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PLAYER OF THE WEEK Fresno State's Aritta Lane has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec 8-14. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor for the junior. This is the first player of the week honor for Fresno State this season. The last Fresno State player to earn player of the week honors Lindsay Logan during the 2001-02 season.
Lane a native of Aiea, Hawai'i, scored a career-high 25 points on 9-of-20 shooting from the field in Bulldog's 71-61 win over Santa Clara on Dec. 13 at home. She was 3-of-5 from the three-point line, connecting on all four free throw attempts and also pulled down nine rebounds in 32 minutes of play. She scored 20 of her 25 points came in the second half, when Fresno State out-scored Santa Clara 42-37.
She leads the Bulldogs in scoring at 18.6 ppg, and also leads the WAC. She leads the team in rebounding at 6.9 per game and is fifth in the league.
Also nominated: Jade Abele, Hawai'i; Trina Frierson, Louisiana Tech; Tatiana Taylor, San Jose State and Andrea Cossey, SMU.
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC Hawaii is the only team playing a tournament this week, as teams prepare for finals and the holidays. This week, Rice will take on No. 6 Stanford in Houston on Dec. 18. No. 12 Louisiana Tech will also take on a tough opponent, traveling to No. 6 Penn State on Dec. 21. Nevada looks to win its second-straight game, playing California in Berkeley on Dec. 19. Both Fresno State and San Jose State look to extend winning streaks to four this week. The Bulldogs travel to Cal State Fullerton and UCLA, while San Jose State hosts UC Irvine and Santa Clara.
AGAINST THE BEST The WAC is still looking for its first win this season against a ranked opponent. The league is 0-8 against teams ranked in the top 25. SMU has already played three ranked teams in No. 5 Texas Tech, No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 23 TCU. No. 12 Louisiana Tech fell to No. 3 Tennessee two weeks ago. Hawaii lost to No. 21 Arizona, while Rice has fallen to No. 18 LSU. Fresno State is 0-1 this season against ranked teams falling to No. 19 Utah. Tulsa lost to No. 2 Duke in Durham on Dec. 14. Rankings at time of meeting.
NON-CONFERENCE RECORD This season, the WAC is 28-33 (.459) against non-conference opponents. The WAC has the most wins against the Southland Conference with a solid 5-1 record. The WAC also has three wins against the West Coast and Big Sky Conferences. The WAC has the most losses against the Big 12 with a 1-6 record.
PACKING THE SAVE MART CENTER Three games have been played at Fresno State's new Save Mart Center this year, and the home crowds have been impressive. The Bulldogs topped the 4,000 mark on all three occasions. Against Utah 4,570 fans turned out, representing the largest crowd in program history. The Bulldogs finished 13-2 at home last year, with 12 of those victories coming in the North Gym. The fans played an important role in 2002-03, as Fresno State drew an average of 1,462 fans in 15 home dates. 13 of the 15 home games featured crowds of at least 1,000, including five sellouts.
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.
SCORING MACHINES Louisiana Tech is one of only three schools who currently have five players averaging in double figures in scoring (North Carolina, Miami, Fla.). Senior forward Trina Frierson recorded her second double-double of the season with 27 points and 11 rebounds in win over Mississippi State. Junior guard Erica Smith-Taylor tied her career-highs with seven assists and seven steals in the win over Mississippi State.
WAC ADDS NEW MEXICO STATE, UTAH STATE On Oct. 23, the WAC issued invitations to New Mexico State and Utah State for the 2005 season. New Mexico State is currently 4-3 this season. Utah State is 0-5 in its first season of women's basketball in 17 years.
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 will take most of the week off for finals before returning to action on Dec. 20 in The Pavilion. Boise State has two non-conference games remaining before WAC play begins in January, beginning with independent Utah Valley State and a road game at Portland State on Dec. 29th. Sophomore Jamie Hawkins continues to lead the Broncos averaging 15.3 points per game.
Fresno State (4-3) is currently above the .500 mark for the first time this year. Fresno State looks to keep it that way when it travels south for a two-game road trip this weekend. The Bulldogs, winners of back-to-back games for the first time on the young season, square off against Cal State Fullerton (0-7) in the first of two away contests beginning Friday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m. Under head coach Stacy Johnson-Klein, the Bulldogs have performed well against California schools, posting an impressive 9-1 mark. Quite a turnaround, considering the Bulldogs were just 9-14 against teams from the Golden State over the combined three previous seasons. Last year, Fresno State defeated Santa Clara and San Jose State twice and notched home victories over San Diego State, San Francisco and Saint Mary's. The Bulldogs are 2-0 this year against California schools, having already defeated Long Beach State and Santa Clara.
