Jan. 28, 2002

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - UNLV women's basketball guard Constance Jinks was selected Mountain West Conference Co-Player of the Week by the league office Monday.

The junior from Chicago, Ill., became the 14th Lady Rebel in school history to reach 1,000 career points after scoring 41 in a pair of UNLV wins last week against conference rivals Air Force and New Mexico. Jinks collected 12 points, five rebounds and six assists in a 75-50 win versus the Falcons on Jan. 24. Two nights later, she would score a game-high 29 points, four rebounds and two assists in a 72-60 come-from-behind victory over New Mexico on Jan. 26, for a regular season series sweep of the Lobos.

For the week, Jinks hit 14-of-30 field goals (.467) and 13-of-14 free throws (.929), while averaging 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. She is shooting a team best 86 percent from the charity stripe and is second in scoring at 17.1 ppg. This is her third weekly honor of the season and fifth overall of her career at UNLV.

BYU senior forward Melanie Pearson shared the award with Jinks, after tripling her scoring average for the season with a 28-point outburst in the Cougars' 77-65 victory at Utah last week. Pearson, who entered the game averaging 9.2 points per contest, connected on 7-of-9 field goals, 5-of-7 three-pointers and all nine free throws as she earned game-high scoring honors.

UNLV NOTES...The Lady Rebels continue to receive votes in the USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches Top 25 Poll (47) and The Associated Press Top 25 Poll (38)...UNLV is currently the 28th best team in the nation in both polls...With their 16-3 overall mark, the Lady Rebels stand at 52nd in the latest RPI ratings, according to collegerpi.com.