PLAYER OF THE WEEK UTEP's Dragana Zoric has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 10-16. This is the second career WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior. Zoric and teammate Romie DeAnda have both earned player of the week honors twice this season.
Zoric, a forward from Sarajevo, Bosnia, tied a career-high by scoring 28 points on Feb. 10 against Rice in a four-point loss. She also pulled down 11 rebounds for her first double-double in conference play and her seventh of the season. She finished the game 11-for-18 (.611) from the floor .
She helped UTEP snap a season-long, four-game losing streak on Feb. 15 over Tulsa with an impressive 86-60 victory. She scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for her second double-double in as many games. She also added five assists in the contest and finished 9-for-17 (.529) from the floor.
For the week, Zoric averaged 24.0 points with 13.0 rebounds. Zoric is fourth in the WAC in scoring, averaging 14.5 points per game. She is also ninth in rebounding, averaging 7.5 rpg.
OTHERS NOMINATED Also nominated: Camille Woodfield, Boise State; Cheryl Ford, Louisiana Tech; Ashley Bastian, Nevada; Shonte Roberts, SMU and Cricket Williams, San Jose State.
Boise State's Woodfield had the most consistent pair of games as she led the Broncos to two upset wins over the second place squads in the league standings Tulsa and Rice. She recorded 25 points for a 12.5 average, 15 rebounds averaging 7.5 per game, six assists (3 apg), played 35 minutes per game while shooting 8-for-17 from the floor (47.1%) and 9-for-10 from the free throw line (90%).
Louisiana Tech's Ford averaged 19.5 points, 10.0 rebounds 2.5 steals and 2.0 blocks in leading Louisiana Tech to a pair of wins over Fresno State and Nevada. Ford scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds in only 18 minutes of action against Fresno State while, recording her 15th double- double of the season with 23 points and 13 rebounds in a win over Nevada.
Nevada's Bastian helped lead the Wolf Pack to its first WAC road win of the season and a strong showing against No. 9 Louisiana Tech. On Feb. 13, Bastian scored 14 points, hitting two three-pointers and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. She also tied her career high for steals with four.
SMU's Roberts posted career-high figures in points with 25 against Nevada off the bench and in rebounds with 16 against Fresno State. She has scored in double figures five times this season with one double-double. In her last three games, Roberts has averaged 17.6 points per game, going 22-for-37 from the field.
San Jose State's Williams scored 24 points and dished out 10 assists to lead San Jose State to a 71-67 victory over visiting Hawaii on Feb. 16. Williams recorded her third consecutive and fifth double-double of the season and scored at least 20 points or more in 11 games to lead the WAC. She hit two key free throws in the final minute of the game to help lead the Spartans to victory.
LOUISIANA TECH EARNS SHARE OF WAC TITLE AND BREAKS RECORD With wins last week against Fresno State and Nevada, Louisiana Tech clinched at least a share of its 11th-straight regular season conference title, its second consecutive as a member of the WAC. The last time LouisianaTech did not win the conference crown was during the 1991-92 season. With a win, the Lady Techsters will clinch the title.
The Lady Techsters also set a new WAC record for consecutive conference wins last week. The Lady Techsters have now won 16-straight league games, breaking the old mark of 14 set by San Diego State (1994-95), Colorado State (1998-99) and Louisiana Tech (2001-02). The Lady Techsters have not lost since losing to No. 5 Tennessee, 60-35, on Dec. 4. Louisiana Tech's 19-game winning streak is the second longest in the country, only behind No. 1 Connecticut's record-setting 59-game winning streak.
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 14th week of women's basketball action, SMU hosts Rice as one of FOX Sports Net's featured games. The Lady Owls are 7-5 and tied for second, while the Mustangs are 6-7, but still in the hunt. Louisiana Tech, Tulsa and Rice are the only three teams in the conference that are undefeated at home this season. Louisiana Tech is 6-0, while Tulsa and Rice are each 5-0 on their home courts. This week, both Tulsa and Rice will put their home wins streaks on the line as both schools host the first place Lady Techsters and SMU.
HOME COOKIN' In last week's WAC games, the home teams were only 6-3. For the season, WAC teams are 77-34 (.694) on their home courts this season. Louisiana Tech also has only one home loss this season (8-1) to No. 4 Tennessee. Only three teams remain undefeated at home this season during WAC games. Tulsa and Hawaii are 5-0 at home during WAC play, while Louisiana Tech is 6-0. 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'S FORD FINALIST FOR SENIOR CLASS AWARD Louisiana Tech senior Cheryl Ford was named a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award. It was announced that she was one of the 10 finalists for the 2002-03 season. The award is presented to the outstanding male and female senior NCAA Division I basketball player.
The list of womens finalists include Chantelle Anderson and Ashley McElhiney of Vanderbilt, Coretta Brown of North Carolina, Courtney Coleman of Ohio State, Cheryl Ford of Louisiana Tech, Gwen Jackson and Kara Lawson of Tennessee, Jocelyn Penn of South Carolina, Plenette Pierson of Texas Tech, and LaToya Thomas of Mississippi State.
The 6-foot-3-inch Ford has led seventh-ranked Louisiana Tech to a 21-2 record, including a perfect 13-0 mark in the Western Athletic Conference standings. Ford has averaged 14.0 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game while recording 15 double doubles this season.
The names of the finalists will appear on the official ballot during the national voting process that begins for fans across the country on Monday, Feb. 17, 2003. The selection of the second annual men's and women's award winner will be based on the cumulative ballots of three entities: the national media committee, Division I college basketball coaches and nationwide fan balloting via the award's official web site, www.seniorclassaward.com.
