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OFF AND RUNNING First year head coach Kurt Budke's debut as the Louisiana Tech head coach was successful as the No. 16 ranked Lady Techsters downed No. 7 Texas Tech 85-76 in the State Farm Tip-Off Classic in Knoxville, Tenn. Louisiana Tech is now 25-4 all-time in season openers. Louisiana Tech is now 3-1 all-time in the State Farm Tip-Off Classic. Senior center Cheryl Ford tied her career high with 24 points in the win and added 15 rebounds in a career-high 37 minutes. Louisiana Tech's four returning letter winners combined to score 70 of the 85 points in the victory. The Lady Techsters hit an impressive 26 of 31 free throws in the win over the Lady Raiders.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN This week all 10 WAC teams will be in action. Only two teams, Tulsa and Louisiana Tech have played games this season. Rice will take to the road at face Colorado on Nov. 22. UTEP will also travel to the Rocky Mountain state when they face Denver on Nov. 22. SMU and Tulsa will both host tournaments, while Fresno State will play in the Michigan State Tournament. Boise State will face Washington on Nov. 22. These will be the first games for new head coaches Stacy Johnson-Klein of Fresno State and Jen Warden of Boise State.
LOUISIANA TECH JUMPS INTO TOP 10 Following its 85-76 win over No. 7 Texas Tech in the State Farm Tip-Off Classic Nov. 10 in Knoxville, Louisiana Tech jumped six spots in the latest Associated Press women's basketball poll released Monday. The Lady Techsters opened the season ranked No. 16 but leaped to No. 10 following the season opening victory over the Lady Raiders. The Lady Techster's six-spot improvement was the largest in this week's poll. Despite not having played yet, Rice still received 10 votes in the USA Today/ESPN poll. In that poll, Louisiana Tech is also No. 10.
WAC ANNOUNCES WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES PRESEASON PICKS The Western Athletic Conference announced its women's basketball preseason poll and all-WAC teams, as voted on by the 10 head coaches in the league. For the second-straight season, Louisiana Tech was picked to win the WAC, while Lady Techster senior Cheryl Ford was selected the WAC's preseason player of the year.
Louisiana Tech, the defending regular season and tournament champions, received nine first place votes and 81 points. Rice captured second place with 72 points, and Hawai'i took third place with 64 votes. With 55 points Tulsa was voted fourth with San Jose State (43) and SMU (41) following closely behind in fifth and sixth place, respectively. Fresno State took seventh (39), while Nevada (26) was ranked eighth. Rounding out the poll, UTEP (18) was voted ninth followed by Boise State (11).
The coaches also voted on a first and second preseason all-WAC team. Louisiana Tech senior center Cheryl Ford, last season's player of the year, leads the list of first team honorees along with Lady Techster junior guard Amber Obaze. Fresno State senior guard Lindsay Logan was also named to the first team after ending last season tied for third in the league in scoring, averaging 15.0 ppg. San Jose State junior guard Cricket Williams also earned first team honors after leading the WAC in scoring (18.0 ppg) and steals (3.26 spg). Nevada senior Kate Smith rounds out the first team. Smith was tied with Logan in scoring last season (15.0 ppg) and is ninth among the WAC career leaders in total free throws (384).
Second-team selections included April Atuaia (Hawai'i), Allison Curtin (Tulsa), Johnetta Hayes (Rice), Christen Roper (Hawai'i) and Alyssa Shriver (Tulsa).
NON-CONFERENCE MARK WAC teams are 2-1 (.667) in non-conference games. The WAC 1-1 against teams that were ranked or are ranked in the top 25 - Louisiana Tech is 1-0 after defeating then-No. 7 Texas Tech, while Tulsa is 0-1 after falling to then-No. 24 Mississippi State.
END OF AN ERA When the Bulldogs square off against Hawaii on Feb. 22, 2003 in the regular season finale, it will mark the final womens basketball contest to be played in the North Gym (capacity- 1,551). Thats because the Dogs will move into their new home, the Save Mart Center (capacity- 15,000-18,000), at the start of the 2003-04 season. All told, Fresno State will certainly be looking to improve on last years 7-7 mark in the North Gym.
BACK FOR MORE Head coach Janice Richard enters her fourth season at San Jose State, looking to improve upon the success of 2001-02. Last season she earned the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, her first coaching award at SJSU and fifth of her career. The Spartans 17-11 record last season was the first winning season since 1993-94, the 17 wins were the most for the program since 1978-79. San Jose States 12-6 record in the WAC was the most conference wins since 1978-79 and the first time the Spartans posted a +.500 record as a member of the WAC.
