The Pac-12 Conference named Jenna Villa the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, Monday following her career-best 18-point performance in the WSU Cougars’ 95-48 win over the Houston Cougars, Sunday in Pullman.
Villa, a WSU women’s basketball freshman from Arlington, Washington scored 18 points on a 6-for-8 clip, including four 3-pointers.
It is the second time Villa has made four 3-pointers in a game. Villa scored each of her first 12 colligate points in her debut Nov. 6 against Cal Poly in Pullman. WSU beat the Mustangs 78-61.
Villa’s teammates and coaches had nothing but nice things to say about the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week.
“[Jenna] comes in and has an impact straight away. Her 3-point shooting is sniper-like, she is really long defensively, she gets a lot of tips and rebounds for us,” Leger-Walker said.
Villa’s fellow freshman, Eleonora Villa (no relation) shared WSU women’s basketball’s post announcing Jenna Villa’s award on her Instagram story.
“It’s because of the name,” Eleonora Villa wrote.
WSU head coach Kamie Ethridge said Jenna Villa provides a much-needed deep threat for the Cougs that they lost when fifth-year Johanna Teder announced she would have to miss the season because of injury.
Since her debut against Cal Poly, “She just stepped into big moments and made shots,” Ethridge said.
On the season, Jenna Villa averages 6.1 points, 1.1 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game with 18 3-pointers scored at a 32.7% clip, not too far off from her 36% 3-point mark from her senior year of high school.
She has scored in double figures three times, each time in Beasley (12 vs. Cal Poly, Nov. 6, 10 vs. Texas A&M Commerce Nov. 29 and 18 vs. Houston Dec. 17).
WSU guard Jenna Villa and Kyra Gardner celebrate their victory during an NCAA women’s basketball game against UC Davis, Dec. 1, in Pullman, Wash.
At Arlington High School, Jenna Villa became the fourth player in school history to score 1,000 points and averaged 22.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game during her senior season on her way to making 71 3-pointers.
ESPNW ranked the 2023 Gatorade Washington Player of the Year as the No. 68 prospect in the 2023 recruiting class.
She played cub ball for Tree of Hope out of Newcastle, Washington.
An avid student, Jenna Villa maintained a 4.7 high school GPA and seeks to pursue a pre-dental area of study at WSU, according to WSU Athletics.
Jenna Villa is one of three players from the state of Washington on the team, joining Idaho graduate transfer Beyonce Bea (Washougal) and Kyra Gardner (Raymond).
With a formidable 3-point shot and great defensive instincts, Jenna Villa will next take the court with the Cougs Jan. 5 in Palo Alto, California when WSU begins the remainder of their Pac-12 Conference schedule with a game against No. 9 Stanford.
