WAC BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
PLAYER OF THE WEEK Tulsa's Becky Heidotten has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 17-24.
The sophomore center from St. Louis, Mo., earned her second player of the week honor after leading the Hurricane to a win over SMU and close loss to Louisiana Tech. Heidotten was named player of the week for the week of Feb. 4. She is one of three Hurricane to earn the honor after center Alyssa Shriver was player of the week on Jan. 14 and Leela Farr on Feb. 11.
Heidotten averaged 16.0 points and 9.0 rebounds, while shooting 64.7 percent from the field. The sophomore was 10-for-10 from the free throw line. She came off the bench to tie her career-high with 21 points against SMU. She finished 7-of-9 with two blocks. She also added 10 rebounds for her second career double-double. Heidotten scored 11 points with eight rebounds in a 67-62 loss to Louisiana Tech.
OTHERS NOMINATED Fresno State's Aritta Lane scored 26 points with 24 rebounds in two Bulldog losses. The freshman forward added her seventh double-double of the season against Hawaii, scoring 16 points with 16 rebounds. She added 10 points in a loss to San Jose State.
Hawaii's Christen Roper averaged 10.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in two Wahine road wins. The junior center recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds in a 59-51 win over Nevada.
Louisiana Tech's Ayana Walker averaged 17.0 points and 13.0 rebounds as Louisiana Tech went 1-1 last week. The senior forward recorded her WAC-leading 11th and 12th double-doubles of the season in a loss to Rice and a win over Tulsa. Walker moved into 19th place on the Lady Techsters scoring list, moving past Racquel Spurlock.
Nevada's Ashley Bastian scored 13 points in both games to lead the Wolf Pack. The junior shot 50 percent from the field as the Wolf Pack fell to Hawaii and San Jose State at home. Bastian was a perfect three-for-three from three-point range against the Spartans.
Rice's Lindsey Maynard had a career-high six assists as the Owls upset Louisiana Tech at home. The sophomore guard scored 10 points in the win against Louisiana Tech and added 11 points in a win over SMU. Against the Mustangs, she added two blocks to the team total of 12, one shy of the school record.
San Jose State's Atari Parker led the Spartans in scoring in wins over Nevada and Fresno State. The guard averaged 14.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in the wins. She also added a season-high five assists and five steals against Fresno State.
UTEP's Kimya Murray broke the single-season school record for three pointers with 69. Murray leads the WAC in three-point field goals made a game. The guard shot 50 percent from three-point range in two losses for the Miners.
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.
NATIONAL LEADERS The WAC continues to have players rank among the leaders in NCAA statistics. Through February 18, three WAC players are among the leaders in blocked shots per game. Hawaii's Christen Roper is eighth in the nation in blocked shots, averaging 2.8 blocks per game. Tulsa's Alyssa Shriver is 12th in the country in blocks, averaging 2.7 a game. Rice's Johnetta Hayes is 23rd with 2.2 blocks a game.
Three WAC players are among the leaders in three point field goals per game. UTEP's Kimya Murray jumped to 16th from 17th, averaging 2.8 three-pointers a game. SMU's Andrea Cossey is 33rd with 2.6 per game, while Fresno State's Lindsay Logan is t36th, averaging 2.5 per game.
The WAC's leading scorer, Cricket Williams from San Jose State, shows her versatility. She is 19th in steals per game (3.4). Williams (26th, 6.0 apg) is also among the leaders in assists along with Nevada's Laura Ingham who is 8th (6.7 apg).
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC The WAC begins its final week of regular season play with the tournament seeds still up in the air. Louisiana Tech has secured the No. 1 seed with UTEP taking the 10th seed. The final week of play with determine the final eight spots in the tournament.
With Fresno State and SMU both holding a 4-12 record and Boise State entering the final week with a 5-11 record, the final week becomes crucial. The Bulldogs and the Mustangs will meet head-to-head on Saturday, March 2.
Rice (13-4) looks to secure the No. 2 seed this week. The Owls will have to defeat Tulsa (11-6) in its final WAC game. Hawai'i (12-4) takes on UTEP and Boise State in its final two WAC game also looking to secure the No. 2 seed.
The WAC Tournament bracket will be released on Sunday, March 3.
FIRST IN THE NATION Louisiana Tech still stands first in the nation in rebounding margin (16.5). The Lady Techsters overtook No. 1 Connecticut. Hawaii is 22nd in rebound margin (6.4).
The Lady Techsters continue to hold the second spot in scoring margin (26.4), just behind No. 1 Connecticut. In WAC games, the Lady Techsters have a scoring margin of 29.2. La. Tech is also fourth in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 53.8 points per game with the Wahine 23rd, allowing 58.5 points per game.
Four WAC schools are among the leaders in field goal percentage defense. La. Tech remains second holding the opposition to a 32.3 field goal percentage. Hawaii is ninth in the country (35.2 percent). Tulsa holding onto 19th spot (36.3 percent), and Rice is 36th (37.5 percent).
LA. TECH CAPTURES FIRST WAC TITLE One game after being upset by Rice, No. 6 Louisiana Tech captured its 20th win and its first Western Athletic Conference regular season title with a 67-62 win over Tulsa on the road.
The title was the Lady Techsters 10th-straight conference title after winning nine-straight Sun Belt crowns. This is now the 25th time in 28 seasons that La. Tech has won 20 or more games.
