|
Related Material
|
11.25.PDF
|
PLAYER OF THE WEEK Boise States Jamie Hawkins has been named the Western Athletic Conference womens basketball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 17-23. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor for the sophomore who earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors last season. This is the first player of the week honor for a Boise State player since Abby Vaughan during the 2001-02 season.
Hawkins played and started in both of the Broncos games last weekend when Boise State split to open the 2003-04 campaign on the road in Colorado Springs, Colo. Hawkins was the leading scorer for all teams in both games of the Radisson Inn Air Force Classic with 39 points for a 19.5 points per game average to earn her all-tournament team honors.
Against Dayton in a 73-71 loss, she recorded 13 of her 15 points in the second half after sitting on the bench for 16 minutes of the first half because of early foul trouble. On Nov. 22 against the host Air Force Academy, Hawkins responded with a career high 24 points in 26 minutes to lead the Broncos to a five point 71-66 victory over the Falcons. For the weekend Hawkins hit 62.5 percent (15-of-24) of her shots from the floor and was a dominant force under the hoop for Boise State.
Also nominated: Kate Beckler, Rice; Cricket Williams, San Jose State; Angie McGee, UTEP and Jillian Robbins, Tulsa.
RETURNING WAC AWARDS WINNERS Several of the WACs top performers return in 2003-04. Three first team all-WAC players return, including Louisiana Techs Trina Frierson, Rices Johnetta Hayes and San Jose States Cricket Williams. Williams is a two-time first-team all-WAC honoree. Louisiana Techs Amber Obaze and Erica Smith-Taylor are the only second team all-WAC performers returning. Four of the five players named to the all-Newcomer Team return, including SMUs Sarah Davis, UTEPs Kia Dowell and Vaida Zagurskyte and the WAC Freshman of the Year Jamie Hawkins from Boise State. Only two members of the all-Defensive team return this season, Louisiana Techs Amber Obaze and Erica Smith-Taylor.
PRESEASON RANKINGS Two preseason publications (Athlon and Lindys) ranked the top schools in the country. Lindys ranked the Lady Techsters No. 14 after a 31-3 finish last season. Athlon gave Louisiana Tech a No. 12 ranking for a team that lost only one starter in two-time WAC Player of the Year Cheryl Ford. Both publications pick defending national champions, UConn, first followed by Duke.
TOP STATISTICAL LEADERS RETURN Four of the WACs top 10 scorers are back, led by San Jose States Cricket Williams (20.4 ppg), who was second in the WAC in scoring last season. Two of the top five field goal percentage leaders are back, led by Louisiana Techs Trina Frierson, who led the conference with a .529 percentage. Two of the top five rebound leaders return, including first-team all-WAC honoree, Johnetta Hayes from Rice, who was third in rebounding (8.0 rpg) last season. Six of the top 10 assist leaders return, led by San Jose States Williams, who was second in the league with 6.86 assists per game. Cricket Williams is also the leading returner in steals (2.89 spg). She is one of the six steal leaders returning out of the top 10. The WAC loses all-time block leader Christen Roper of Hawaii. Rices Hayes is the leading returner, averaging 2.46 bpg.
GERVASONI TAKES REINS IN NEVADA The University of Nevada named Kim Gervasoni as its new women's head basketball coach.
Gervasoni was the top assistant the past three years at Arizona State and was the highly-successful head coach at Solano (Calif.) Community Collge for eight years prior to her stay in Tempe, Ariz. She has also been an assistant coach at DeAnza (Calif.) College and at Logan High School in Union City, Calif.
In her three years at Arizona State, she helped take the Sun Devils from the bottom half of the league to back-to-back PAC-10 titles and three straight post-season appearances during her tenure there, including two straight NCAA bids.
As a recruiter, she helped bring in two top-25 classes at Arizona State, including a top-10 group in 2003. Additionally, the team grade point average was above 3.0 each of her three years in Tempe.
WAC TOURNAMENT TRAVELS WEST TO FRESNO For the first time since the 1999-00 season, Fresno State will serve as the host for the Men and Womens WAC Basketball Tournament. The 2004 tournament will be held in the new 16,116-seat Save Mart Center. The seven through 10 teams will play on Tuesday, March 9. The remaining eight teams will play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 10 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.
AROUND THE COURT Boise State sophomore center Jamie Hawkins claimed two early season honors following last weekends season opening games at the Radisson Inn Air Force Classic in Colorado Springs, Colo. She was named to the all-tournament team and was named the WAC Player of the Week for Nov. 17-23. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor for the sophomore who earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors last season. This is also the first player of the week honor for a Boise State player since Abby Vaughan during the 2001-02 season. Hawkins played and started in both of the Broncos games last weekend when Boise State split to open the 2003-04 season. Hawkins was the leading scorer for all teams at the Radisson Inn Air Force Classic with 39 points for a 19.5 points per game average to earn her all-tournament team honors.
Fresno State lost its opener to Washington State on the road. This week, the Bulldogs play their first regular season games at the new Save Mart Center, hosting the seventh annual Fresno State Classic. The Bulldogs take on the Univ. of Louisiana-Monroe in the opening round on Friday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m.
