Feb. 6, 2006

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - UNLV's Sherry McCracklin was named the Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Co-Player of the Week after turning in a huge week for the Lady Rebels before suffering an injury late in their game at Wyoming, the conference announced on Monday. It is the first weekly honor of the season for McCracklin, who shared the award with Utah's Kim Smith, and the third in her career.

McCracklin, a 6-1 senior forward from Hazel Crest, Ill., looked ready to lead UNLV to its second straight win on Feb. 4 at Wyoming, as with the Lady Rebels trailing by four with four minutes to play, she scored a layup, and drew a charge on the other end. However, she suffered a concussion on the play after hitting her head on the court, and was eventually taken off on a stretcher to a hospital. UNLV ended up losing by three, 53-50, though McCracklin finished with 17 points in the game on 7-of-13 shooting, was a perfect 3-of-3 at the line, and added two blocks.

In a big win over TCU two days prior on Feb. 2 in Las Vegas, McCracklin scored season and game-highs of 21 points and 16 rebounds in a 61-50 win. She was 7-of-9 from the floor, and 7-of-10 at the line.

For the week, she averaged 19 points, 11 rebounds, and added three blocks and one steal. She returned to Las Vegas from the hospital on Monday, and it is undetermined when she will return to the court.

UNLV (13-7, 5-4 MWC), next hosts No. 18 BYU on Saturday at 7 pm in the Cox Pavilion.