PLAYER OF THE WEEK Louisiana Tech's Cheryl Ford has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 20-26. This is the second career WAC Player of the Week honor for the 2001-02 WAC Player of the Year. This is the first Louisiana Tech player of the week this season.
The senior from Summerfield, La., led Louisiana Tech to two wins last week against Tulsa and Rice. She helped the Lady Techsters retain sole possession of first place in the WAC. The Lady Techsters have now won seven-straight WAC games this season and 13-straight games overall.
Ford averaged 15.5 points and 18.0 rebounds in the wins, while recording double-doubles in both games. Against Tulsa, she recorded a new career-high with 20 rebounds, the most by a Louisiana Tech player in 22 years. Ford scored 15 points against the Golden Hurricane and 16 points against the Lady Owls.
For the season, she averages 12.9 points per game and a WAC-leading 12.6 rebounds per game.
OTHERS NOMINATED Also nominated: Christen Roper, Hawai'i; Cricket Williams, San Jose State; Sarah Davis, SMU and Vaida Zagurskyte.
Hawaii's Roper averaged 14.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg and 4.5 bpg in wins over Fresno State and Nevada. She scored 14 points, grabbed nine rebounds, blocked seven shots and tied her career high with three assists in a, 64-43, win over Fresno State.
San Jose State's Williams led the Spartans to two wins, remaining a perfect 4-0 in WAC games at The Event Center. Against Nevada, Cricket posted her third double-double of the season scoring 16 points and 11 rebounds. With eight assists against the Wolf Pack, she barely missed a triple-double.
SMU's Davis posted back-to-back double-doubles, shooting .450 from the field and .538 from three-point range. Over the last four games, she has averaged 17.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 assists per game off of .622 shooting (25-of-45) and .520 from three-point range (13-of-25).
UTEP's Zagurskyte led UTEP to its fifth-consecutive home victory against Boise State on Jan.25. She scored 25 points, while going 9-for-14 from the floor also grabbing two rebounds and with three assists.
TICKETS ON SALE FOR WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NCAA FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS IN RUSTON The Thomas Assembly Center will once again play host to the NCAA Tournament as Louisiana Tech will be one of 16 sites for the 2003 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball first and second rounds.
Louisiana Tech and Ruston will host the first and second rounds March 23 and 25. Four teams will compete at the Ruston site.
Tickets are already on sale for the two-day event that will feature three games, two first-round contests on March 23 and a single second-round game on March 25. This year marks the first time that ESPN will televise all 63 games of the women's tournament, including the three in Ruston.
Season ticket holders can currently purchase tickets for their regular seats for the first- and second-rounds. Only ticket packages for the entire event can be purchased (no single game tickets will be sold), adult ticket packages starting at $15 while college and high school students ticket packages are $12.
For more information or to purchase tickets for the first and second rounds, call the Louisiana Tech Ticket Office at 318- 257-3631.
MARQUEE MATCHUPS In the 11th week of women's basketball action, Tulsa and Hawaii battle for second place in the WAC. The Hurricane, Rainbow Wahine and SMU Mustangs are all tied for second at 5-2. Tulsa and Hawaii will face off in Tulsa on Feb. 1. This is the first matchup between the teams this season. SMU takes on UTEP and Boise State on the road this week in hopes of taking sole possession of second. First-place Louisiana Tech will also take on the Miners and the Broncos. The Lady Techsters place their 13-game winning streak on the line. Looking to break a different streak, Nevada travels to Fresno State. The Wolf Pack have lost nine-straight games.
HOME COOKIN' Last week in nine WAC games, the home team won every game. WAC teams are 58-25 (.699) on their home courts this season. San Jose State has just one loss at home this season and are a perfect 4-0 in conference games at home. Conversely, they have just one road win and are 0-3 in WAC road games. Louisiana Tech also has only one home loss this season (7-1) to No. 4 Tennessee. Eight of the 10 WAC schools have better than .500 records at home this season with only Boise State and Nevada holding records under .500.
