San José, Calif. - San José State senior Tyra Whitehead was named the College Sports Madness Mountain West Player of the Week on Monday following an elite performance in Berkeley last week.
The honor is the second of the forward's career. In addition, it marks the program's first award in the first week of a season since Ta'Rea Cunnigan was named the conference's Player of the Week on Nov. 11, 2013.
1? game, 1? Player of the Week award
— San José State Women's Basketball (@SanJoseStateWBB) November 30, 2020
Congratulations, @tmarie1533!
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"Tyra has the potential to be the best player every night we step on the court," says Spartan head coach Jamie Craighead. "She hit big shots in big moments that we needed to propel us to a win at Cal."
Whitehead tallied her 14th career double-double in the Pac-12 road win, scoring 12 points while pulling down 10 rebounds. She was the league's only performer to notch a double-double against a power conference opponent in week one and is the program's first to do so since Dec. 19, 2004 (Amber Jackson at Mississippi State).
The Richmond, Va. product also keyed the team's strong defensive performance and ranks first in the Mountain West (and ninth nationally) with 5.0 steals per game. She peppered the entire stat sheet throughout the day at Haas Pavilion, dishing out a pair of assists while blocking two shots in a team-high 36 minutes of action.
Whitehead came up clutch late offensively, burying a baseline jumper to put SJSU on top by three with two minutes to play. The shot was the game's final made field goal by either team.
After one week of action, the forward leads the conference in steals per game and ranks second in rebounds per game.
San José State's victory against the Golden Bears marked the program's first win over a power conference opponent since the Spartans defeated No. 22 California in 2009.
SPARTAN ATHLETICS FUND FAN CUTOUTS
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