CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore Dee-Dee Wheeler earned her first Pac-10 Player of the Week award this weekend.

Sophomore guard Dee-Dee Wheeler picked a pretty good weekend to light up the scoreboard.

Going into Saturday's game against UCLA (11-5,6-1), Wheeler and the Arizona Wildcats (12-4, 6-2) faced an undefeated conference record and the Pac-10's leading scorer Michelle Greco.

The Wildcats emerged with the victory, and Wheeler earned her first ever Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Week award as her team ascended to No. 19 in the Associated Press poll.

Wheeler's 27 points and career high nine rebounds helped Arizona pound the Bruins Saturday at McKale Center.

With 27 points against the Bruins and 23 points in the team's win over USC Thursday, Wheeler posted the first back-to-back 20-point games of her career. She shot 64.5 percent (20 of 31) from the field and a remarkable 70 percent (seven of 10) from behind the arc.

Although Wheeler was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year last season, this was her first Player of the Week award and the third for the Wildcats this season.

In the first eight Pac-10 games, Wheeler has averaged just over 19 points per contest.

"I was getting open shots and they were falling, so I just kept shooting them," said Wheeler. "I'm making the transition well into my sophomore year and learning the role of the point guard."

"Dee-Dee was outstanding," said freshman center Shawntinice Polk. "Sometimes I catch myself watching her play instead of trying to post up."

Polk was expected to have a big game against the smaller Bruin front court; however, the Bruins used double- and triple-teams to try and stop Polk, paving the way for Wheeler's award-winning performance. Polk still managed to tally her 12th double-double of the season.

"(UCLA) really focused on Polkey," said Wheeler. "They triple-teamed her, fouled her, held her arm, and I was getting open shots."

UA finished the game with nine 3-pointers, six of which came from Wheeler.

"(In) the first half our guards did an unbelievable job," said head coach Joan Bonvicini. "We dominated the boards and played well. It was one of the best halves we have played all year."

With this win and the Washington loss, the Wildcats moved into third in the Pac-10 standings, one game behind UCLA and two behind Stanford.

The Wildcats' next contest will be Thursday when the UA travels to Tempe to take on rival Arizona State at 6 p.m.

Junior forward Jessica Duger saw her first action in a Wildcat uniform against the Bruins. She saw four minutes of playing time, but did not record any stats. Duger transferred from Yavapai College to the UA last season, but was not cleared to play until after the first of the year.