Jaedyn De La Cerda Earns MW Player of the Week Honor
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— In a week where the Lobo women’s basketball team went 3-0 with wins over UNLV, Utah State and San Diego State, the Mountain West announced that Jaedyn De La Cerda is the MW Player of the Week.
Monday’s selection marked the first weekly conference honor for the Roswell, N.M., native.
The Lobos had remarkable stats across the board with all five starters averaging 10-plus points, but it was De La Cerda who led the way with 19.7 points per game, shooting .560 from three-point range with 14 three-pointers.
Of De La Cerda’s 59 points on the week, the Lobo guard tallied 17 points in the win against San Diego State to tie the team high, had 15 points against UNLV and a season-high 27 points at Utah State after hitting seven three-pointers, tying her career high.
In addition, De La Cerda was credited with 14 assists, an average of 4.67 assists per game and second only to LaTora Duff’s 7.67 assists per game, while playing 108:25, an average of 36.1 minutes per game and second only to LaTascya Duff at 108:53.
The Lobo opened the week with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists (tying the team high) in the win against the then-top team in the MW at 2-0 in conference play, UNLV, making three, three-pointers. Of her three makes from behind the arc, perhaps none was more crucial than the three-pointer in the fourth quarter that tied the game at 55, which came after the Lobos trailed by six at the end of the third. Down the stretch, De La Cerda assisted on the three-pointer that put UNM up 68-65 with 1:38 remaining. De La Cerda finished with five points and two assists in the fourth quarter.
De La Cerda opened the scoring against Utah State with a three-pointer and finished the first quarter 4-of-5 from distance to lead all scorers to go with two rebounds, an assist and a block. The final three-pointer came as the quarter came to a close to extend the lead from four to seven. Her hot shooting continued in the second quarter, going 2-of-3 from the floor with two assists and two rebounds. De La Cerda added two more three-pointers in the third to finish with eight points in the frame and closed the game with the final Lobo points, a three-pointer that gave UNM the MW conference record of 21 three-pointers. The Lobo guard finished 7-of-11 from three, 10-of-16 rom the floor and recorded five rebounds, five assists and a block (her first of the season).
In Sunday’s win against San Diego State, De La Cerda made four three-pointers, including one as time expired in the third quarter to bring the Lobos within one at 51-50. Further, she accounted for three of UNM’s four assists in the third quarter against the Aztecs as the Lobos outscored the Aztecs 21-20.
During the fourth quarter, the newly named player of the week led the Lobos with eight points, going 2-for-2 from three and 3-for-4 from the floor including scoring on back-to-back Lobo possessions after the Aztecs cut the lead to five, and a three-pointer that pushed UNM out to a 72-60 lead with 2:26 left. She finished with 4-of- shooting from three (57.1%) and five assists.
De La Cerda is averaging 13.4 points on the season with 41 three-pointers and .406 percent from behind the arc. She has scored in double figures in the last five games and 13 times overall this season.
In conference play, she is averaging 18.0 points per game, ranking sixth among all scorers and is third in three-point field-goal percentage with a .533 success rate. She is tied with LaTascya for the most three-pointers in the conference with 16 and 4.0 three-pointers per game.
De La Cerda and the Lobos are 4-0 in the Mountain West and 13-4 overall and head to Wyoming and Colorado State this week, with a 6:30 p.m. game on Thursday against the Cowgirls and a 1 p.m. game on Saturday against the Rams.