Louisiana Tech had won 77- straight games against conference opponents before falling to Rice on Feb. 21. The loss also halted the Lady Techsters WAC-record conference winning streak at 14. Louisiana Tech has won 15 of 16 conference games this season.
In all, Tech has won 13 regular season conference titles - among the American South, Sun Belt and Western Athletic - in only 15 years of league affiliation.
END OF A STREAK Louisiana Tech's 77-game conference winning streak ended against Rice. The streak began after an 88-86 loss to Western Kentucky during the 1997-98 season. Tech proceeded to win its last 11 Sun Belt Conference games that year and then recorded undefeated seasons in 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01 before winning its first 14 this year as a member of the WAC.
La. Tech's streak ranks third all-time behind only Texas (1978-1990) in the old Southwest Conference and Old Dominion (1995-2001) in the Colonial Conference. Only seven of the 77 wins were by fewer than 10 points.
The loss to Rice was the first ever for Tech's three four-year letter winners Brooke Lassiter, Takeisha Lewis and Ayana Walker.
NON-CONFERENCE MARK WAC teams are 47-46 (.505) in non-conference games. The WAC is 3-10 against teams that have been ranked or are ranked in the top 25 - Hawaii (0-2); Louisiana Tech (1-3); Nevada (0-2); Rice (2-1); SMU (0-1) and Tulsa (0-1).
THE WAC IN THE POLLS Despite the loss to Rice, Louisiana Tech remained in the top 10 in both the Associated Press and the ESPN polls this week. The Lady Techsters fell to the No. 9 position in both the USA Today/ESPN poll and the Associated Press poll. The highest ranking the Lady Techsters have had this season is No. 5 in the Associated Press poll on Nov. 19. After its upset win over Louisiana Tech, Rice received one vote in the ESPN poll.
RICE UPSETS LA. TECH With its 57-56 win over Louisiana Tech, Rice halted the Lady Techsters WAC-record winning streak at 14 games. The 14 wins ties the WAC record for consecutive WAC wins. The record was held by Colorado State (1998-99) and San Diego State (1994-95). The Lady Techsters' overall winning streak was stopped at 17 games.
The upset of the then-ranked No. 6 Lady Techters was the second time that the Owls has beaten a top 10 team.
NEARING THE RECORD Tulsa center Alyssa Shriver is nearing a WAC record. The junior is seven blocks away from the single-season record for blocks in WAC games. Shriver has 40 and the record of 47 is held by BYU's Debbie Dimond during the 1992-93 season.
AROUND THE LEAGUE News and notes from around the WAC.
Boise State has extended its winning streak to a season-high three games with a 74-53 win over UTEP. It is only the second this season that the Broncos posted two or more consecutive wins. On Dec. 14-16, the Broncos defeated Gonzaga and Washington, respectively.
Fresno State has shuffled its lineup a bit the last few games. The Bulldogs have started a different lineup each of the last seven games. This season, Fresno State has had 12 different starting lineups. No player has started all 26 games.
Junior Lindsay Logan moved up the Fresno State career scoring list again. The guard is sixth in Bulldog history with 1,192 points. She needs 82 points to move into fourth place. She is the 11th Bulldogs to reach 1,000 points. Logan joins former Bulldog Wendy Martell (1984-87) as the only Bulldogs to reach 1,000 points and 400 assists.
Hawaii is looking to reach the 20-win plateau this week. The Wahine (19-6) finished with a 26-8 record last season. If Hawaii reaches 20 wins, the Wahine will have achieved the feat seven of the last nine seasons. With two WAC games remaining, the Wahine have already reached the total of WAC games won during the 2000-01 season.
Louisiana Tech senior Takeisha Lewis recorded her 1,000th career point on a second half shot against Tulsa. She is the 31st Lady Techster to reach the plateau.
Senior guard Brooke Lassiter was named to the Verizon Academic District VI team. She is now eligible earn Verizon Academic All-American honors.
Nevada will end the regular season on the road against SMU and Louisiana Tech. The Wolf Pack are 2-9 on the road this season, 1-6 in WAC games away from Reno. The Wolf Pack's WAC road win came against UTEP, 79-56, on Feb. 16.
Rice topped last season's win total of 18 with two wins last week. In 2000-01 the Owls ended the season 18-12, 9-7 in the WAC. This season with one WAC game remaining, Rice is 19-7, 13-4 in WAC games.
San Jose State twins Tatiana and Teoma Taylor led the Spartans to win over Fresno State. The fraternal twins led San Jose State in scoring with Tatiana scoring 15 points and Teoma adding 12 points.
Sophomore Cricket Williams needs only six more free throws to break the San Jose State record of 127 set by Lora Alexander during the 1989-90 season.
SMU's 12 conference losses are the most for the Mustangs since the 1990-91 season when SMU posted a 4-12 record in the Southwest Conference. The Mustangs overall 17 losses are the most during head coach Rhonda Rompola's tenure (11 seasons). The most losses before this season was 12 during the 1991-92 and 2000-01 seasons.
UTEP has now dropped 14-straight conference games for its longest conference losing streak. UTEP had a 10-game losing streak during the 1990-91 season. The WAC record for consecutive league losses is 14 set by three different schools.
Tulsa senior Leela Farr became the fourth Tulsa player to reach the 1,000 point and 500 rebound mark. She scored her 1,000th point against Hawaii and her 500th rebound against San Jose State.
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 results are as follows:
NCAA Opponents
Louisiana 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