STANFORD, Calif. – Senior Brittany McPhee was named espnW National Player of the Week on Monday for her performances in Stanford's wins over No. 11 UCLA and USC.
McPhee averaged 23.5 points on 54 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in Stanford's home victories to start conference play. She totaled 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists in a 76-65 victory against the No. 11 Bruins, a win which averted the program's first three-game home losing streak since 1985-86. She followed that with 21 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals in a 72-65 win against the Trojans.
At her best when it mattered most, 22 of McPhee's 47 points in the two games came in the fourth quarter.
Stanford is a different team with a healthy McPhee on the floor. She returned to the lineup on Dec. 21 against No. 7 Tennessee and scored 27 after missing the previous nine games with a right foot injury. In the season opener at No. 5 Ohio State, she poured in 24 points and two days later she scored nine in Stanford's loss to No. 1 UConn on Nov. 12 and missed the next six weeks.
McPhee has scored 20+ in four of her five games this season and is averaging 21.4 points per game to go with 5.6 rebounds. Of her 13 career 20-point games, six have come against ranked teams and her four highest-scoring performances have come against top-15 foes. She scored a career-high 28 against No. 8 Texas on Nov. 14, 2016 and also dropped in 27 in the Elite Eight against No. 2 Notre Dame on March 26, 2017 in addition to her 27 and 26-point efforts against No. 7 Tennessee and No. 11 UCLA.
Before Sunday's game with USC, McPhee's previous eight games and all been against ranked teams and she was averaging 19.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists.
The Cardinal (8-6, 2-0) has an entirely different feeling heading into 2018. Stanford entered Pac-12 play losers of three of its last four and with its worst nonconference record in nearly 20 years against a schedule that featured five games against top-10 teams. Out of the rankings last week for the first time since 2001, the Cardinal re-entered the AP poll at No. 24 on Monday.
