Minnesota Scene: Sylvia Fowles named player of week in Western Conference again

Lynx center Sylvia Fowles was named WNBA Western Conference player of the week for games ending Sunday. It is the ninth time Fowles has won the award in her 10-year career and her second award in a row this season.

Fowles is the first player in the Western Conference and the third player overall to win the award in the first two weeks of the season since the inception of the award. The others were in the East — Angel McCoughtry of Atlanta in 2010 and Elena Delle Donne in 2015, then with Chicago

The Lynx were 3-0 last week led by Fowles, who averaged 18.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 2.0 steals. She made 65.6 percent of her shots from the floor and had two double-doubles.

She had 21 points in a May 23 victory over Connecticut, becoming the second player in Lynx history to get 20 or more points, 10 or more rebounds (she had 13) and five blocks in the same game. In the rematch in Connecticut, Fowles had 20 points in 21 minutes. Sunday, in a runaway victory over San Antonio, Fowles scored 14 points with 12 rebounds.

New York's Epiphanny Prince was named player of the week in the Eastern Conference.

Kent Youngblood

The Gophers men's basketball team will play Dec. 9 at Arkansas to finish a home-and-home series that started last season. The Razorbacks lost 85-71 on Nov. 22 at Williams Arena.

The Gophers' nonconference schedule for the 2017-18 season will include three road trips. They travel to play Providence in the Gavitt Tip-Off Games on Nov. 13. Richard Pitino's team is also scheduled to play Massachusetts and Alabama in the Barclays Center Classic on Nov. 24-25 in Brooklyn.

The Gophers volleyball team announced its 2017 schedule, which will open Aug. 25-26 with the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in Madison, Wis. Minnesota, which lost to Stanford in the NCAA semifinals a year ago, will play North Carolina and Louisville.

The Gophers' home schedule will begin with the Diet Coke Classic on Sept. 1-2. Other teams in the field are Tennessee, Texas-San Antonio and West Virginia. Minnesota will face 12 teams that competed in the NCAA tournament, including seven in Big Ten play.

Of the Gophers' 31 regular-season matches, 13 will be at the Sports Pavilion.

• The Gophers' Justin Doeden was named to the Ping All-Midwest Region team as selected by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

• Sam Carlson, a 6-4, 205-pound righthanded pitcher for Burnsville, was named the Gatorade Minnesota Baseball Player of the Year. He was 3-1 with a 0.41 ERA in 19 games for the Blaze.