WAC BASKETBALL NOTEBOOKPLAYER OF THE WEEK Nevadas Laura Ingham has been named the Western Athletic Conference womens basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 14-Jan. 20.
Ingham broke a 10-year-old WAC record with 17 assists in a win over UTEP. The previous record was 15 set by Creightons Becky Strathman (1991-92) and San Diego States Michelle Miles (1990-91). On the season, Ingham has 47 assists in WAC games and 101 assists overall.
The junior guard (Anchorage, Alaska) led the Wolf Pack to back-to-back wins for the first time since Nov. 24-25. Against Boise State, she added seven assists and six steals, scoring six points. In two games, Ingham had 24 assists with eight steals and eight points.
The Wolf Pack broke a three-game losing streak with the two wins, improving to 3-4 in league play.
OTHERS NOMINATED Fresno State's Lindsay Logan averaged 12 points last week as the Bulldogs lost to UTEP and defeated Boise State. The junior guard had 14 assists in the two games along with 24 points and four steals.
Louisiana Tech's Brooke Lassiter scored a season-high 21 points as the Lady Techsters defeated SMU. The senior recorded a career-high seven three-pointers in the win. Lassiter also added six assists and four rebounds. The seven three-pointers rank second in the La. Tech record book for a single game.
San Jose State's Cricket Williams averaged 21.5 points as the Spartans defeated Tulsa and lost to Rice. In two games, the sophomore guard shot 72.2 percent from the free throw line and averaged 8.0 rebounds per game.
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.
Institution WBCA CollegeRpi.com Basketball News
WAC 10 11 11
Boise St. 217 213 212
Fresno St. 202 200 200
Hawai`i 44 43 43
La. Tech 25 27 24
Nevada 150 150 148
Rice 51 45 45
San Jose St. 138 134 133
SMU 161 161 159
UTEP 274 272 273
Tulsa 121 119 115
NATIONAL LEADERS Several WAC players are among the leaders in NCAA statistics. Through Jan. 14, three WAC players are among the leaders in blocked shots per game. Hawai`i's Christen Roper is fourth in the nation in blocked shots, averaging 3.5 blocks per game. Tulsa's Alyssa Shriver is sixth in the country in blocks, averaging 3.2 a game. Rice's Johnetta Hayes is tied for 19th with 2.5 blocks a game. Fresno State's Lindsay Logan represents the WAC in three-point field goals made, averaging 3.1 (tied for 12th).
In the team categories, four WAC schools are among the country's leaders in field-goal percentage defense. Hawai`i is third in the country behind Georgia and No. 1 UConn with the opposition shooting 33.9 percent. Louisiana Tech is 15th (35.5 percent), and Tulsa is 26th (36.4 percent). Rice is 34th with opponents shooting 36.8 percent.
The Lady Techsters also stand fourth in rebound margin (+12.6) and 10th in scoring offense, scoring 80.7 points a game.
LA. TECH'S LASSITER REMAINS PERFECT FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE Louisiana Tech guard Brooke Lassiter has now hit 36-straight free throws dating back to last season. This year, the senior leads the WAC in free throw percentage making all 30 that she has attempted. Last season, Lassiter led the nation in free throw percentage with a mark of .910 (111-122).
NON-CONFERENCE MARK WAC teams are 47-45 (.511) in non-conference games. The WAC is 2-10 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 (1-1); SMU (0-1) and Tulsa (0-1).
IN THE POLLS Louisiana Tech remains the only WAC team ranked in both the Associated Press and the ESPN polls. This week, the Lady Techsters remained in the top 10 in both polls, earning the No. 8 position in the USA Today/ESPN poll and No. 9 in the Associated Press poll. This is the highest ranking for Louisiana Tech since the Lady Techsters took the No. 6 ranking in the Associated Press poll on December 3. Despite a loss to Rice last week, Hawai`i earned four votes in the USA Today/ESPN poll.
ON A ROLLLouisiana Tech extended its WAC winning streak to seven games, winning all of its WAC games this season. The Lady Techsters' overall winning streak reached 10 games with a win over SMU on January 20. The record for consecutive WAC wins is 14 by Colorado State (1998-99) and San Diego State (1994-95).
