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OGDEN, Utah (Jan. 30, 2012) – Eastern Washington’s Chene Cooper has been named Big Sky Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the games played the week of Jan. 23 through Jan. 29. This is Cooper’s second career POTW, and third for a EWU player this season.
Eastern Washington women’s basketball celebrated a historic weekend, as it became the first Eagle team since becoming a member of Division I athletics to sweep the Montana road trip.
Cooper led the Eagles to a 67-57 win at Montana, followed by a 66-52 victory at Montana State. With the sweep, EWU (13-9, 7-2 Big Sky) took sole possession of second place in the Big Sky standings.
Cooper averaged 15.5 points on 47 percent shooting, as well as 8.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds on the week.
Against perennial power Montana, Cooper was sensational with 18 points, nine assists and only one turnover in 37 minutes on the floor. The 5-foot point guard hit 5-of-8 field goal attempts, including two-straight jumpers that kept Montana at bay after it had made back-to-back 3-pointers with less than five minutes to play. Cooper also made 7-of-8 free throws in the game, as EWU became the only team in school history to win two years in a row at Dahlberg Arena.
The next night against MSU, Cooper flirted again with a double-double, as she finished with 13 points and eight assists, as well as contributing five rebounds and three steals. In addition to helping her team make history in Bozeman, Cooper reached a significant individual milestone as well, as she scored her 1,000th-career point against the Bobcats.
Cooper now has 1,005 career tallies, to go along with 476 career assists and a school record 244 steals - the latter two ranking is in the top 12 in the Big Sky career record book.
Others Nominated: Lindsey Reed, Idaho State; Torry Hill, Montana; Rachel Semansky, Montana State; Tyler Stephens-Jenkins, Northern Arizona; Eryn Jones, Portland State and Alle Moreno, Sacramento State