Hawaii lost its first season-opener in 15 years when it fell to Lipscomb, 69-63. Hawaii finished in fourth in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort Classic. Senior April Atuaia was named to the all-Tournament team. The Rainbow Wahine look for their first win when Hawaii hosts the 25th Annual Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic on Nov. 28-30.
Louisiana Tech senior Amisha Carter recorded a career-high 13 rebounds and a career-high five steals in the win over Illinois, registering her first double double of the year with 13 points. Despite shooting only 31 percent (23-of-73) from the field and committing 17 turnovers, the Lady Techsters defeated the Big Ten foe on its home court. Senior forward Trina Frierson saw her first action of the year, scoring 14 points and grabbing five rebounds in the win. With the win over Illinois, Louisiana Tech is now 32-9 all-time against current members of the Big Ten Conference.
Nevada opened the season 0-2 after road losses to San Diego and San Diego State to start head coach Kim Gervasoni's Wolf Pack career. After its four-day road trip, Nevada will get to return to Lawlor Events Center for a five game home stand beginning with Northern Arizona on Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. After the Lumberjacks open the stand, BYU comes to town on Dec. 2, followed by UNLV on Dec. 6, Santa Clara on Dec. 7 and Sacramento State on Dec. 13. Nevada has a 15-game series against NAU, going 4-11. The last meeting between the two was in the 1999-2000 season, when Nevada took a 72-61 win in Reno.
Rice opened the season with a loss at Kent State, marking only the second time since the 1999-2000 season Rice has lost its season opener. Junior Anne Peck scored 12 points, including shooting 5-for-9 from the field and 1-for-1 from long range. Senior Johnetta Hayes led the team with 13 rebounds (four offensive, nine defensive). The Lady Owls fell to SEC power Arkansas on Nov. 24. The Lady Owls now prepare for14th-ranked LSU on Nov. 29 at home.
San Jose State had four players scored in double figures as the Spartans Jose State won their season opener at Cal State Northridge, 71-54. Cricket Williams led all Spartan scorers with 18 points. Chenne Tuimoloau added 12 points. Tatiana Taylor had 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Teoma Taylor scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds. Jessica Kellogg dished out five assists in the victory. One downside for the Spartans was the 24 turnovers the team committed during the game. The team did shoot 43.6 percent from the field for the game.
SMU opened up the 2003-04 campaign (and a four-game home stand) with Metroplex rival TCU for Monday night basketball. SMU lost to the Horned Frogs, 74-64. SMU is now 15-13 in season openers, having won its last four openers in a row. SMUs non-conference schedule in 2003 is as tough as ever, with last years schedule ranked 22nd nationally by the WBCA. The Mustangs will be tested with five of those games on the road in December, facing San Diego State, USC, North Texas, Maine, and New Hampshire away from Moody Coliseum. This weeks SMU Hoops for the Cure Classic features national powerhouse Texas Tech, Michigan, and Texas-Arlington. Junior guard transfer Juli Colli tore her left ACL in a preseason scrimmage and will miss the entire 2003-04 season. Surgery is scheduled for sometime in December.
UTEP continues its five-game road trip with stops in San Antonio, Texas, and another in Lawrence, Kan., before returning home to the
Don Haskins Center. The trip which will cover a grand total of 1,720 miles, opened when the Miners fell 53-50 at New Mexico State. The five games away from El Paso to open the year are the most since the start of the 1986-87 season. UTEP played its first 11 games away from El Paso to open the 1982-83 season. The Miners will host Cal Poly on Dec. 16. UTEP UTEP is 0-1 after falling 53-50 in the season opener on Nov. 23 at New Mexico State. Junior Angie McGee scored a career-high 17 points in the season opener. UTEPs fall to NMSU came partially in part due to 21 turnovers and 5-for-10 free throw shooting. On the upside, the Miners did out rebound the Aggies 38-28.
Tulsa redshirt freshman Jillian Robbins played in the first game of her collegiate career. She came off the bench to score a team-high 11 points, grabbed eight rebounds and came away with three crucial steals to lead the Golden Hurricane to a 58-56 victory over Big 12 Conference member, Oklahoma State, at the Bertha Teague Classic in Oklahoma City.
For her effort, she was named Tulsa team MVP for the game.
PERSONNEL CAPSULE San Jose State is the only WAC team to return all five starters, while defending WAC Champion Louisiana Tech and Rice both return four starters. Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada and SMU all return three, while Hawaii, UTEP and Tulsa only return two starters. After returning only two starters last season, the Lady Techsters have four starters and eight letterwinners this season, including all-WAC honorees Trina Firerson, Erica Smith and Amber Obaze. Rice returns the most letterwinners with 10. Fresno State, Louisiana Tech and Tulsa each have eight 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 3 3 2
Fresno State 8 5 3 2
Hawaii 7 6 2 3
Louisiana Tech 8 3 4 1
Nevada 6 4 3 3
Rice 10 4 4 1
San Jose State 7 5 5 0
SMU 7 4 3 2
UTEP 6 7 2 3
Tulsa 8 3 2 3
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS The following players have been named to all-tournament teams.
Jamie Hawkins, Boise State Air Force Classic
April Atuaia Waikiki Beach Marriott Classic
Jillian Robbins, Tulsa Bertha Teague Classic*
*Tournament MVP