The Senior CLASS Award - an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School - was launched prior to the 2001-02 college basketball season. The initial idea came from CBS sportscaster Dick Enberg, who now serves as Honorary Chairman of the award. It became reality when the Kansas City Club agreed to present the award and serve as host organization for the culminating event last year.
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 moved up to their highest ranking of the season, No. 7, in the AP and ESPN polls, remaining in the top 10 for the fourth-straight week.
WAC ROUNDUP Boise State has won four of its last five games entering the UTEP game. Boise State rallied from 18 down early in the second half to defeat Tulsa last on Feb. 13 by two points. Boise State has come from double-digit deficits in the second half twice in the last two weeks at Nevada and against Tulsa. Against Nevada, the Broncos were down by 12 in second half to win 68-63. Boise State made a sixty-three point improvement last week against Tulsa and Rice compared to the first meetings on the road. In game one at Rice, the Lady Owls won by 22 points, in game two Boise State won by eight for a 30-point turnaround. In the first game against Tulsa, the Hurricane won by 31 points, while the Broncos won by two in the second game for a 33-point swing.
Fresno State has won four of its last five games and looks to continue its winning ways with its final homestand of the year this weekend. The Bulldogs currently have the third-best record in the WAC at 7-6 and
stand just a half game out of second place behind Rice and Tulsa. The Bulldogs will face San Jose State (9-12, 5-7 WAC) on Feb. 22. The second game of the homestand takes place on Feb. 23 when Fresno State takes on Hawaii (12-9, 6-6) in the final womens basketball game to be played in the North Gym. The Bulldogs might find it difficult to leave the building, having posted a 9-2 mark at home this season.
Hawaii fell to 6-6 in league games this season with a tough 71-67 road loss against San Jose State. The Rainbow Wahine are still looking for their first road win of the season, heading into this week's action with an 0-5 overall road record. Hawaii looks to break this streak on the road against Nevada and Fresno State. In their first meeting, the Rainbow Wahine handled the Bulldogs, 64-43. The Wolf Pack faired better in their first meeting falling by only one point, 58-57.
Louisiana Tech senior center Cheryl Ford needs only seven more rebounds to break the WAC single-season record of total rebounds in league games. Ford set the record last year with 188 and has 181 in 13 games this year. Trina Frierson shattered her career high for points by scoring 26 in the win over Nevada (her old mark was 21 twice). Louisiana Tech extended its winning streak to 19 games last week. The Lady Techsters have not lost since losing to No. 5 Tennessee, 60-35, on Dec. 4. Louisiana Tech's 19-game winning streak is the second longest in the country, only behind No. 1 UConn's record-setting 59-game winning streak.
Nevada earned its first WAC road win of the season with a 70-59 win against SMU. The Wolf Pack were led by Ashley Bastian. At SMU on Feb. 13, Bastian tied for the second most points on Nevada with 14, hitting two three-pointers and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line. She also tied her career high for steals, tying the game high with four. This week, the Wolf Pack return home looking to continue its recent success against Hawaii and San Jose State.
Rice junior Johnetta Hayes recorded a total of four blocked shots last week to bring here career total to a Rice record 116. Hayes now owns all of the Lady Owls' blocking records. Also in the record hunt is senior Kim Lawson, who has accrued 440 career assists. She needs just 12 more to tie the all-time Rice record.
San Jose State junior Cricket Williams recorded her fifth double-double of the season and scored at least 20 points or more in 11 games to lead the WAC. Williams recently surpassed Karen Mason with 300 free-throws made in her career, putting ahead of Mason for the top spot in the record book. She is fifth all-time in three-point field goals with 79, fourth in free-throw attempts with 455, third all-time with 398 assists and is fifth with 201 steals. The 71-67 win against Hawaii snapped a four-game losing streak for the Spartans. This week, San Jose State looks to break another streak, trying for its first WAC road win against Fresno State and Nevada. San Jose State is one of three teams looking for its first conference road win.
SMU senior guard Kenni Patton recorded a season-high 17 points vs. Nevada . The last time an SMU player grabbed 15 or more rebounds took place on Nov. 21, 2000, when Katie Remke collected 19 rebounds vs. TAMU-CC. SMU head coach Rhonda Rompola has gone with 11 different staring lineups this season. Junior guard Andrea Cossey did not start against Fresno State, which snapped a 57-game streak (dating back to Feb. 4, 2001) in which she made the starting lineup. Freshman forward/post Sarah Davis needs three more blocks to set a freshman season record, which now stands at 34 blocks by Diana Wilt (1985-86).
UTEP junior Kia Dowell's 30 points in UTEP's 86-60 victory over Tulsa
on Feb. 15 was the 21st time in school history a player has reach the 30-point plateau. The last time a UTEP player scored 30 points or more came on Jan. 12, 2001, when Amy Pack scored 32 points in a double-overtime victory over San Jose State. Dowell becomes only the second player in school history to come off the bench and score 30 or more points and the first to do it against a NCAA Division I opponent. Pack scored 34 off the bench in a 84-36 win over NCAA Division III Sul Ross State on Dec. 30, 2000. Holly Russ, who played for the Miners 1990-92, recorded eight 30-point games during her career, while Pack had four.
Tulsa set a new school single-season record of 134 rejections in 23 games for an average of 5.8 per game, which ranks eighth in the nation after registering a school record 129 blocked shots last season. When Tulsa hosts seventh-ranked Louisiana Tech on Feb. 22, the contest will mark the Hurricane's sixth game of the season against nationally-ranked teams. Tulsa has already faced top-ranked Duke, Louisiana Tech (1/23), No. 11 Arkansas, No. 22 Oklahoma and No. 24 Mississippi State. TU senior Allison Curtin tied the school's single-game record for field goals with 13 against Boise State.
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.