Hawaii concludes the Territorial Savings Bank Invitational on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center against UT-Arlington. The Rainbow Wahine looked for their second-straight win. Hawaii is then off until Dec. 22 when they play at home at the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic. The Rainbow Wahine will face Fairfield on Dec. 22 at 7:00 p.m. On Dec. 23 Hawaii will conclude the tournament with either Northern Iowa or Tennessee Tech.
Louisiana Tech senior forward Trina Frierson, a native of Vicksburg, Miss., scored a season-high 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as No. 12 Louisiana Tech defeated Mississippi State, 94-65. The Bulldogs were the second SEC foe that the Lady Techsters have faced in two weeks, losing to No. 2 Tennessee in Knoxville. Louisiana Tech is not done with the big conferences. This week, the Lady Techsters travel to University Park, Pa., to take on No. 6-ranked Big Ten power, Penn State. The Lady Techsters are 6-3 all-time against Penn State and 32-9 against current members of the Big 10. The Lady Techsters have already defeated Illinois in Champaign.
Nevada broke a six-game losing streak with a win against Sacramento State, 65-55. Sacramento State dropped to 0-9 after the loss. It was also the fifth-straight loss to Nevada in the series. The win marks the end of a five-game home stand for Nevada, and the final home game of the non-conference season. The Wolf Pack will return to the road playing at California on Dec. 19, New Mexico State on Dec. 21 and Saint Mary's on Dec. 28. Nevada is a combined 12-22 against these three teams since the 1979-80 season. The Wolf Pack has played the Bears just twice, losing both in Berkeley and in Reno.
Rice has been off for final exams since falling to Baylor 79-55 on Dec. 6 in the championship game of the Gene Hackerman Rice Invitational. The Lady Owls will host No. 6 Stanford this Thursday night at 7 p.m. and will then face Interstate 45 rival Sam Houston State on Sunday, Dec. 21. With Elisa Inman and Johnetta Hayes out with injuries, junior Michelle Woods has emerged as a threat inside for the Lady Owls. Woods leads the squad averaging 11.6 ppg and 8.4 rpg. Anne Peck is the only other Lady Owl to average double-digit points with 10.2. The Lady Owls will host Stanford on Thursday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. and will travel to Huntsville, Texas to face Sam Houston State on Sunday, Dec. 21.
San Jose State senior Cricket Williams is the only current Spartan to score over 1,000 career points. She enters the week with 1,362 points and need 398 points to break the school record of 1,760 set by Karen Mason from 1978-81. Tatiana Taylor has 841 career points and is on her way to becoming the 10th player in school history to score 1,000 points. Taylor has also showed another talent. Taylor has sung the national anthem at both of the Spartans home games. The team has responded with a 2-0 record in those games.
SMU sophomore guard Kendall Shead scored a career-high 13 points in the Mustangs road win against San Diego State. After starting the season with four home games, the Mustangs are in the midst of a seven-game road trip, which will total over 7,000 miles of travel. Seven-straight road games is the most played under head coach Rhonda Rompola. The previous high was six during the 1999-2000 season. During that long stretch, the Mustangs were 2-4. SMU road games include trips to Maine, New Hampshire, USC, North Texas and WAC games at Tulsa and Rice.
UTEP returns home following five games on the road to open the season the Miners will play their next four games at home before opening the conference at Boise State on Jan. 2 . UTEP returns to action after a nine-day layoff between competitions. Marta Dydek and Vaida Zagurskyte were each named to the All-Tournament team at the Holiday Inn Jayhawk Classic from Dec. 6-7. The Miners are 17-12 in home openers and 6-7 in their first home game after playing on the road to open the season. UTEP has out rebounded its opponents in four out of five games and hold a 197-163 advantage on the season. The Miners averaged 94.5 points in their two exhibition games, while just 57.0 points in their five regular-season contests.
The
Tulsa-Duke crowd of 4,487 on hand at Cameron Indoor Stadium marked the third-largest crowd ever to see the Golden Hurricane play. In fact, Tulsa's second-largest crowd of 4,519 was against the top-ranked Blue Devils at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa last season. The Golden Hurricane begins a school-record six-game homestand this Sunday against UMKC. Tulsa will close out the month of December with a total of four home contests, including UMKC, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Texas Pan American and Stephen F. Austin. Tulsa will open Western Athletic Conference play with home games against Louisiana Tech and SMU.