Dec. 15, 2003
DALLAS - Nebraska's Keasha Cannon-Johnson was selected Big 12 Women's Basketball Player of the Week and Baylor's Emily Niemann was named Big 12 Rookie of the Week for games from Dec. 8-14, the conference office announced Monday.
Players are nominated by each school's sports information office and voted on by a panel of media who cover Big 12 women's basketball.
Niemann, a 6-0 freshman forward, had an impressive game against her first ranked opponent, No. 7 Penn State. She scored 14 points against the Lady Lions, 12 of which came in the first half. She was a perfect 4-of-4 in the first half, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range. The Houston native finished the game with a .625 shooting percentage (5-of-8) and was 4-for-7 behind the arc. On the season, Niemann has started in five games and is shooting .537 from the floor and .433 from 3-point range. She is averaging 10.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 24.3 minutes a game.
Cannon-Johnson, a 5-10 senior guard, played major roles in a pair of victories for the Huskers last weekend. She hit the game-winning three-pointer, her only field goal of the game, to propel Nebraska to a 60-55 win over No. 13 Ohio State last Friday night. Although Cannon-Johnson finished with just six points, she tied a career-high with nine assists and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to lead the Huskers in both categories. She followed her strong performance against Ohio State with her best effort of the season against Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday with 13 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, while adding three assists and one steal in Nebraska's 61-59 victory. For the week, the Kansas City, Kan., native averaged 9.5 points, 14.0 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game to help the Huskers improve to a perfect 5-0 at home and 7-1 overall - just one win shy of their victory total from all of last season.
Big 12 Player of the Week
Nov. 24 -- Jamie Carey, Texas and Jia Perkins, Texas Tech
Dec. 1 -- Tera Bjorklund, Colorado
Dec. 8 -- Trisha Skibbe, Oklahoma State
Dec. 15 -- Keasha Cannon-Johnson, Nebraska
Big 12 Rookie of the Week
Nov. 24 -- Emily Waner, Colorado
Dec. 1 -- Tiffany Jackson, Texas
Dec. 8 -- Lyndsey Medders, Iowa State
Dec. 15 -- Emily Niemann, Baylor
