Atlanta's Angel McCoughtry and Seattle's Katie Smith Named WNBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week
NEW YORK, Sep. 12, 2011 -- The Atlanta Dream�s
For McCoughtry, the Player of the Week award is her fourth of the season, tying the Connecticut Sun�s Tina Charles for the most weekly honors. This is Smith�s first Player of the Week for the season and the third time a Storm player has earned the honor (Swin Cash, July 5; Sue Bird, July 11).
McCoughtry helped the Dream go 2-0 as it secured the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. For the week, McCoughtry led the league in scoring (33.5 ppg) and blocks (3.0 bpg). McCoughtry�s 33.5 scoring average was nearly 12 points better than her season average of 21.6 ppg. McCoughtry finished the season less than a tenth of a point behind Phoenix�s Diana Taurasi (21.63 ppg) for the league-lead in scoring in what was the closest such race in WNBA history.
In a 93-88 victory over the top-seeded Indiana Fever Sunday, McCoughtry led the Dream (20-14) with 32 points, including seven in the fourth quarter when Atlanta broke open a 71-71 tie with a 13-4 spurt. McCoughtry started the week with a 35-point effort as the Dream moved into third place in the conference with an 85-74 victory over the Connecticut Sun last Tuesday.
Smith helped the Storm clinch the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, leading Seattle to consecutive wins during the week. Smith ranked third in the conference in scoring (21.5 ppg) and three-point field goal percentage (.714), and eighth in steals (1.5 spg).
In Sunday�s 81-70 win over Chicago, Smith became the third WNBA player to score 6,000 points when she hit a three-pointer in the first quarter. Smith finished the game with 17 points to give her 6,015 for her career, which ranks third all time behind Tina Thompson and
Smith has won Player of the Week honors five times during her WNBA career, most recently for the week of June 2-8, 2008.
Other candidates for WNBA Players of the Week were Connecticut�s Tina Charles, Los Angeles� DeLisha Milton-Jones, Phoenix�s Diana Taurasi, Tulsa�s Liz Cambage, and San Antonio�s Becky Hammon.