PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawai'i's Kim Willoughby has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 3-9. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor for the sophomore. Willoughby also earned two volleyball player of the week honors this season, as an All-American left-side hitter for the Rainbow Wahine.
Willoughby, a forward from Napoleanville, La., led the Rainbow Wahine to a 1-1 record at home last week. She recorded back-to-back double-doubles and averaged 18.0 ppg and 13.5 rpg off the bench. Hawai'i lost to Louisiana Tech, 67-44 and rebounded to defeat SMU, 69-60.
She notched 16 points and 12 rebounds in the loss to Louisiana Tech. Willoughby then scored a career-high 20 points and tied her career-high with 15 rebounds in the win over SMU. The 20 points was the highest output by a Rainbow Wahine player this season. She went 18-for-19 from the free throw line in the two games, including a perfect 10-for-10 against the Mustangs.
For the season, the two-sport athlete averages 10.5 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game. Willoughby has played in 11 games for the Rainbow Wahine after joining the team after the conclusion of the volleyball season.
OTHERS NOMINATED Also nominated: Omelogo Udeze, Fresno State; Cheryl Ford, Louisiana Tech; Kim Lawson, Rice and Cricket Williams, San Jose State.
Fresno State's Udeze collected her seventh double-double of the season in a win against Boise State. She has scored in double figures in 13 of her last 15 games. Her 15 rebounds against UTEP was a season best.
Louisiana Tech's Ford averaged 17.0 points and 10.5 rebounds a game in Tech's two road wins over Hawaii and San Jose State. Against UH, Ford scored 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds, with 15 of her game-high 17 points coming in the second half when the Lady Techsters blew open a three-point ball-game. Ford recorded her 10th double-double of the WAC season (in 11 games) when she scored a game-high 17 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in the 66-59 win over San Jose State.
Rice's Lawson had her best shooting night of the season against Tulsa, hitting 4-of-5 (80.0%) including both three-point attempts, to finish with 14 points. All four of her baskets came in the second half. She also had three assists and one block, leading the Lady Owls to a season low nine turnovers.
San Jose State's Williams kept the Spartans in two close games including the closest conference game to No. 9 Louisiana Tech all season. Williams posted back-to-back 20-plus point games and consecutive double-doubles. In the Feb. 6 loss, she scored 25 points, going 8-of-20 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point range.
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 13th week of women's basketball action, Rice looks to extend its four-game winning streak and catch second-place Tulsa. Both Rice and Tulsa face Boise State and UTEP on the road. The Lady Owls have already defeated UTEP. The Lady Techsters place their 17-game winning streak on the line at home against another hot squad, Fresno State. The Bulldogs have won three-straight games. Two of the four WAC teams that remain winless on the road in league games look to change that situation this week. Hawaii (0-4) travels to San Jose State on Feb. 16, while Nevada (0-5) travels to SMU and Louisiana Tech in search of its first WAC road win of the season.
HOME COOKIN' In last week's WAC games, the away teams fared much better than in the past weeks. Last week, WAC home teams were only 5-4. For the season, WAC teams are 71-31 (.696) on their home courts this season. Louisiana Tech also has only one home loss this season (8-1) to No. 4 Tennessee. Six schools are undefeated at home this season during WAC games. Tulsa and Hawaii are 5-0 at home during WAC play. Nine of the 10 WAC schools have at least a .500 record at home this season, only Nevada holds a home WAC record under .500.
LOUISIANA TECH TIES RECORD Louisiana Tech tied the WAC record for consecutive regular season conference wins with a victory at San Jose State on Feb. 8. Dating back to last season, Louisiana Tech has now won 14-straight WAC games. The Lady Techsters also tied this record last season and hold the record with Colorado State (1998-99) and San Diego State (1994-95). Louisiana Tech needs three more wins to pass last season's record of 17 conference wins in a season. The Lady Techsters have seven WAC games remaining.
The Lady Techsters have not lost since losing to No. 5 Tennessee, 60-35, on Dec. 4. Louisiana Tech's 17-game winning streak is the second longest in the country, only behind No. 1 Connecticut's record-setting 59-game winning streak.
TULSA'S CURTIN REACHES 2,000 POINTS Tulsa's Allison Curtin surpassed the 2,000 point plateau and recorded her 400th assist against Rice. She reached 2,000 points with her 14th point and her first assist gave her 400 for her career. Both records came during the first half. Curtin now stands at 2,018 career points and 404 assists. Allison Curtin registered her sixth 30-point effort of the season with 31 points against Rice. This is Curtin's first season with Tulsa, transferring from Illinois.
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 dropped to No. 10 in the AP poll, remaining in the top 10 for the third-straight week. Louisiana Tech also remained No. 10 in the ESPN poll.
