 10-point halftime deficit. She added five assists in the upset, making 10-of-12 from the free throw line and going 2-for-3 from 3-point range, shooting 10-for-19 overall. By scoring 55 points on the weekend, Plum moved into to third on the UW all-time scoring list with 1,950 points, despite still being a junior, and is just six points out of the top 20 in Pac-12 history. Just 50 points away from 2,000 for her career, she is looking to become the 17th player in Conference history to reach the milestone, as well as try to become the fastest to reach the plateau in NCAA history having only played 85 games to date. It is Plums second-career weekly honor and the 34th all-time citation for Washington.
Hristova (Varna, Bulgaria) scored 21 points in a 73-61 upset of No. 25 USC over the weekend, then added 19 points in a near-upset of No. 17 UCLA (75-73), scoring 11 points in the third quarter to bring the Cougars to within one point. She was 16-for-33 for the weekend for a 48.5 percent shooting. She was also a perfect 1.000, making all six of her free throw attempts over the two games. On pace to break WSU’s freshman record in total points, points per game, free throw percentage and field goals made, she is the sixth-highest scoring freshman in the country, averaging 17.3 points per game on the season. It is the fifth all-time freshman weekly accolade for Washington State.
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 Huskies and the Cougars have just one game on the slate this week, closing out the rivalry series in Seattle on Saturday, Jan. 23. UW won the first meeting this season in December in Pullman.
Also Nominated:
PLAYER: LaBritney Jones, ARIZ; Qunn Dornstauder, ASU; Courtney Range, CAL; Jillian Alleyne, ORE; Jamie Weisner, OSU; Kori Karver, UCLA; Temi Fagbenle, USC; Paige Crozon, UTAH; Borislava Hristova, WSU.
FRESHMAN: Kristine Anigwe, CAL.
2015-16 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Players of the Week
| Date | Player | Freshman |
| Nov. 16 | Courtney Range, CAL | Kristine Anigwe, CAL |
| Nov. 23 | Jordin Canada, UCLA | Borislava Hristova, WSU |
| Nov. 30 | Lili Thompson, STAN | Kristine Anigwe, CAL |
| Dec. 7 | Jillian Alleyne, ORE | Kristine Anigwe, CAL |
| Dec.14 | Emily Potter, UTAH | Kristine Anigwe, CAL |
| Dec. 21 | Lili Thompson, STAN | Maite Cazorla, ORE |
| Dec. 28 | Arnecia Hawkins, ASU | Kristine Anigwe, CAL |
| Jan. 4 | Nirra Fields, UCLA | Kristine Anigwe, CAL |
| Jan. 11 | Temi Fagbenle, USC | Kristine Anigwe, CAL |
| Jan. 18 | Kelsey Plum, WASH | Borislava Hristova, WSU |
