PLAYER OF THE WEEK Tulsa's Allison Curtin has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 27-Feb. 2. This is the third WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior transfer.
Curtin, a guard from Taylorville, Ill., led the Golden Hurricane to wins over San Jose State and Hawai'i. Tulsa's home WAC record this season is now 5-0, and the Hurricane is now 7-2 in league games. The victories also moved the Hurricane into sole possession of second place in the WAC.
The senior averaged 21.0 points, 11.0 rebounds in the two wins. Curtin also became Tulsa's single-season scoring leader with 459 points in 20 games. She surpassed former Hurricane Cheryle Meppelink's 449 points that she recorded in 24 games during the 1985-86 campaign.
For the week, she was 17-of-36 (.472) from the field, 5-of-13 (.384) from the three-point line and a perfect 3-of-3 from the foul line. She also averaged 4.0 assists per game. In the Hurricane's 45-42 defensive battle with the Rainbow Wahine, Curtin scored 25 of Tulsa's 45 points.
OTHERS NOMINATED Also nominated: Abby Vaughan, Boise State and Cheryl Ford, Louisiana Tech.
Boise State's Vaughan led the Broncos over the weekend with a combined 38 points averaging 19 points per game against Louisiana Tech and SMU. Vaughan shot 55 percent from the floor versus the Lady Techsters hitting 6-of-11 shots and 5-of-7 3-point attempts for 71 percent.
Louisiana Tech's Ford averaged 17.5 points and 16.0 rebounds in a pair of WAC road wins over Boise State and UTEP. Ford recorded her eighth and ninth double doubles of the WAC season, scoring 16 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in a 102-66 win over Boise State and then scoring 19 points and recording 18 rebounds in a 68-53 victory over UTEP.
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 12th week of women's basketball action, Hawaii looks to get back on track as the Rainbow Wahine slipped into a tie for third after two WAC losses last week. Hawaii has a big task in front of them hosting first-place Louisiana Tech. The Lady Techsters place their 15-game winning streak on the line. The Rainbow Wahine also face the SMU Mustangs, who are also tied for third at 5-4. In another tough battle, second place Tulsa travels to Rice. The Lady Owls are the third team tied for third-place in the WAC. Looking to break a different streak, Nevada hosts Boise State and UTEP. The Wolf Pack have lost 10-straight games.
HOME COOKIN' In last week's WAC games, the home team won seven of nine games. WAC teams are 66-27 (.710) on their home courts this season. San Jose State has just one loss at home this season and are a perfect 4-0 in conference games at home. Conversely, they have just one road win and are 0-5 in WAC road games. 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 Hawai are 5-0 at home during WAC play, while Louisiana Tech, Rice, UTEP and San Jose State are all 4-0. Eight of the 10 WAC schools have better than .500 records at home this season with only Boise State and Nevada holding records under .500.
ON A ROLL Louisiana Tech's current 15-game winning streak is the longest this season in the WAC. The Lady Techsters have not lost since losing to No. 5 Tennessee, 60-35, on Dec. 4. Their current winning streak is the fourth longest in the country. Tulsa had its season-high six-game winning streak broken by Louisiana Tech last week. Nevada had a five-game winning streak earlier in the season. Four other squads had three-game winning streaks, Fresno State, SMU, Tulsa and Hawaii two times. The Wolf Pack are currently in the midst of a different streak, losing 10 straight.
TULSA'S CURTIN SHATTERING RECORDS Tulsa senior Allison Curtin reached the 400 career assist plateau with four against Hawaii on Feb. 1. Curtin enters the Feb. 8 Rice game just 13 points shy of 2,000 career points, and she is 37 rebounds away from the 700 plateau for career boards. Last week, she became the school's single season scoring leader with 459 points in 20 games. She surpassed former Hurricane Cheryle Meppelink's 449 points she recorded in 24 games during the 1985-86 campaign.