WAC ROUNDUP Boise State sophomore Simone Grant continues to be hot from the free throw line where she has not missed since Dec. 9 at Eastern Washington when she went 1-for-4 (she did not attempt any free throws in the last four non-conference games). Grant is a perfect 30-of-30 in WAC action to lead the conference in free throw percentage (100%). Senior Abby Vaughan is close the 1,000 point club, as she enters the Tulsa game with 992 points. She will become only the 11th athlete in the program's 33 year history to hit this milestone. She is also the career 3-point leader with 234. She will become the 26th WAC player to join the 1,000 point club (only including players with WAC experience).
Fresno State is currently riding a three-game winning streak and is setting several milestones. The last time Fresno State carried a winning record this late into the season was during the 1996-97 campaign when the team was 11-10. The Bulldogs were 12-9 through 21 games during the 1990-91 season. At this same point last season, the Bulldogs were 8-13 overall. The Bulldogs have recorded six WAC victories in 2002-03, a feat that has occurred just twice over the last six seasons. The last time the club won seven league games was 1996-97. Fresno State has won three conference games in a row, something that has not been done since the team defeated Tulsa, San Jose State and Wyoming in 1998.
Hawaii snapped a three-game losing streak with its win over SMU on Feb. 8. On Feb. 6, Louisiana Tech handed the Rainbow Wahine their third- straight loss. It marked the first time in more than four years that Hawaii lost three in a row. Hawaii's 69 points against SMU was its most since scoring 75 points in its WAC opener. Kim Willoughby became the first player in WAC history to earn WAC Player of the Week honors in both women's basketball and volleyball when she earned the honor this week. She was named player of the week twice in volleyball this season.
Louisiana Tech is now 7-0 on the road in league play, while the rest of the WAC has eight wins away from home. Senior Cheryl Ford continued her climb up the Louisiana Tech scoring list, moving into 26th place with 1,129 points. Ford needs only six more points to enter the top 25. Ford also needs only 50 more rebounds to move into the top 10 in Lady Techster history. She has currently pulled down 878. Ford leads the WAC in rebounding, averaging 12.4 rpg.
Nevada earned its first WAC win of the season with a 75-58 home win against UTEP. The Wolf Pack broke an 11-game losing streak. Their last win was Dec. 21 against San Diego. This week, the Wolf Pack look for their first road WAC win against SMU and Louisiana Tech.
Rice junior Kate Beckler dished out a career-high six assists against Tulsa without committing any turnovers. The Lady Owls committed a season-low nine turnovers against the Golden Hurricane, including just two in the second half. The Feb. 8 win was Rice's sixth-straight home victory, and extended the Lady Owls' home win streak against WAC opponents to 19. Rice evened out its overall record to 10-10 with a road win against UTEP on Feb. 10. This is the first time this season that the Lady Owls have had a .500 record.
San Jose State had a solid performance against Louisiana Tech on Feb. 8. After averaging 37 points in three losses to the Lady Techsters, the Spartans played the closest conference game the Lady Techsters have had this season. In the 66-59 loss, San Jose State held the lead for over 17 minutes in the first half and were in the game until the final minute of play. Junior Cricket Williams had back-to-back double-doubles last week. The attendance of 917 on Feb. 8 was the Spartan's largest home crowd
since 1,065 saw San Jose State and Santa Clara play at the San Jose Arena on Nov. 29, 2000, and the most at The Event Center since a crowd of 875 against Hawaii on Feb. 23, 2001.
SMU snapped a string of four games in which at least one Mustang had recorded a double-double against San Jose State. Sophomore guard Tiara Cruse collected a career-high eight rebounds against the Spartans. With 30 blocks this season, freshman forward Sarah Davis needs five more blocks to set a freshman season record. The current record is 34 blocks by Diana Wilt (1985-86).
UTEP is in the midst of many streaks. One of the streaks is its four-game losing streak, the longest of the season. UTEP lost 68-53 to Louisiana Tech, 64-39 at Fresno State and 75-58 at Nevada. The Miners also fell against Rice on Feb. 10, 65-61. UTEP is shooting 34.3 percent (73-213) from the field, 25.9 percent (15-58) from three point land and 68.5 percent (50-73) from the free throw line. UTEP has been out scored by an average of 15.2 and is only averaging 52.8 points. Its opponents are also being out rebounded by 13.0 (46.2 to 33.2).
Tulsa sophomore Alison Carney has stepped up her level of play in WAC games this season and has established herself as a legitimate all-WAC candidate. Carney, who has started in 12 of 20 games this season, is averaging 8.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game for the year, but has boosted her numbers to 11.4 points and 8.5 rebounds in league contests. Carney has recorded nine or more rebounds in six of the 10 conference 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.