Catchings Named WNBA Player of the Week for Record 20th Time

Official Release

NEW YORK, September 3, 2013 � Tamika Catchings of the Indiana Fever and Tina Thompson of the Seattle Storm were named the WNBA�s Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, Aug. 26 through Sunday, Sept. 1.

Catchings� Player of the Week award is the 20th of her career and sets a new WNBA record. The veteran forward had been tied with Seattle�s Lauren Jackson with 19 weekly nods each. Catchings led the Eastern Conference and tied for the league lead in scoring last week with 22.0 ppg. She also tied for second in the East and fourth league-wide in rebounding with 10.0 rpg, while her .667 mark from three-point land (4-for-6) led the East.

On Aug. 30, Catchings recorded game highs with 22 points and 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season as Indiana defeated New York, 73-67. Her layup with 3:56 remaining in the fourth quarter extended the Fever�s lead to three, and her 10th rebound, which came with under two minutes remaining, helped Indiana put the game out of reach.

Thompson averaged 21.0 points, second in the Western Conference, and pulled down 8.7 rpg in Seattle�s three games last week. The 17-year veteran also went 12-for-12 from the charity stripe, tying for first league-wide. This week�s Player of the Week award is Thompson�s second of the season and eighth of her career.

On Aug. 27, Thompson scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed a personal season-best 13 rebounds as the Storm held off San Antonio on the road, 72-71. Thompson, who recorded her fifth double-double of the season, hit two clutch free-throws with 20.3 seconds remaining to extend Seattle�s lead to seven points. Two days later, Thompson tied a game-high with 18 points and led all players with nine rebounds as Seattle defeated Connecticut, 78-65. On Aug. 31 in Minnesota, she scored another 18 points while adding four rebounds and two blocked shots in a 97-74 loss.

Other candidates for WNBA Players of the Week were Atlanta�s Erika de Souza, Chicago�s Sylvia Fowles and Connecticut�s Tina Charles in the East, as well as Los Angeles� Candace Parker, Minnesota�s Maya Moore and Phoenix�s Candice Dupree in the West.