ON A ROLL Louisiana Tech's current 13-game winning streak is the longest this season in the WAC. The Lady Techsters have not lost since losing to No. 5 Tennessee, 60-35, on Dec. 4. Their current winning streak is the fourth longest in the country. Tulsa had its season-high six-game winning streak broken by Louisiana Tech last week. Nevada had a five-game winning streak earlier in the season. Four other squads had three-game winning streaks, Fresno State, SMU, Tulsa and Hawaii two times. The Wolf Pack are currently in the midst of a different streak, losing nine straight.
DUAL-SPORT ATHLETES The addition of junior Java Johnson has paid immediate dividends for Fresno State, as she is averaging 7.6 ppg and 6.6 rpg. She has produced double-digit totals in either points or rebounds in six games since joining the team from the Bulldog volleyball team. Johnsons best performance thus far came against Tulsa, notching her first career double-double. In volleyball, Johnson was a 2002 first-team all-WAC selection and named to the 2002 AVCA all-West Region squad.
Two-time All-American left-side hitter Kim Willoughby is also making an impact on the basketball court. After leading Hawaii to the volleyball Final Four, Willoughby returned to the basketball court. She also played basketball last season, earning WAC all-Tournament honors for both volleyball and basketball. This season, the junior is averaging 9.4 ppg and 5.0 rpg.
BUDKE NAMED TO NJCAA HALL OF FAME Louisiana Tech head coach Kurt Budke will be one of three inductees in the 2003 Class for the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame, which was announced by the NJCAA Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Budke, who will have the distinction of being the youngest coach ever inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame, joins Clemson coach Jim Davis and former Stephen F. Austin coach Mary Ann Otwell in this year's class.The ceremony will occur at the Player Banquet March 17 prior to the NJCAA Division I National Championship game. Prior to accepting the associate head coach position at Louisiana Tech in 2000, Budke built Trinity Valley Community College into the premiere women's junior college program in the country, amassing an incredible record of 226 wins and only 16 losses during his seven seasons at the Athens, Texas, based school.
NON-CONFERENCE MARK WAC teams are 53-45 (.541) in non-conference games. The WAC is 3-11 against non-conference teams that are ranked or were ranked in the top 25. Louisiana Tech is 2-1 after defeating then-No. 7 Texas Tech and then-No. 25 New Mexico, but falling to No. 5 Tennessee. Tulsa is 0-4 after falling to then-No. 24 Mississippi State, then-No. 22 Oklahoma, No. 13 Arkansas and No. 1 Duke. SMU has a win over Oklahoma and a loss to Boston College.
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 jumped up two spots to No. 9 in the AP poll which is their highest ranking since Nov. 25 when they were ranked No. 10 by both polls. Louisiana Tech moved up to No. 10 in the ESPN poll. SMU received votes in the ESPN poll for the first time this season.
WAC ROUNDUP Boise State fell to 1-6 in the WAC last week with a loss to UTEP, 85-75 in El Paso. The Broncos have now lost three-straight games after capturing their first WAC game of the season. Boise State looks to get back on track this week at home, but will have a tough task taking on first place Louisiana Tech and second place SMU.
Fresno State's road trip to Honolulu and San Jose last weekend didnt turn out as planned with the Bulldogs dropping back-to-back games for just the second time this year. The road struggles are nothing new for the Bulldogs who are just 2-6 in away games this year and are now just 10-56 on the road combined over the past six seasons. Fresno State has not finished with a winning record away from the North Gym since going 6-5 in 1989-90.
Hawaii blocked a season-high 11 blocked shots in beating Fresno State for the 15th-straight time. Nevada became the first team to shoot 50 percent or better against Hawaii in the last 47 games. Despite the strong Wolf Pack shooting, the Rainbow Wahine held on for a 58-57 win. Christen Roper scored 14 points, grabbing seven rebounds and blocked two shots in the come-from-behind win over Nevada. She scored 14 points with nine rebounds, blocked seven shots against Fresno State. With 250 career blocks, the senior center trails Michelle Suman by just one block for second on the all-time WAC list.