PRESEASON RANKINGS Three preseason publications (Athlon, Lindys and Street & Smiths) ranked the top schools in the country. Street & Smiths picked Louisiana Tech No. 8 in the country behind Duke, Tennessee, LSU, Notre Dame, Kansas State, Georgia and Stanford. Lindys ranked the Lady Techsters No. 14 after a 25-5 finish last season. Athlon gave Louisiana Tech a No. 18 ranking for a team that returns only two starters.
RETURNING WAC AWARDS WINNERS Several of the WACs top performers return in 2002-03. Three first team all-WAC players return, including Louisiana Techs Cheryl Ford, Nevadas Kate Smith and San Jose States Cricket Williams. Ford was the WAC Player of the Year and Williams led the WAC in scoring. Returning second team all-WAC performers are Fresno States Lindsay Logan and Louisiana Techs Amber Obaze. Four of the five of the players that made the all-Newcomer Team return, including Fresno States Aritta Lane, Louisiana Techs Erica Smith, Rices Elisa Inman and Tulsas Alyssa Shriver. Lane and Smith were WAC Co-Freshmen of the Year. Three members of the all-Defensive return this season, including Louisiana Techs Amber Obaze, Nevadas Laura Ingham and San Jose States Cricket Williams.
TOP STAT LEADERS RETURN Several of the WACs statistical also leaders. Six of the top 10 scorers are back, led by San Jose States Cricket Williams (18.0 ppg), who led the WAC in scoring last season. Four of the top five field goal percentage leaders are back, led by Tulsas Becky Heidotten, who led the conference with a .640 percentage. Four of the top five rebound leaders return, including WAC Player of the Year Cheryl Ford from La. Tech who was second in rebounding (8.7 rpg) last season. Seven of the top 10 assist leaders return, led by Nevadas Laura Ingham, who led the league with 6.18 assists per game. Scoring leader Cricket Williams also led the WAC in steals (3.26 spg). She is one of the nine steal leaders returning of the top 10. Tulsas Alyssa Shriver was the WAC leader in blocks with 2.56 per game.
BOISE STATE, LOUISIANA TECH AND FRESNO STATE ADD NEW COACHES Jen Warden, Kurt Budke and Stacy Johnson-Klein were named head coaches at Boise State, Louisiana Tech and Fresno State, respectively.
Warden spent the last 10 years as a member of the University of Colorado coaching staff where she helped guide the Buffaloes to the 2002 NCAA West Regional Final in Boise, Idaho. During her stay at Colorado, the Buffaloes qualified to the NCAA tournament seven times including three trips to the Elite Eight.
Louisiana Tech named Kurt Budke head women's basketball coach just one day after coaching legend Leon Barmore retired
after serving 20 years as the Lady Techsters head coach. Budke was Barmore's associate head coach the past two seasons. Budke's coaching career has also included being the head coach at Allen County (Kan.) Community College from 1992-94 and assistant coaching positions at Kansas City (Kan.) Community College (1990-92) and Friends University (1985-90).
Stacy Johnson-Klein was an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech for the last two seasons and helped the Lady Techsters to two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2001, Louisiana Tech advanced to the Elite Eight after it set a national record with six consecutive 30-win seasons. Last season, the Lady Techsters went 25-5, won the WAC regular season and tournament championship and were ranked No. 9 in the nation.
PERSONNEL CAPSULE Fresno State is the only WAC team to return all five starters, while Rice is the only team to return four. Boise State, Hawaii, Nevada, SMU and Tulsa all return three, while Louisiana Tech, San Jose State and UTEP only return two. After returning all five starters last season, the Lady Techsters return only two starters and four letterwinners this season, losing three starters and seven letterwinners. Rice returns the most letterwinners with 10, while Fresno State and Tulsa each return nine letterwinners. Following is a list of the teams and the number of letterwinners returning and lost and starters returning and lost:
Team LR LL SR SL
Boise State 7 4 3 2
Fresno State 9 4 5 0
Hawaii 8 5 3 2
Louisiana Tech 4 7 2 3
Nevada 7 4 3 2
Rice 10 4 4 1
San Jose State 7 4 2 3
SMU 7 3 3 2
UTEP 3 8 2 3
Tulsa 9 4 3 2
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN TULSA For the third-straight season, The University of Tulsa will serve as the host for the Men and Womens 2003 WAC Williams Basketball Tournament. All games will be played at the 8,335-seat Donald W. Reynolds Arena. The seven through 10 teams will play on Tuesday, March 11. The remaining six teams will play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 12 with the top seed competing versus the winner of the Tuesday game, the No. 2 seed vs. No. 7, etc. The winners will play in the semifinals on Friday and the championship game will be Saturday.
