Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

RICHMOND, Va. -- University of Delaware freshman women’s basketball sensation Elena Delle Donne has been selected as the Rookie of the Week by the Colonial Athletic Association for the third consecutive week after leading the Blue Hens last week as UD went 1-1 in conference play.

Delle Donne (at right), a forward/guard Naismith National Player of the Year and Wooden Award Midseason Top 20 candidate, finished with game highs in both of the Blue Hens’ contests. The rookie tallied 27 points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals in a heartbreaking last-second, 60-59 loss at league-leading Virginia Commonwealth on Thursday, before adding 35 points, seven rebounds, five steals, three assists and one block as the Hens outdid Hofstra, 71-65, on Sunday.

At VCU Delle Donne broke the freshman scoring record previously set by Danielle Leyfert with 358 points in the 1997-98 season; she has recorded 414 points since November. The rookie also upset the freshman three-pointer record previously held by current director of basketball operations, Liz Hayes. Hayes had drilled 33 treys during the 2003-04 season; Delle Donne now has 38.

Against the Rams, Delle Donne hit 3-for-3 from the free throw line at 15:09 to knot the game and break her third record of the night, Delaware’s consecutive free-throw record. The record of 31 stood since the 1990-91 season when Linda Cyborski was perfect from Nov. 25 to Jan. 23. Delle Donne connected on her 39th consecutive free throw with just 25 seconds remaining in the game at Hofstra, a streak that began at George Mason on Jan. 7 with 3:48 remaining in the contest.

Delle Donne currently ranks third in the nation in scoring, sixth in free-throw percentage, 21st in three-point field goal percentage, 45th in field goal percentage, 53rd in blocked shots per game, 54th in rebounds per game, and 67th in three-point field goals per game. The Wilmington, Del. native also leads the nation having scored 40.4 percent of her teams’ points in games in which she has played. She has scored 414 of the Hens’ 1,026 points scored in her 16 active games.

Delle Donne stands as the only player in the nation to rank in the top 50 in each of the three shooting percentages: field goals (45th), three-pointers (21st) and free throws (6th).

Delle Donne ranks among the individual leaders in the league in free throw percentage (1st, 90.6%), defensive rebounds (1st, 6.3 rpg), minutes played (1st, 38.7 mpg), scoring (2nd, 25.9 ppg), rebounding (2nd, 9.0 rpg), blocked shots (2nd, 1.9 bpg), three-point field goal percentage (3rd, 44.7%), three-point field goals made (3rd, 2.4 3-pg), and field goal percentage (4th, 50.9%).

James Madison’s Dawn Evans was named the CAA’s Player of the Week after leading the Dukes to a 2-0 week.

The Hens next take on Towson on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center.