Point guard Tamika Nurse earned recognition Monday for her efforts in Oregon’s Pacific-10 Conference wins against UCLA and USC. Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen announced Monday that Nurse was the Pac-10 Women’s Basketball Player of Week.
The sophomore point guard overcame physical defense from the two Los Angeles schools to score a career-high 22 points against UCLA and 16 points on Saturday against USC. Oregon won both, and now boasts a three-game winning streak.
“She’s faster than they are,” teammate Cicely Oaks said after the win against UCLA. “They know that, so that’s why they’re going to body up on her, but she’s handling it very well. She’s a really good player.”
In Thursday’s win against the Bruins, Nurse made 5 of 9 field goals and made all 10 of her free throw attempts. She dished out five assists and grabbed two rebounds.
Nurse continued her offensive focus against USC, mainly from the free throw line, with 14 of her 16 points coming from the charity stripe.
Nurse made a combined 24 of 26 free throws in the two games.
Nurse is enjoying a breakthrough season in her second year in Eugene. She is averaging 9.9 points, 3.6 assists and 2 rebounds per game.
– Jeffrey Dransfeldt