WAC BASKETBALL NOTEBOOKPLAYER OF THE WEEK Louisiana Techs Cheryl Ford has been named the Western Athletic Conference womens basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 31-Jan. 6.
Ford, a junior from Summerfield, La. (Summerfield HS), earned her first Player of the Week honor after averaging 20.0 points and 10.5 rebounds in WAC wins over UTEP and Boise State. Ford earned the Lady Techsters second player of the week honor this year with senior Ayana Walker earning the honor the first week of the season.
The center shot 73.0 percent (16-22) from the field and 89.0 percent (8-9) from the free throw line in the Lady Techster wins. In two games, Ford scored 40 points in 37 minutes of action, scoring a team-high 18 points against Boise State. The junior recorded her second double-double of the season against UTEP with 22 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
Also nominated: Aritta Lane, Fresno State; Janka Gabrielova, Hawaii; Kate Smith, Nevada; Elisa Inman, Rice; Kenni Patton, SMU; Kimya Murray, UTEP and Alyssa Shriver, Tulsa
OTHERS NOMINATED Fresno State's Aritta Lane recorded her fifth double-double of the season against Tulsa with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Against Rice, the freshman forward led the Bulldogs with 14 points. Lane averaged 12.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in two games.
Hawai`i's Janka Gabrielova scored a season-high 21 points, adding six assists as the Wahine defeated San Jose State for their fifth-straight win of the season. The senior guard added two steals and two blocks in the win.
Nevada's Kate Smith scored in double digits in two Wolf Pack losses. The junior forward scored 17 points with nine rebounds against Tulsa. Smith scored 15 points with six rebounds against Rice.
Rice's Elisa Inman came off the bench to lead the Owls in wins over Fresno State and Nevada. The sophomore forward scored 17 points against Fresno State with seven rebounds. In the low scoring win over the Wolf Pack, Inman was the only Owl to score in double digits, posting 10 points.
SMU's Kenni Patton has averaged 12.4 points over the last five games. The junior guard collected a season-high three steals against Boise State.
UTEP's Kimya Murray led the Miners to a win over SMU for the first time since the 1974-75 season. The junior scored 23 points with three rebounds and three assists against the Mustangs. Against No. 13 Louisiana Tech, Murray scored 20 points.
Tulsa's Alyssa Shriver averaged 16.0 points in two games for the Hurricane. The junior center scored 15 points in a win versus Nevada and added 17 points against Fresno State.
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 11 11 11
Boise St. 196 190 189
Fresno St. 202 200 200
Hawai`i 27 24 25
La. Tech 41 44 40
Nevada 139 139 139
Rice 94 80 80
San Jose St. 155 146 145
SMU 144 149 148
UTEP 268 269 274
Tulsa 106 104 104
SMU'S ROMPOLA WINS 200th GAME SMU head coach Rhonda Rompola reached the 200 win plateau with a 62-56 win over Boise State. Rompola, who is in her 11th season at SMU, has an overall record of 200-111 (.643).
NATIONAL LEADERS Several WAC players are among the leaders in NCAA statistics. Through Dec. 17, Nevada's Laura Ingham is tied for 26th in assists per game (6.13 apg). Hawai`i's Christen Roper is second in the nation in blocked shots averaging 4.14 blocks per game. The next NCAA statistics will be released on Jan. 9.
LASSITER REMAINS PERFECT FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE Louisiana Tech guard Brooke Lassiter has now hit 32-straight free throws dating back to last season. This year, the senior leads the WAC in free throw percentage making all 26 that she has attempted. Last season, Lassiter led the nation in free throw percentage with a mark of .910 (111-122).
TWO FOR ONE Hawai`i sophomore Kim Willoughby, an All-American middle blocker for the Wahine volleyball team, had her first standout performance on the basketball court against San Jose State. The Napoleanville, La., native had her first career double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds. On the basketball court, the 2001 WAC volleyball Player of the Year has played in four games and averages 8.0 points per game.
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 is the only WAC team ranked in both the Associated Press and the ESPN polls. This week, the Lady Techsters are ranked No. 13 in the USA Today/ESPN poll and No. 11 in the Associated Press poll. Hawai`i received a season-high 25 votes in the USA Today/ESPN poll.
With wins over UTEP and Boise State, the Lady Techsters rose in the Associated Press poll by two spots, but fell by the same margin in the USA Today/ESPN poll.
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC The WAC begins its third week of league play this week. Two of the three undefeated teams will face each other this week. On Sunday, Jan. 13, Louisiana Tech (4-0) and Hawai`i (2-0) will face off in Honolulu. Unbeaten Tulsa takes on UTEP on Jan. 10 and Boise State on Jan. 12.
AROUND THE LEAGUE Boise State will look for its first WAC win this week at home. The Broncos will have a tough task taking on Rice on Jan. 10 and facing undefeated Tulsa on Jan. 12.
Fresno State has been tough at home this season. The Bulldogs have a 5-2 record in the North Gym and begin a three-game homestand this week. Fresno State's home losses this season have come against a ranked team (Louisiana Tech) and a team that has received votes (Santa Clara).
Hawai`i improved to 2-0 this season in WAC games with a home win against San Jose State. The Wahine increased their overall winning streak to five games, the longest of the season. Hawai`i has not lost since a Dec. 7 loss to No. 11 Baylor.
Louisiana Tech improved its winning streak to seven games after starting the season 2-3. Through four WAC games, the Lady Techsters have seven players averaging in double figures.
Nevada's Laura Ingham leads the WAC in two categories. The junior guard leads the league in assists with 5.38 per game and steals with 2.69 per game.
Rice post players came up big in the win against Fresno State. Sophomores Elisa Inman (17 points) and Johnetta Hayes (11 points) along with senior Daneesh McIntosh (10 points) totaled half of the Owls offense and over half of the rebounds.
San Jose State may have fallen to Hawai`i 81-67, but the Spartans fought in the second half. San Jose State was down 40-17 at halftime and 55-29 with less than 13 minutes remaining. The Spartans outscored the Wahine 31-16 in the next 10 mintues to cut the lead to 71-60, but could get no closer.
SMU dressed only eight players in its last six games due to injuries. Freshman Keely Cox underwent surgery to repair her torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season.
UTEP won its first WAC contest in over a year with a 76-73 win over SMU. The Miners have been led by junior college transfers Kimya Murray and Dragana Zoric. Murray is averaging 15.8 points, while Zoric averages 14.0 points.
TULSA is off to its best start in school history with an 8-5 record. The 1983-84 Hurricane squad started the season 7-5. Tulsa is also in the midst of a four-game winning streak which matches the school record for consecutive wins of the 1999-2000 team.
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 have faced 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
Utah 72, Nevada 53.
Idaho State 68, Boise State 52
LSU 72-47
Rice 72, Notre Dame 61