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC The WAC begins its fifth week of league play this week. The only remaining undefeated team, Louisiana Tech, will face two tough challenges this week. The Lady Techsters host third place Tulsa on January 24 and face second place Rice on January 26.
Nevada looks to extend its two-game winning streak on the road this week. The Wolf Pack will face Hawai`i on January 24 and will travel to San Jose State on January 26.
HALTING A STREAK Both Rice and Louisiana Tech are in the midst of long winning streaks. The Owls have won a season-high six-straight games, while the Lady Techsters have won 10 straight. One of these streaks will come to a halt when the two teams meet for the first time in Ruston, La. on January 26. The Lady Techsters have not lost since losing three straight to No. 2 Tennessee, No. 5 Duke and No. 1 Connecticut. The matchup between the two top teams will be televised on Fox Sports Net Southwest.
AROUND THE LEAGUE News and notes from around the WAC.
Boise State won its first WAC game and ended its seven-game losing streak with a win on the road against Fresno State. The Broncos edged the Bulldogs, 79-76, for their first win in the WAC. Boise State heads into this week's action with a 1-7 WAC record.
Fresno State defeated UTEP 93-63 for its biggest win under head coach Britt King. The 30 point win was the biggest in King's three years at Fresno State. The 93 points was the most that the Bulldogs have scored since the 1992-93 season when the Bulldogs defeated Sacramento State 105-103 in overtime.
Hawai`i snapped a two-game losing streak, defeating Tulsa for the Hurricane's second loss in as many games. The Wahine lost back-to-back games to the top two teams in the league, but rebounded against the Hurricane who entered last weekend undefeated in WAC action.
Louisiana Tech has won its first seven WAC games due in part to the strong play of junior Cheryl Ford. The center has recorded five double-doubles in seven WAC games. Ford added her fifth double-double against SMU with 13 points and 11 rebounds. With the 68-45 win over SMU, the Lady Techsters held their 10th opponent under 59 points.
Nevada broke a three-game losing streak with a 77-66 win over UTEP on January 17. The Wolf Pack extended its winning streak to two with a win over Boise State. It was the first time that Nevada had won two straight since Nov. 24-25 when the Wolf Pack defeated San Francisco and UC Riverside.
Rice had its best defensive showing of the season with a 57-43 win over Hawai`i. The Owls held the Wahine to 20.0 percent shooting from the field. Rice also forced 21 turnovers with 12 steals. Against Hawai`i, sophomore Johnetta Hayes matched the Rice record for blocks in a game with six.
San Jose State moved to 4-3 in league play after defeating Tulsa and losing to Rice. The Spartans handed the Hurricane their first WAC loss of the season.
SMU sophomore Andrea Cossey is closing in on the individual season record for three-point field goal attempts. She has attempted 102 through 14 games. She is on track to break her freshman record of 150 three-pointers attempted.
UTEP junior Kimya Murray is also on pace to break a record. Murray is on pace to break the single-season record for three-pointers made. She has 34 made through 14 games. The current record is 65 by Amy Billhymer in the 1996-97 season.
TULSA junior Alyssa Shriver had two blocked shots against San Jose State to become the career leader with 47 blocked shots. Shriver added a block against Hawai`i to also earn the single-season record. The Iowa State transfer set a single-game record with seven blocks against then No. 4 Oklahoma on November 17.
CAREER LEADERS A few WAC players are moving their way up some of the WACs career records lists:
Rebound Average1. 10.2 Tanya Zachary, Utah, 1990-92
10. 7.7 Omelogo Udeze, FS, 1999-02
3-Point Field Goals Made1. 365 Becky Hammon, CSU, 1995-99
8. 190 Lindsay Logan, FS, 1999-02
Blocked Shots1. 268 Debbie Demond, BYU, 1991-95
2. 251 Michelle Suman, SDSU, 1991-95
3. 167 Christen Roper, UH, 1999-02
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 will also be Tulsa.
NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS WAC teams have faced 15 non-conference opponents that played in last years NCAA Tournament and 13 teams that participated in the 2001 postseason WNIT. The reults are as follows:
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
Utah 72, Nevada 53
Tulsa 75, Oral Roberts 58
Idaho State 68, Boise State 52
LSU 72, Rice 47
Rice 72, Notre Dame 61