WAC BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK PLAYER OF THE WEEK Tulsas Becky Heidotten has been named the Western Athletic Conference womens basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 28-Feb. 3.
The sophomore center from Florissant, Mo., became the second Hurricane to earn the honor after center Alyssa Shriver was Player of the Week on Jan. 14. Heidotten led the Golden Hurricane to wins over Fresno State and Nevada to improve their WAC record to 8-3.
Heidotten averaged 14.0 points and 11.5 rebounds off the bench for Tulsa. She shot 65 percent from the field, while connecting on 2-of-3 free throw attempts. Against the Bulldogs, she scored 12 points with a career-high 15 rebounds, the third-best in Hurricane history. The double-double was the first of her two-year career at Tulsa. Against the Wolf Pack, she recorded a season-high 16 points off the bench.
OTHERS NOMINATED Fresno State's Lindsay Logan averaged 17.5 points and 4.0 assists in two losses to Tulsa and Rice. The junior guard is now third in the WAC in scoring and sixth in assists. She has also scored in double figures in 16 of the Bulldogs' 20 games.
Rice's Michelle Woods scored career highs of nine points and 12 rebounds in her first career start. Eleven of the 12 rebounds came from the defensive end, equaling the most defensive rebounds in a game by an Owl this season.
SMU's Kenni Patton helped the Mustangs break a five-game losing streak. She scored 25 points in two games with five assists and four steals. The junior guard is second on the team in scoring with 10.7 ppg.
NATIONAL LEADERS Several WAC players are among the leaders in NCAA statistics. Through Jan. 28, three WAC players are among the leaders in blocked shots per game. Tulsa's Alyssa Shriver jumped to fourth in the country in blocks after her 14 block performance against Louisiana Tech, averaging 3.4 a game. Hawaii's Christen Roper is sixth in the nation in blocked shots, averaging 3.3 blocks per game. Rice's Johnetta Hayes is 22nd with 2.4 blocks a game. Fresno State's Lindsay Logan is 15th in three-point field goals made, averaging 2.8 per game. The WAC's leading scorer, Cricket Williams from San Jose State, shows her versatility. She is 28th in steals per game (3.1).
CHART TOPPERS Hawaii and Louisiana Tech are both among the top five in the nation in several categories.
The Lady Techsters stand in second in rebound margin (+14.2), while the Wahine are 14th (8.2). La. Tech also stands second in scoring margin (24.3).
Hawaii holds the second spot in the country in field goal percentage defense (33.5). Three other WAC schools are among the country's leaders in field-goal percentage defense. Louisiana Tech jumped to third from 10th (33.8 percent), and Rice is 31st (36.8 percent). Tulsa moved to 32nd with opponents shooting 36.9 percent.
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 - Hawaii (0-2); Louisiana Tech (1-3); Nevada (0-2); Rice (1-1); SMU (0-1) and Tulsa (0-1).
THE WAC IN THE POLLS Louisiana Tech remained in the top 10 in both the Associated Press and the ESPN polls this week. The Lady Techsters remained in the No. 7 position in the USA Today/ESPN poll and dropped from No. 6 to No. 8 in 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. The Wahine garnered nine votes in the USA Today/ESPN poll.
RECORD WATCH Louisiana Tech extended its WAC winning streak to 11 games, winning all of its WAC games this season. The Lady Techsters' overall winning streak reached 14 games with wins over Tulsa on Jan. 24 and Rice on Jan. 26. The record for consecutive WAC wins is 14 by Colorado State (1998-99) and San Diego State (1994-95). Louisiana Tech is now three wins away from tying the WAC record with seven remaining WAC games before the WAC Tournament.
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC The WAC begins its seventh week of league play with four weeks remaining before the WAC Tournament. Louisiana Tech puts its 11-game WAC winning streak on the line against second place Hawaii in Ruston on February 7. The Lady Techsters will then face SMU February 9.
