Atlanta's Castro Marques and Phoenix's Dupree Named WNBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week
 Atlanta's Iziane Castro Marques and Phoenix's Candice Dupree NBAE/Getty Images |
NEW YORK, July 12, 2010 � Iziane Castro Marques of the Atlanta Dream and Candice Dupree of the Phoenix Mercury were named the WNBA�s Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week presented by Kia Motors, respectively, for games played Monday, July 5 through Sunday, July 11.
This marks the first season that Kia Motors � an official WNBA marketing partner � has presented the WNBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week award.
Marques, the WNBA�s sixth-ranked scorer thus far in 2010 with an average of 17.8 points per game, Castro Marques wins the first Player of the Week presented by Kia Motors award of her career. The honor comes after the seventh-year pro helped lead Eastern Conference leader Atlanta to a franchise record for points in a 108-103 overtime victory against the Connecticut Sun. In that game, the native of Brazil recorded a career-high 32 points and added 10 rebounds en route to her third double-double of the season.
For the week, the eighth-year pro shared the league lead in scoring (32.0 ppg) with her teammate, Angel McCoughtry, and tied for second in assists with Phoenix�s Diana Taurasi (7.0 apg). The effort against Connecticut by Castro Marques and McCoughtry marked only the fifth time in WNBA history that a pair of teammates scored 30-or-more points in the same game.
This marks Dupree�s third career Player of the Week presented by Kia Motors award, but her first as a representative of the Western Conference. The fifth-year pro twice earned the award for the Eastern Conference as a member of the Chicago Sky, first in June 2007 and then in June 2009.
The WNBA leader in shooting percentage (.654) thus far in 2010, Dupree recorded her fourth double-double of the season and the 32nd of her career in a win over Los Angeles with a 25-point, 12-rebound effort. The 25 points (on 11 for 17 shooting, .647) were a season high and marked the third consecutive game in which she topped her previous best effort for 2010, coming on the heels of her 23 points vs. Washington and 24 against New York. She also contributed a perfect 3-for-3 effort from the free throw line in a game in which the Mercury shot a franchise record 21-for-21 from the charity stripe. That effort moved Dupree into fifth place among the league�s free throw shooters with a .919 success rate on the season.
A product of Temple University, Dupree also ranks ninth in the league in rebounding (7.9 rpg) and 15th in scoring (14.9 ppg).
The WNBA Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week presented by Kia Motors are part of a series of oncourt performance awards called The WNBA Performance Awards Presented by Kia Motors. The series, currently in its second season, includes four of the WNBA's most prestigious year-end honors: Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, and Sixth Woman of the Year, along with the WNBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month. Kia Motors has been an official WNBA marketing partner since 2008.
For more information on this week's Players of the Week presented by Kia Motors winners, visit www.wnba.com/awards.