Louisiana Tech took sole possession of first place with wins over Tulsa and Rice last week. The Lady Techsters have now won 13-straight games after a 97-47 win over instate rival Centenary on Jan. 27. Going back to last season, the Lady Techsters have won 10-straight WAC regular season games. Louisiana Tech's last and only WAC loss was Feb. 21, 2002 against Rice in Houston. Their current winning streak is the fourth longest in the country. This week, Louisiana Tech looks to extend its winning streak on the road against UTEP and Boise State.
Nevada came closer to capturing its first WAC game of the season last week. In losses to San Jose State and Hawaii, the Wolf Pack lost by a total of four points. Nevada came within a point of upsetting the Rainbow Wahine on the road. Nevada has now lost nine-straight games. The Wolf Pack's last WAC win was a, 79-56, win over UTEP on Feb. 16, 2002.
Rice fell in a to tie for sixth (3-4) in the WAC with losses to Louisiana Tech and SMU last week. The Lady Owls are tied with UTEP. This week, Rice looks to improve its place in the standings at home against Hawaii (5-2) and San Jose State (4-3). Junior center Johnetta Hayes is among the leader in the WAC in several categories. Hayes is second in field goal percentage (.495) behind San Jose State's Tatiana Taylor. She is also third in the league in rebounding (8.6 rpg).
San Jose State had two double-doubles last week. Junior guard Cricket Williams had 16 points and 11 rebounds against Nevada. Junior forward Tatiana Taylor had 13 points and 13 rebounds in a Jan. 25 win against Fresno State. For both Williams and Taylor, it was their third double-double of the season. Williams and Jessica Kellogg are second and third respectively in the conference in steals. As a team, San Jose State is first overall in the conference, averaging 11.00 steals each game.
SMU guard Andrea Cossey posted her fourth 20-point game of the season with 20 points against Rice. Freshman guard Kendall Shead set an SMU freshman game record with 10 assists against Tulsa. The Mustangs are in the midst of turnaround. After 17 games last season, the Mustangs held a 6-11 overall record and were 1-6 in WAC play. Taking into account of at least 12 games remaining on the schedule, Cossey needs to average 13.0 points per game to eclipse the 1,000-career point mark.
UTEP looks to extend its five-game home winning streak, which includes victories over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Denver, Nevada, Fresno State and Boise State. It is the longest home winning streak since the 1997-98 season, when the Miners defeated five teams in a row at home, the streak continued into the next season, growing to eight games. UTEP defeated New Mexico State, Lamar and Sul Ross State in its first three home games. UTEP's longest home winning streak is 10 games, which started during the 1991-92 season and ran eight games into the 1992-93 season.
Tulsa sophomore Alison Carney's 16 rebounds against SMU was the second-best single-game effort in school history and was just one shy of the school record. In two games last week, Tulsa senior Allison Curtin averaged 22.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.5 steals. She tallied a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds against Louisiana Tech. In five games this season against top-25 teams, Curtin is averaging 21.6 points and 7.2 rebounds. With her 19 points against SMU, Curtin has now scored at least one point in 114 of 115 career games and has reached double figures in 94 career games.
2003 WILLIAMS WAC TOURNAMENT The 2003 Williams WAC Tournament will be held March 11-15 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla. Both the women and men compete during the same week. On the womens side, the seven, eight, nine and 10 seeded teams will play on Tuesday, March 11. The remaining eight teams will all play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 12. The top seed faces the winner of the Tuesday eight-nine game. The No. 2 seed faces the winner of the seven-10 game, the No. 3 seed meets the No. 6 seed, while No. 4 is against No. 5. The winners will play in the semifinals on Friday and the championship game will be Saturday afternoon.
WILLIAMS IS TOURNAMENT SPONSOR For the third year in a row, Williams will be the WACs tournament sponsor. Williams, through its subsidiaries, connects businesses to energy, delivering innovative, reliable products and services. Williams information is available at www.williams.com.