OGDEN, Utah (Feb. 6, 2012) – Eastern Washington’s Brianne Ryan and Montana State’s Katie Bussey have been named Big Sky Conference Women’s Basketball Co-Player of the Week for the games played the week of Jan. 30 through Feb. 5. This is the second time this season both Ryan and Bussey have been named POTW.

Ryan led EWU to a sweep, with one win at home against Northern Arizona and one on the road at Sacramento State. The Eagles became the first team in the conference to earn nine wins, while also extending their perfect league road record to 6-0.       

Ryan averaged 27.5 points on 47 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Against NAU, Ryan poured in 29 points on a 12-of-23 effort from the floor, with three 3-pointers. She also had six rebounds, four assists and two steals to propel EWU to its largest margin of victory of the season.

On Saturday in front of a sold out crowd at The Nest in Sacramento, Calif., Ryan posted 26 points, which included a perfect 8-of-8 performance from the free-throw line. She hit 4-of-4 free throws in the final 16 seconds, which enabled EWU to pull away after having just a slim two-point edge with less than a minute to play. Ryan has now had 11 20+ scoring efforts in the 2011-12 campaign – the most by any player in the league. She was also just rebound shy of a double-double in the close win at Sac, as she finished with nine boards to go along with three assists and one steal.

MSU’s Bussey matched the best offensive performance in Big Sky Conference history as Montana State knocked off previously undefeated Idaho State on the Bengals’ home court, Thursday night. Bussey posted a school-record and a Big Sky matching 41 points. Against ISU, she connected on 11-of-23 from the field and 15-of-18 from the line. She also chipped in three rebounds and a steal.

On Saturday, Bussey posted nine points, four rebounds and four steals against Montana. For the two games, Bussey averaged 25 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. In addition, the native of Alamosa, Colo., made six 3-pointers, moving her into third on the all-time Big Sky list with 234 makes. She is now just five triples away from breaking the all-time league mark of 238 treys held by Chelsey Warburton of Weber State.

Others Nominated: Chelsea Pickering, Idaho State; Alyssa Smith, Montana; Amy Patton, Northern Arizona; D’shara Strange, Northern Colorado and Eryn Jones, Portland State