Purcell picks up third straight WCC Player of the Week honor

SAN BRUNO, Calif.– The West Coast Conference has named its Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for January 25, 2016.

Kalani Purcell, a 6-foot-2 junior forward from Hamilton, New Zealand, is the WCC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the third straight week.

Purcell started both league games this week, keeping BYU tied for first place in the latest WCC standings with an 8-1 mark after victories over LMU and Pepperdine. She had back-to-back double-doubles in both wins.

Purcell totaled 34 points, 40 rebounds, 12 assists, three steals and one block in the two league contests. She averaged 17.0 points, 20.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 36.7 percent from the field and 92.3 percent from the free throw line.

In the game vs. the Waves, she nearly had a triple double from a BYU career- and game-best 24 rebounds, 16 points and eight assists. The assists were game highs. Purcell was perfect at the free throw line going 6 for 6. For the fourth time on the year and the third in conference action, she played all 40 minutes.

In Thursday’s win over the Lions, she recorded a BYU career-high 18 points and pulled down a game-best 16 boards. She also tied for team and game bests in assists with four, had two steals and one block.