WAC BASKETBALL NOTEBOOKPLAYER OF THE WEEK Boise States Abby Vaughn has been named the Western Athletic Conference womens basketball Player of the Week.
Vaughn, a junior guard from Encinitas, Calif. (La Costa Canyon HS), earned Boise States first Player of the Week award after leading the Broncos to home wins over Eastern Washington and Gonzaga.
The guard had a career-high 21 points against Eastern Washington, shooting 7-14 from the floor and 6-12 from three-point range to lead Boise State in scoring. Vaughn was 8-16 from three-point range in two games, moving into second on the Boise State career list for three pointers with 150.
Vaughn averaged 15.5 points in two games with nine assists and two steals as the Broncos improved to 4-5 this season.
Also nominated: Aritta Lane, Fresno State; Amber Obaze, Louisiana Tech and Katie Golomb, Nevada.
OTHERS NOMINATED Fresno State's Aritta Lane averaged 9.5 points and 13.5 rebounds in two losses to West Coast Conference teams San Francisco and Santa Clara. Against San Francisco, Lane had 18 rebounds, two shy of the school record. Against Santa Clara, the freshman scored 13 points with nine rebounds.
Louisiana Tech's Amber Obaze scored a career-high 19 points with seven rebounds and five assists as the Lady Techsters broke a three-game losing streak with a win over Centenary. The sophomore guard also added a career-high six steals.
Nevada's Katie Golomb led the Wolf Pack in scoring and rebounding in Nevada's loss to Southern California. The senior forward was one rebound short of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
POWER RANKINGS Members of the media may subscribe to the Collegiate Basketball News RPI Report that is updated on a daily basis. In order to subscribe, you may obtain a password on the website address www.rpiratings.com. A second RPI report is computed by Jerry Palm and posted on the collegerpi.com website. Finally, the WBCA/Summerville has created an RPI that is posted at www.wbca.org/html/wbca.html. The following is a list of where the WAC and its teams stand through December 16.
Institution WBCA CollegeRpi.com Basketball News
WAC 11 13 11
Boise St. 178 173 177
Fresno St. 149 160 137
Hawai`i 25 19 25
La. Tech 31 50 46
Nevada 142 144 144
Rice 87 73 73
San Jose St. 157 151 155
SMU 60 78 75
UTEP 312 317 310
Tulsa 153 175 164
PLAYER ACCOLADES In four preseason publications (Athlon, Basketball News, Lindys and Street & Smiths), Louisiana Tech senior center Ayana Walker was mentioned on the preseason All-American teams. Street & Smiths named Walker as one of the Terrific 10, one of the top players in the country. Walker was named a Basketball News second team All-American, while earning third team honors with the other two publications. Walker was also voted WAC preseason Player of the Year by the league coaches. Last season, the Texas native was an honorable mention All-American.
NATIONAL LEADERS Several WAC players were among the leaders in NCAA statistics. Through Dec. 10, Fresno State's Lindsay Logan was 10th in assists, averaging 6.6 assists per game. Tulsa's Carla Morrow was one of many tied for first in free throw percentage. with a perfect 18-18. Hawai`i's Christen Roper and Tulsa's Alyssa Shriver were tied for fourth in blocked shots with seven.
NON-CONFERENCE MARK WAC teams are 39-39 (.500) in non-conference games. The WAC is 2-9 against teams that have been ranked or are ranked in the top 25 - Hawai`i (0-2); Louisiana Tech (1-3); Nevada (0-2); Rice (1-0), SMU (0-1) and Tulsa (0-1).
IN THE POLLS Louisiana Tech is the only WAC team ranked in both the Associated Press and the ESPN polls. This week, the Lady Techsters are ranked No. 11 in both polls after moving to 3-3 with a win over Centenary. Rice and Hawai`i both received votes in the ESPN poll.
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC Before breaking for the holidays, the WAC returns to a regular slate of games. Tulsa travels to Mexico for the Fun in the Sun Shootout, while SMU makes the trip to Cancun for the Torneo de Cancun Classic.
Louisiana Tech returns home after four-straight road games to take on Western Kentucky on Dec. 21 and Arkansas State on Dec. 22. UTEP also returns home after a four-game road trip to face New Mexico State on Dec. 20.
