February 12, 2007
Texas A&M junior point guard A?â„¢Quonesia Franklin (Tyler, Texas) was named Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Women?â„¢s Basketball Player of the Week for games played from Feb. 5-11 as announced by the league office Monday. She was joined by Oklahoma State freshman point guard Andrea Riley who was chosen as Rookie of the Week.
It marks the first player of the week and fourth career weekly honor for Franklin. She was previously selected three times as Big 12 Rookie of the Week during her freshman campaign in 2004-05. Franklin led No. 16-ranked Texas A&M to a historic 2-0 week with the program?â„¢s first-ever win over Missouri (69-63) on the road in Columbia on Feb. 7 and the program?â„¢s first-ever sweep of then-No. 12 Oklahoma (78-68) on Feb. 10. The Aggies extended their win streak to a program-best six conference games in a row and remain a perfect 14-0 this season at Reed Arena. They are currently tied for first place in the Big 12 Conference title race.
Franklin scored 16 points in the Mizzou victory. She later recorded her third career double-double with a career-high 25 points and career-high tying 10 assists in the upset of the Sooners. It was her second 20-point and 10-assist outing versus an OU squad all-time. She has dished out double-digit assists twice this season. For the week, she averaged a team-leading 20.5 points, 6.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game against the Tigers and Sooners combined. Franklin shot 51.9 percent from the floor, 57.1 percent from beyond the arc and 81.8 percent from the charity stripe.
?It?â„¢s great to see two of the smallest point guards in our league recognized for their team?â„¢s success,? Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair said. ?I am very happy for A?â„¢Quonesia and happy for our team. With the balance we have with our top six players, teams are forced to stop more than just one particular player on our squad. We have a very unselfish team with balanced scoring. Teams with balance win championships, while teams with individuals win accolades.?
Franklin is one of only two Aggies to play and start in all 23 games of the season. She is averaging a team-high 33.9 minutes per game and has played all 40 minutes in seven contests. With 112 assists on the season, A&M?â„¢s 5-foot-3 floor general became the third player in school history to record three consecutive 100+ assists seasons along with A&M standouts Toccara Williams (2000-04) and All-American Lisa Branch (1992-96). Franklin has compiled 417 career assists to date which ranks sixth all-time in the A&M record books.
The Big 12 leader in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.11), Franklin currently ranks fourth in assists (4.9) and 10th in steals per game (1.8) in the league. She is also one of the main reasons A&M ranks second nationally in three-point field-goal percentage with a 40.0 percent accuracy from beyond the arc. Franklin is shooting 40.2 percent from long range which ranks fifth-best in the Big 12. She has scored in double figures in eight of the team?â„¢s last nine outings.
This is the first time in school history in which three A&M players have been selected as Big 12 Player of the Week during the same season since the league?â„¢s formation in 1996-97. Sophomore Takia Starks (Houston, Texas) previously earned player of the week honors on Jan. 15 and junior Morenike Atunrase (Shreveport, La.) on Jan. 29.
Nothing But Up From Here?...Things couldn?â„¢t get any better as Texas A&M (19-4, 9-2) moved up three spots to No. 13 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll released Monday. The Aggies are now the highest-ranked team in the Big 12 followed by No. 14 Oklahoma (18-4, 8-3), No. 15 Baylor (21-4, 8-3) and No. 19 Nebraska (20-4, 9-2).