SINGLE-SEASON RECORDS Several WAC players made it into the single-season top 10 this season. Tulsa's Alyssa Shriver ended the season with 77 blocks good for fourth all-time in league history. Hawaii's Christen Roper was right behind Shriver with 75 blocks this season. The Hawaii junior holds the single-season record with 98 last season. Rice's Johnetta Hayes added to the total of four 2001-02 players that made a dent in the block records. Hayes finished seventh with 64 blocks, while Louisiana Tech's Cheryl Ford ended the season 12th with 52 blocks.
Tulsa's Becky Heidotten finished the season third in field goal percentage, shooting 64.0 percent. San Diego State's Michelle Suman holds the first two spots.
LA TECH WINS WILLIAMS WAC TOURNAMENT The women's championship was decided in the final minute, as Louisiana Tech pulled out a win against Hawaii. The Lady Techsters defeated the Rainbow Wahine, 53-50. La Tech's Ayana Walker was named the tournament MVP.
In the championship game, MVP Walker scored 14 points in the close win. Cheryl Ford scored 15 points with 13 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season. Walker, Ford and Obaze were La. Tech's three leading scorers entering the game. They combined to score 45 of the Lady Techsters 53 points, including 15 of the final 16 points down the stretch. Ford finished the game with 15 points and 13 rebounds, and was named to the WAC All-Tournament team.
Hawaii had three players in double figures, Christen Roper (12 points), Janka Gabrielova (11 points) and Kim Willoughby (12) all of whom made the all-tournament team. Willoughby was also named to the WAC Volleyball All-Tournament team in November.
RECORDS SET Several records were broken at this year's WAC Tournament. Individually, UTEP's Kimya Murray tied the record for three point field goals made in a game with six against SMU in the first round. Murray also tied the record for three pointers attempted with 14 in the same game. As a team, the UTEP squad set the record for three-pointers attempted in a game with 29 against SMU.
Hawaii's defense was responsible for several records falling. The Wahine and Nevada set the record for fewest points in a game with 86 in the quarterfinals (UH 54, Nevada 41). In the semifinals, Hawaii kept Rice to 36 total points. The previous record was 38 set in 1993 when San Diego State kept Fresno State to 38 points. As a team, Hawaii also had the best free throw percentage shooting 81.0 percent (34-42) in three games.
NATIONAL LEADERS The WAC ended the season with players ranked among the leaders in NCAA statistics. In the final NCAA stats, three WAC players are among the leaders in blocked shots per game. Tulsa's Alyssa Shriver finished the season 12th in the country in blocks, averaging 2.6 a game. Hawaii's Christen Roper was tied for 15th, averaging 2.4 blocks per game. Rice's Johnetta Hayes moved up to 17th from 19th with 2.4 blocks a game.
Louisiana Tech ended the season second in the nation in rebounding margin (13.4) and scoring margin (22.8). Hawaii was 15th in rebound margin (7.4) and 54th in scoring margin (7.5).
Four WAC schools were among the leaders in field goal percentage defense. La. Tech was second holding the opposition to a 33.0 field goal percentage. Hawaii was seventh in the country (34.6 percent). Tulsa was 19th (36.7 percent), and Rice was 21st (36.8 percent).
IMPROVEMENTS FROM LAST SEASON Three of the 10 WAC teams won as many games as they had last season: Rice, San Jose State and Tulsa. Tulsa won nine more games than last season's 8-21 finish. The Hurricane's 17 wins is the most ever by Tulsa. The 1983-84 team won 16.
20 SOMETHING Three WAC teams recorded 20 wins this season. Louisiana Tech has recorded at least 20 wins in 25 of its 28 seasons. Rice reached 20 wins in its last regular season game with its win over Tulsa. Hawaii also reached the 20-win plateau with 23 wins. The Wahine have had at least 20 wins for three-straight seasons.
ATTENDANCE The womens basketball tournament was attended by a total of 9,643 fans during the five sessions. The women averaged 1,929 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa. These numbers were an increase from the 2000-01season when the tournament was also held in Tulsa. In 2001, 8,776 fans attended the five sessions for an average of 1,755.