Pac-12 Players of the Week: Stanford’s Lili Thompson and Oregon’s Maite Cazorla

• Hoopfeed’s ballot: Player of the Week: Lili Thompson (Stanford) || Freshman of the Week: Kristine Anigwe (Cal)
  Cheryl Coward, founding editor of Hoopfeed, participates in the weekly Pac-12 voting.

For the week of Jan. 25-31 Stanford’s Lili Thompson was voted the Pac-12 Player of the Week for the third time this season, while Oregon’s Maite Cazorla is the conference’s Freshman of the Week for the second time this season.

Junior captain Thompson (Mansfield, Texas) had the hot hand over the week, averaging 28.5 points on 63 percent shooting, while also hitting 71 percent from long range in leading the Cardinal to wins over No. 25 Washington (69-53) and Washington State (69-52). Thompson scored 17 of her 27 in the first quarter to hold off the Huskies on Friday night. She made six of her seven shots in the period, was a perfect 5-of-5 from deep and single-handedly outscored UW (17-13) in the period. Thompson also tied a career high with seven rebounds in the win. She followed up with a career-high 30 points, 24 coming in the second half on 9-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-5 from deep, as the Cougs tried for the upset bid. With WSU only down three points with 3:48 left in the game, Thompson netted nine of the team’s final 11 points, all on three pointers, to put the game away. It is Thompson’s fourth-career player of the week honor and Stanford’s 104th all-time.

Cazorla (Las Palmas, Spain) averaged 20 points and 6.5 assists per game over the weekend leading Oregon to a split against the Arizona schools. Against No. 8 Arizona State who boasts the 10th-ranked defense in the nation, Cazorla committed just one turnover and scored 17 points with six assists as the Ducks fell just short of the upset, 63-58. She also broke out for a career-high 23 points in a 76-54 win over Arizona, also adding seven assists and four steals. Cazorla shot 63.6 percent from the floor for the week, including an 8-for-11 outing against the Wildcats, and shot 57.1 percent from three-point range, including going 3-for-5 against the Sun Devils. She has the highest assists average in the country among all freshmen at 6.1 apg, also ranking 18th among all players. It is the 12th all-time freshman of the week honor for the Ducks.

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.

Stanford takes on Bay Area-rival California in two games this week, with the first Battle of the Bay taking place in Maples Pavilion on Tuesday night. The regular-season series concludes on Friday in Berkeley. Both games will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks. The Ducks make the short trip to Washington State and Washington on Friday and Sunday for the only meeting between the teams.

Also Nominated:

PLAYER: Kelsey Moos, ARIZ; Mikayla Cowling, CAL; Haley Smith, COLO; Jillian Alleyne, ORE; Sydney Wiese, OSU; Nirra Fields, UCLA; Sadie Edwards, USC; Emily Potter, UTAH; Kelsey Plum, WASH; 

FRESHMAN: Sabrina Haines, ASU; Kristine Anigwe, CAL; Alexis Robinson, COLO; Taylor Kalmer, OSU.

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
Jan. 25	Jillian Alleyne, ORE	Borislava Hristova, WSU
Feb. 1	Lili Thompson, STAN	Maite Cazorla, ORE