While first place Louisiana Tech and second place Hawaii battle each other, Tulsa and Rice, each tied at 3-3, will both face UTEP and Boise State.
FREQUENT FLYERS Hawaii has spent plenty of time in the air in the last few weeks. The Wahine have been on the road since January 17. During that stretch, Hawaii has won five-straight games for a 5-1 record during the road trip. They even added another trip, facing UTEP in a game that was suspended on December 30.
SHRIVER AND INGHAM SINGLE-GAME LEADERS Nevada guard Laura Ingham's 17 assists against UTEP on January 17 is tied for first in assists in a game in the nation this season. The junior is tied with Jess Cichowicz of James Madison who recorded 17 assists against Gardner-Webb.
Tulsa junior Alyssa Shriver is also a national leader this season. She broke the Tulsa and WAC record for blocks in a single game, recording 14 against Louisiana Tech on January 24. The 14 rejections were the most by any player in the nation this season and one shy of the NCAA record set by Amy Lundquist of Loyola Marymount on Dec. 20, 1992. Southern Mississippi's Sonja Brown is behind Shriver with 11 blocks
MIDSEASON TRENDS Throughout half of the season, most statistics are similar to the half way point of the 2001 season. This season, 66.9 is the average point total, while last season team's averaged 67.6 points per game.
The Big 12 scored the most points in a game, 73.7. The WAC scores an average of 65.5 points per game. The Big East allows the fewest points a game with 61.4. The WAC allows an average of 67.0 points per game.
AROUND THE LEAGUE News and notes from around the WAC.
Boise State concluded a three-game homestand with a 1-2 record. The Broncos now take to the road for two games. Boise State will travel to Tulsa on February 7 and Rice on February 9.
Fresno State has gotten a boost from newcomer Aritta Lane. Lane's 9.4 scoring average makes her the leading scorer among freshman in the WAC. She is also fourth in the league in rebounding with an 8.1 average.
Hawaii extended its current winning streak to five with wins over Fresno State, San Jose State and UTEP. The streak is the second longest of the season for the Wahine. From Dec. 9-Jan. 11, Hawaii won six-straight games. The Wahine will look to eclipse that streak this week against No. 7 Louisiana Tech and SMU on the road.
Louisiana Tech updated the record books a bit after its wins last week against Boise State and UTEP. Senior Ayana Walker tied Racquel Spurlock for second place in the Lady Techster record book in career blocks with 214. She also recorded her league-leading ninth double-double.
Nevada was 1-1 at home last week. The Wolf Pack returned home and upset Rice, 61-59. Nevada will play four of its last seven regular season games at home.
Rice rebounded from a two-game losing streak with a strong showing against Fresno State. Against the Bulldogs, freshman Michelle Woods took advantage of her first career start and scored nine points with 12 rebounds and five steals. Senior Daneesh McIntosh recorded her first double-double of the season and her fourth at Rice.
San Jose State's Jessica Kellogg scored 12 of her career-high 14 points during the Spartans 30-10 run in the second half against Hawaii. Her effort was not enough as the Spartans fell to the Wahine 66-57. San Jose State looks to get back on track against SMU on February 7 and La. Tech on February 9.
SMU broke a five-game losing streak with wins against Boise State and UTEP. The Mustangs 27-point win over UTEP was the largest margin of victory this season. The last time that SMU scored 80 or more points in a game was the 83-point performance against Eastern Michigan on Dec. 22.
UTEP broke a school record for three-pointers in a season with 102. The Miners set the record through only 18 games. The previous record was 98 which was set during both the 1990-91 season and the 1994-95 season.
TULSA senior Carla Morrow scored 17 points against Nevada and became just the third Tulsa player to reach the 1,000 point plateau. Morrow's fifth three-pointer of the game gave her exactly 1,000 points. She is also only the second player to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. The Golden Hurricane is only four wins away from recording the most wins in Tulsa history.
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 results 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