Editor’s note: We prohibit the use of bots and any other artificial methods of voting. Suspicious activity could lead to the disqualification of candidates and a permanent suspension of the Athlete of the Week poll. No voting by email: Votes by email and after 5 p.m. Wednesday are not counted.
Welcome to the Bay Area News Group (Mercury News & East Bay Times) girls athlete of the week poll.
For the entire academic year, we will provide a list of candidates who stood out over the previous week and allow you, the reader, to vote for the winner.
This week, we consider performances from Dec. 22-27.
Polls close at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Vote as many times as you’d like until then without using bots or any other artificial methods of voting.
Votes by email and after 5 p.m. Wednesday are not counted.
Scroll to the bottom for the poll.
Winners are announced each Friday online and in the print edition of the Mercury News and East Bay Times sports sections.
Candidates for future Athlete of the Week polls can be nominated at highschools@bayareanewsgroup.com.
We accept nominations until 11 a.m. each Monday.
We also review stats submitted to MaxPreps by coaches/team statisticians.
If you haven’t already, please subscribe. Your contributions keep us going.
On to the nominees:
Jillian Chen, Harker basketball: The sophomore scored 19 points as Harker breezed to a 67-15 nonleague rout of Greenfield. In her previous game, Chen had 28 points in a 71-16 win over Lincoln-San Jose.
Deoujenea Clay, Clayton Valley Charter basketball: The junior had 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting and seven assists to help lift her team to a 75-26 victory over West Campus. Clay is averaging 13.4 points, 5.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 3.9 steals per game.
Adhuna Devineni, Mission San Jose basketball: Averaged 17.3 points in victories during the week over Granada (63-60), Lowell (55-52) and Edison (55-41). Scored a season-high 24 points against Lowell.
Destiny Finley, San Lorenzo basketball: The senior scored 17 points as San Lorenzo turned back Elite 30-23 for her team’s first victory of the season. Finley is averaging 17.5 points per game.
Megan Hellgren, Branham soccer: The sophomore’s first goal of the young season was a big one as the Bruins tied Presentation 1-1. Hellgren also has three assists.
Venice Lu, Leland basketball: The sophomore scored 19 points to lead the Chargers to a 78-24 victory over Overfelt. The win improved Leland’s record to 7-3.
Daisy Pantoja Beltran, Aragon basketball: The senior matched her season average with 19 points to lead the Dons to a 55-27 rout of Newark Memorial in a nonleague game.
Rhiannon Stewart, Livermore soccer: The junior scored her fourth goal of the season to lift Livermore to a 1-0 victory over Manteca in nonleague play. The Cowboys began this week 4-2-1 on the season.
Keira Tom, Dougherty Valley basketball: Averaged 21.7 points over three games during the week — victories over Washington-Fremont and Castro Valley and a loss to Davis Sr. In a 72-38 win over Castro Valley, the senior had 27 points.
Kennedy Whyte, Monte Vista basketball: The junior had 14 points and 16 rebounds as the Mustangs defeated Watsonville 47-32 in a nonleague game. The double-double was Whyte’s sixth this season.
