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Mountain West Conference Names Women's Basketball Players of the Week San Diego State's Jene Morris and Utah's Kalee Whipple Share the Honor
Jan. 28, 2008 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - San Diego State's Jené Morris and Utah's Kalee Whipple have been named the Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Co-Players of the Week. Morris earns the honor after leading San Diego State to a pair of milestone victories last week, as the Aztecs defeated BYU for the first time since 2001 and won at UNLV for the first time since 1997. San Diego State also won its first road game in MWC play since 2005. Against UNLV, the San Francisco, Calif., native, led the Aztecs in scoring. Her career-high 35 points against the Rebels were the most ever scored by a UNLV opponent at Cox Pavilion. Her performance marked the first time a San Diego State player has scored 30 or more points in a game since 1999 and were the most points scored by an Aztec in a single outing since 1997. She made seven consecutive three-point attempts in the win over the Lady Rebels, finishing the night for 7-for-9 from beyond the arc. Morris added a team-high three steals and tied for a team-high in rebounds with five. The sophomore scored 17 points against BYU, including 11 in the first half. She had four steals and just one turnover playing only 24 minutes. For the week, Morris averaged 26 points and 3.5 steals, shooting 62.5 percent (20-for-32) from the field and 77.8 percent (7-for-9) from beyond the arc. Whipple also led her team to two victories last week, as the Utes overcame both New Mexico and TCU. She scored 10 of the team's final 17 points, playing a key role in Utah's come-from-behind rally against New Mexico. Whipple went 5-for-6 from the field down the stretch, enabling Utah to erase a 14-point deficit in the win. Whipple wrapped up the New Mexico tilt with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting, and had seven rebounds and four assists against the Lobos. Against TCU, she scored the first 11 points of the game and went on to score 18 of the team's 25 first-half points. In the second half against the Horned Frogs, Whipple hit a back-to-back buckets with fewer than three minutes left in the game, extending a 45-43 lead to an insurmountable 50-43. The Hiko, Nev., product, finished the TCU game with a career- and game-high 30 points. She was 9-for-11 from the field, tying a career-high in field goals made. She also went 4-for-5 from three-point range, 8-for-10 from the line, and had a double-double with 10 boards.
Whipple led the Utes last week in shooting 16-for-23 (.696) from the field. She also shot a team-best .600 (6-for-10) from three-point range, and led Utah with 8.5 boards. This marks Whipple's second weekly honor of the season and Morris' first.
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