AROUND THE LEAGUE Boise State's Christa Peterson recorded her second double-double of the year against Gonzaga, scoring 18 points and 10 rebounds. She has now scored in double figures in eight of the Bronco's nine games. Peterson led Boise State to wins over Eastern Washington and Gonzaga. The Broncos will play their final non-conference game on Dec. 20 against Idaho State before beginning their first WAC season.
Fresno State's Lindsay Logan needs only 44 more points to become the 11th Bulldog to reach the 1,000 point mark. The junior is currently leading the WAC in scoring, averaging 17.8 points per game. Logan also leads the league in three-point baskets made with 23. She averages 2.88 three pointers a game. After two losses last week, the Bulldogs look to get back on track on the road against St. Mary's.
Hawai`i finished runner up to Baylor in the Tesoro Invitational on Dec. 9. The Wahine took last week off and this week play in the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic. Hawai`i defeated Charlotte on Dec. 17 and faces Cleveland State on Dec.18.
Louisiana Tech snapped its three-game losing streak with a win over Centenary. The Lady Techsters remain ranked in the top 25 in both polls. This season, Louisiana Tech's guards have been its leaders. The Lady Techsters five guards have combined to connect on 42 of 49 free throws this season for 85.7 percent shooting.
Nevada returns home looking to break a four-game losing streak. The Wolf Pack return to Reno for three home games, facing Utah on Dec. 19 before beginning the WAC schedule. Nevada will take on No. 11 Louisiana Tech and Rice to open the WAC season.
Rice suffered its first two losses of the season to No. 12 Texas Tech on Dec. 5 and Arizona on Dec. 8. After a week off the Owls return to take on No. 23 LSU on Dec. 20 in Baton Rouge, La. Rice will end its tough non-conference schedule with defending national champion Notre Dame on Dec. 28 at home.
San Jose State moved to 4-3 after going 1-1 on a road trip to San Diego. The Spartans nipped San Diego State and fell to San Diego on Dec. 6 and Dec. 8. The Spartans return to the hardwood at home to face Weber State on Dec. 18 and Pacific on Dec. 22.
SMU head coach Rhonda Rompola needs two victories to pass the 200-career win mark. After a short hiatus, the Mustangs make one of their longest trips of the season to Cancun, Mexico. SMU will compete against Maryland, Alabama and Eastern Michigan at the Torneo de Cancun Classic.
UTEP has welcomed the return of Dragana Zoric from a stress fracture in her foot. In her first three games, she has scored a total of 40 points with 27 rebounds, five assists and five steals. Zoric is a product of new UTEP head coach Keitha Green's former school, Independence Community College, in Independence, Kansas.
TULSA looks to rebound from a Dec. 17 loss to Pepperdine at the Fun in the Sun Shootout in Mexico. On Dec. 18 the Hurricane will take on Oral Roberts.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN TULSA For the second-straight season, The University of Tulsa will serve as the host for the Mens and Womens 2002 WAC Williams Basketball Tournament. All games will be played at the 8,335-seat Donald W. Reynolds Arena. The seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th seeded teams will play on Tuesday, March 5. The remaining eight teams will all play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 6, with the top seed competing versus the winner of the Tuesday eight-nine game, the No. 2 seed vs. the winner of the seven-10 game, the No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5. The winners will play in the semifinals on Friday and the championship game will be Saturday. The site for the 2003 WAC Tournament has yet to be determined.
NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS WAC teams could face at least 15 non-conference opponents that played in last years NCAA Tournament and 13 teams that participated in the 2001 postseason WNIT.
NCAA OpponentsLouisiana Tech 81, Michigan 66
Oklahoma 75, Tulsa 62
Tennessee 90, Louisiana Tech 75 SMU 49, Utah 48
Oral Roberts 63, Tulsa 61
Washington 99, Boise State 50
Duke 76, Louisiana Tech 64
Colorado State 84, Nevada 57
Arkansas 55, Tulsa 52
Oklahoma 91, SMU 70
Texas Tech 74, Rice 43
Connecticut 70, Louisiana Tech 54
Nevada vs. Utah, Dec. 19
Boise State vs. Idaho State, Dec. 20
Rice at LSU, Dec. 21
Rice vs. Notre Dame, Dec. 28