Sky’s Courtney Vandersloot, Sparks’ Candace Parker named WNBA Players of the Week
NEW YORK – Courtney Vandersloot of the Chicago Sky and Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks were named the WNBA’s Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Aug. 31 through Sept. 6.
Vandersloot earned the Player of the Week honor for the first time in her five-year career. This also marks the seventh Eastern Conference weekly award for the Sky in 2015, with Elena Delle Donne having been selected five times and Cappie Pondexter once. Chicago is the first team this season to have three different players receive the Player of the Week award.
An All-Star and a WNBA All-Rookie Team pick in 2011, Vandersloot helped Chicago post a 2-0 record for the week and improve to 20-12 (.625) overall, the second-best mark in the Eastern Conference. The Gonzaga University product led the East in field goal percentage (.684, 13-of-19) and three-point shooting (.833, 5-of-6), and ranked second in assists (5.5 apg) and eighth in scoring (15.5 ppg).
Vandersloot opened her week by recording game highs of 21 points and five assists and adding five rebounds in an 82-60 road win over the New York Liberty on Sept. 3. She then finished with 10 points, six assists, three rebounds, and one steal in just 18 minutes as Chicago topped the visiting Seattle Storm 93-65 on Sept. 6.
For Parker, the Player of the Week honor is her second of the season and the 15th of her eight-year career. The 2008 and 2013 WNBA Most Valuable Player presented by Samsung led Los Angeles to a 2-0 record while pacing the league in scoring (29.5 ppg). She also tied for third among Western Conference players in rebounding (9.5 rpg) and assists (5.5 apg), and was seventh in field goal percentage (.636, 21-of-33) and three-point shooting (.545, 6-of-11).
The University of Tennessee product has helped the Sparks engineer a significant turnaround since rejoining the team at midseason. Los Angeles is 11-5 (.688) since her season debut on July 29 after a 3-13 start (.188).
Parker began the week with her 12th double-double in 15 games, recording game highs of 26 points and 11 rebounds to go with six assists in a 93-91 home win over the Washington Mystics on Sept. 3. Three days later, she again led all scorers, with 33 points, and added eight rebounds and five assists as the Sparks defeated the visiting Tulsa Shock 92-73 to clinch a playoff berth.
Other candidates for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were the Atlanta Dream’s Angel McCoughtry, the Sky’s Allie Quigley, the Connecticut Sun’s Kelsey Bone, the Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike, the Minnesota Lynx’s Sylvia Fowles, the Liberty’s Tina Charles, the Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner, and the Storm’s Jewell Loyd.
For more information on this week’s Players of the Week, visit www.wnba.com/awards.
2015 WNBA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Week Ending East Player Team West Player Team
6/14/15 Elena Delle Donne Chicago DeWanna Bonner Phoenix
6/21/15 Elena Delle Donne Chicago Skylar Diggins Tulsa
6/28/15 Elena Delle Donne Chicago Lindsay Whalen Minnesota
7/5/15 Tamika Catchings Indiana Nneka Ogwumike Los Angeles
7/12/15 Cappie Pondexter Chicago Maya Moore Minnesota
7/19/15 Tina Charles New York Maya Moore Minnesota
8/2/15 Tina Charles New York Maya Moore Minnesota
8/9/15 Elena Delle Donne Chicago Brittney Griner Phoenix
8/16/15 Epiphanny Prince New York Maya Moore Minnesota
8/23/15 Elena Delle Donne Chicago Candace Parker Los Angeles
8/30/15 Epiphanny Prince New York Odyssey Sims Tulsa
9/6/15 Courtney Vandersloot Chicago Candace Parker Los Angeles