Dec. 21, 2009

LAS VEGAS - UNLV's Kelli Thompson was named the Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week on Monday morning after leading the Lady Rebels to a pair of wins to reach Monday night's championship game in the Duel In The Desert. This is the first weekly honor of her career for Thompson, and she is the second UNLV player to be honored this season.

Thompson, a 6-0 freshman guard and native of Compton, Calif., averaged 19 points, three rebounds and two assists per game in leading UNLV to a 68-66 win over VCU on Saturday in the first round and a 67-54 victory against Hawaii in the second round. In the win over VCU, Thompson poured in a game-high 22 points, including seven of the team's last 10 points, and nailed a 17-foot game-winning jumper with two seconds to go. She finished 8-of-13 (.615) from the floor and 4-of-8 (.500) from three-point range, and also added two rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block against the Rams.

In the win over Hawaii, Thompson posted 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting (.600), and made 3-of-5 (.600) from three-point range. She scored five straight points to start a 13-4 run in the second half that helped put the game away for the Lady Rebels.

Thompson's average of 19 points per game is tied for the tournament high among the eight teams in the Duel In the Desert tournament after the first two days of action. UNLV (6-5) will play DePaul in the championship game on Monday night at 7:30 pm in the Cox Pavilion.