Indiana’s Katie Douglas and San Antonio’s Becky Hammon Named WNBA Players of the Week

NEW YORK, Aug. 3, 2009 � Katie Douglas of the Indiana Fever and Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Silver Stars were named the WNBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for regular season games played Monday, July 27 through Sunday, August 2. Indiana becomes the fifth team (Connecticut, 2005 and 2007; Seattle, 2005; San Antonio, 2008) to have three different players named Player of the Week in a season.

Douglas wins the fourth Player of the Week award of her career and her first this season following a week in which she averaged a league-best 30.0 points on 49.1 percent (26-53) shooting, 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 steals. She helped the Fever open a five-game lead in the Eastern Conference standings with a 3-0 week, including wins over Washington and Connecticut.

Against Washington on July 28, Douglas set the franchise record for points in a game with 34, which was also a career-high. She narrowly missed a double-double in the game as she pulled in a season-high nine rebounds while also setting team records for points in a half (24) and most free-throws made (15). Douglas then became the first Fever player to score 30 or more points in consecutive games when she totaled 32 points against Connecticut on July 30.

Douglas was previously a member of the two Connecticut teams with three Player of the Week winners. She is a three-time WNBA All-Star, a two-time All-WNBA selection and three-time WNBA All-Defensive Team honoree. For the season, she�s averaging 17.5 points, which places her among the top 10 in the WNBA.

Hammon wins her fifth career Player of the Week award and first of 2009. For the week, she averaged 27.3 points, second-best in the league, on 48.4 percent (30-62) shooting, 5.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists. She led the Silver Stars to a 1-2 week, including a win over the Seattle Storm and an overtime loss to the Sacramento Monarchs.

Hammon set career highs in both points and rebounds this week when she scored 38 points in the overtime loss to Sacramento and collected 10 rebounds in a loss to Seattle. In the team�s win over the Storm, she scored a game-high 24 points. Following her performance this week, Hammon has now scored 20 or more points nine times in 2009.

This season, Hammon was selected to her fifth career All-Star Game, where she won the 2009 Three-Point Shootout. She is a three-time All-WNBA selection and won a bronze medal in 2008 with the Russian Women�s Olympic Basketball Team. Hammon�s season average of 20.9 points per game leads the WNBA in scoring while her 4.8 assists per game is fifth among league leaders.

Other candidates for WNBA Players of the Week were Atlanta�s Angel McCoughtry, Los Angeles� Candace Parker, Phoenix�s Diana Taurasi, Sacramento�s Nicole Powell and Washington�s Alana Beard.

About the WNBA
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