CHICAGO — The Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese added another accolade to her growing list of accomplishments Tuesday.
The rookie out of LSU earned an honor that was previously unaccomplished by a WNBA rookie this season — Being named a WNBA Conference Player of the Week.
Reese was named the Eastern Conference’s player of the week for week 7 of the WNBA season, during which she averaged 16.8 points, 14.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game and broke the WNBA record for consecutive double-doubles along the way.
According to a press release from the team, Reese is also the second Sky rookie to ever receive the honor.
Here’s a graphic illustrating some of Reese’s other recent accomplishments:
When asked about the honor Tuesday, Reese seemed grateful for the accomplishment, but said her focus is more so on developing her game and continuing to play with intensity.
“Just to be a fierce competitor. I want it to be known that I’m not going to let down [my guard],” Reese said. “I want that to be a known trademark for me. I want that to be known — Expectations are high. Angel is going to come out and you can’t take a play off any given night. So, being able to start that off earlier in my career as a rookie, I think that’s important.”
Reese said another part of the equation that’s helped her along the way has also been the feedback she’s gotten, and continues to get, from some of the WNBA’s most talented veterans.
“I think being able to talk to some of the vets, they say like, ‘You’re super consistent. You come out every day and play super hard,’” Reese said. “Being able to have vets that recognize it — Talking to Nneka [Ogwumike], talking to Skylar [Diggins-Smith], talking to Jewell [Lloyd], they love me — Just being able to have those connections and get feedback is important for me.”
On the year, Reese is averaging 14.1 points and a league-leading 11.9 rebounds per game through 20 contests, and extended her WNBA-record double-doubles streak to 14 games during a loss to the Seattle Storm on Sunday.
During the double-doubles streak, Reese has averaged 15.4 points, 13.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game on 43.3% shooting from the field, and 78.9% shooting from the free throw stripe.
The Sky’s next game is at home Wednesday, when they take on the Atlanta Dream at Wintrust Arena, with tipoff set for 11 a.m.
*A previous version of this story, based on an Instagram post from the WNBA, stated Reese was the first WNBA rookie to ever receive the honor. That corrected after a press release was shared following the article being published.
