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PLAYER OF THE WEEK San Jose State's Cricket Williams has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec 22-28. This is the third WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior, who captured the honor during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. This is the first player of the week honor for San Jose State this season. The Spartans have won seventh-straight games, their longest streak since 1980.
Williams, a guard from New Orleans, La., was named the MVP of the Doubletree Classic, as San Jose State won the tournament hosted by Tulane University. The Spartans defeated Yale, 71-53, and Marist, 59-49, to extend their winning streak to seven in a row.
Williams led the Spartans in scoring in the championship game with 12 of her 14 points in the second half. Seven of those 12 points came during a 14-2 second-half rally as San Jose State pulled away from Marist. In the tournament opener against Yale, she posted her fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 assists and led the team with seven rebounds and six steals.
San Jose State, 8-1, is off to its best start in the school's 30-year history of intercollegiate women's basketball. The Spartans begin WAC play this week.
Also nominated: Jade Abele, Hawai'i; Vaida Zagurskyte, UTEP and Becky Heidotten, Tulsa.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! WAC action begins this week, as Louisiana Tech looks to defend its title. Boise State and UTEP will begin WAC play with a game on Jan. 2. There are four WAC games on Saturday, Jan. 3. Louisiana Tech travels to Tulsa, while Hawaii tries to get back on track with its first game on the road against Fresno State. San Jose State puts its seven-game winning streak on the line on the road against Nevada. SMU stays instate and faces Rice in Houston.
AGAINST THE BEST The WAC is 1-8 against teams ranked in the top 25. Louisiana Tech captured the league's first win over a ranked team with a last-second win over then-No. 6 Penn State. 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 For the first time this season, the WAC is above the .500 mark with a 44-43 record (.506) 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.
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 6-4 this season. Utah State is 0-7 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 lost to Portland State, 76-59, on Dec. 29 in Portland. Boise State's high scorer was sophomore Jamie Hawkins who scored 13 points with 10 rebounds for first double-double of season. Junior Cariann Ramirez added 11 points six rebounds, while
sophomore Cassidy Blaine had 11 points with two rebounds. The Broncos shot .280 from the floor. Boise State next hosts UTEP in its WAC opener on Jan. 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Fresno State junior forward Aritta Lane is having a career year for the Bulldogs through the early going. Lane is averaging a team-best 15.9 ppg and is third in the club in rebounding at 6.2 per game. She is also 39-54 from the free-throw line. After registering just two double-doubles all of last year, she recorded the 10th of her career in the season opener at Washington State. Against Santa Clara back on Dec. 13, she paced the Bulldogs with a career-high 25 points, marking the seventh time this year she has led the squad in scoring. Lane, who was named WAC Player of the Week for Dec. 8-14, has also been named to All-Tournament Teams at the Fresno State Classic and Oklahoma State Cowgirl Classic.
Hawaii junior Jade Abele was named to the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic All-Tournament team, her third-straight all-tournament honor. She averaged 20.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 3.5 apg in games against Fairfield and
Tennesse Tech. Abele almost helped Hawaii erase a 19-point second half deficit against Tennessee Tech by hitting six three-pointers which tied a school record shared by four other players. Abele has topped 20 points in four of her last six games. She has the most 20+ games in the WAC this season with five. Hawaii has lost three in a row for the second time this year. Hawaii opened the season with three losses. The Rainbow Wahine is off to its worst start since the 1981-82 season, when Hawaii started 1-8.
Louisiana Tech takes a 21-game WAC winning steak into the beginning of the 2003-04 WAC season. The Lady Techsters won the last three games of the 2002-03 season and all 18 WAC games last season. Louisiana Tech is ranked No. 8 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 Poll, the Lady Techsters highest ranking of the season. Louisiana Tech has now been ranked in 206 straight AP Top 25 polls, dating back to the 1991-92 season. Louisiana Tech is 15-1 all-time in conference openers as the Lady Techsters open WAC play Jan. 3 at Tulsa. Tech has won 12-straight
conference openers. Louisiana Tech is 35-1 in WAC regular season games during its previous two years of conference affiliation. Louisiana Tech has recorded a record of 208-13 all-time in regular season conference games (American South, Sun Belt, Western Athletic).
Nevada has concluded the non-conference part of the season, and will look to open WAC play on Jan. 3. Nevada will host San Jose State at 2:00 p.m. and face Hawaii on Jan. 5 at 7:00 p.m. After being swept last year, Nevada is 8-12 overall against the Spartans. The two teams last met in Reno on February 22, in a 77-52 Spartan win. The Wolf Pack revenged an earlier season loss against the Wahine the last time out winning 75-69 at Lawlor Events Center on Feb. 20. Overall, Nevada is 3-17 against Hawai'i, 2-8 at home.
Rice has been off for the holidays since defeating Sam Houston State, 64-51, on Sunday, Dec. 21. Senior Kate Beckler came off the bench to spark Rice to the win, scoring 20 points, including connecting on five from long range. Becklers five treys gives her 70 for her career, tied for eighth-best on the Rice all-time list. She also dished out eight assists against the Bearkats, a careerhigh. Anne Peck scored a career-best 16 points to help the Lady Owls to the win. Peck leads the squad in scoring with a 10.9 per game average, followed closely by junior Michelle Woods, who averages 10.6 ppg. Woods leads the team in rebounding with 7.9 rpg. Rice will host Nebraska on Tuesday, Dec. 30 in its final non-conference game of the season. The Lady Owls will open WAC play on Jan. 3 when SMU comes to town.
San Jose State defeated Yale, 71-53, and Marist, 59-49, at the Doubletree Classic in New Orleans. The win extended their winning streak to seven. The Spartans have an 8-1 record and are off to their best start in the schools 30-year history of intercollegiate womens basketball. San Jose State looks to extend its winning streak to eight against Nevada on Jan. 3 in Reno. The Spartans will also face Fresno State on Jan. 5.
SMU won its second-straight game with a 44-43 victory over Maine on Dec. 28. The Mustangs continue their East Coast road trip with a game against New Hampshire on Dec. 30. The Mustangs remain on the road to open league play. SMU travels to Houston to face Rice on Jan. 3. On Jan. 5 the Mustangs face Tulsa.
UTEP defeated Montana State, 83-41, to extend its winning streak to three games. Vaida Zagurskyte opened the game making seven shots in a row. She finished with 18 and a career-high eight assists. Marta Dydek had 11 with a game-high nine rebounds. Head coach Keitha Green and her Miner squad will be going for their fourth-consecutive victory when against Northern Illinois on Dec. 30. UTEP has also won five out of its last six games. The last time UTEP won four in a row came when the Miners opened the 1998-99 season with wins over SW Louisiana, New Mexico State, Larmar and UT-Pan American. UTEP previously won three-straight games during the 1998-99 season when they defeated San Diego State, Fresno State and San Jose State from Feb. 6-13.
If
Tulsa can conclude the non-conference slate with a win on Dec. 31 over Stephen F. Austin, the Hurricane will post the best non-conference record in school history with a 7-3 mark. Previously, the best non-league mark was 5-5 mark in 2001-02. Tulsa is currently riding a three-game win streak for the second time this season. TU opened the season with three straight victories over Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts and UAB, but dropped three straight decision to Missouri in the Unilever Tiger Tournament finals (Columbia, Mo.), Arkansas and No. 3 Duke. However, the Hurricane has rebounded with victories at home against UMKC, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas-Pan American in its last three outings. TU has averaged 77 points and 42.3 rebounds in its last three outings and is also shooting 49-percent (80-163) from the field.