MIDSEASON COMPARISON After nine WAC games last season, front runner Louisiana Tech has an identical 9-0 WAC record, but has improved its overall record from 14-3 in 2001-02 to 17-2 this season. Second-place Tulsa has improved by one game. Last season, the Hurricane were 6-3 and tied for fourth at the midway point of the WAC season. This season, Tulsa has sole possession of second place with a 7-2 record.
SMU has made one of the biggest improvements. Last season, the Mustangs were 1-8 at this point of the season and in last place. This year, SMU is tied for third place with a much improved 5-4 record.
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 remained No. 9 in the AP poll which is their highest ranking since Nov. 25 when they were ranked No. 10 by both polls. Louisiana Tech also remained No. 10 in the ESPN poll.
WAC ROUNDUP Boise State may have lost to Louisiana Tech 102-66, but the 66 points are the most ever scored by a WAC opponent against Louisiana Tech in league play in two seasons. Boise State captured its second WAC win of the year with a 78-75 win over SMU. In two years in the WAC, the Broncos have now won seven regular season WAC games, winning five last year.
Fresno State had one of its best offensive showings on Jan. 31. The 23-point margin of victory in Fresno States 71-48 win over Nevada was its largest since a 93-63 win against UTEP at home last year. Heading into the Feb. 1 game, the Bulldogs 75-62 victory over SMU represented its biggest win of the year. The blowout wins have not come easily for the Bulldogs over the last five years, as the team has won just 10 games by more than 20 points.
Hawaii came all the way back from a 16-point second half deficit, but were eventually turned back in a 45-42 loss to Tulsa on the road. The Rainbow Wahine are still searching for their first road win of the year after dropping their fourth-straight away from home. Hawaii has the most home wins in the WAC (11), but are one of five schools in search of its first road WAC win. This week, the Rainbow Wahine return to the friendly confines of the Stan Sheriff Arena.
Louisiana Tech made history with its 102-66 win over Boise State. With its 102 point effort, Louisiana Tech has now scored at least 100 points in one game of every season (29) in the program's history. Through the first half of the WAC season, Cheryl Ford has recorded a double-double in all nine conference games. Ford is averaging 15.1 points and 15.6 rebounds in league contests. Freshman guard Tasha Crain made only her third career start in Tech's win over Boise State, but the Kingsland, Ark., native scored nine points and registered a season-high 10 assists.
Nevada suffered another loss last week to Fresno State to extend the losing streak to 10 games. The Wolf Pack remains winless at the North Gym in Fresno, going 0-12 in the Central Valley, while dropping to 7-12 for the season, 0-9 in the WAC. After a two week road trip, the Wolf Pack return home and get second chances against Boise State and UTEP. Boise State will travel to Reno on Thursday, Feb. 6 and UTEP on Saturday, Feb. 8.
Rice junior Johnetta Hayes had a Rice record seven blocks against Hawaii. The previous mark of six had been reach five times, including three times by Hayes. The Houston native already owns the school record for blocks in a season when she had 70 last season, her first year at Rice. She currently has 111 and needs just four more to surpass the all-time Rice record. Against Hawaii, junior Lindsey Maynard scored the last six points of the game to secure the win. She finished with a team-high 10 points. Two days later, Maynard grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds against San Jose State to go along with 11 points for her first career double-double.
San Jose State dropped to 4-5 after losses to Tulsa and Rice. The Spartans are still looking for their first road WAC win in nine five chances. San Jose state is one of four WAC schools with 0-5 road records. The Spartans are solid at home posting an overall 7-1 home record and a 4-0 WAC home record. San Jose State's only road win was an 84-68 decision against Southern Utah on Dec. 21.
SMU junior guard Andrea Cossey posted her fifth 20-point game of the season with 24 points against Boise State. Senior post Kaci Alexander set a career-mark in points scored with 29 and tied a career-mark in rebounds with 13 against UTEP on Feb. 1. It was her first double-double of the season. Freshman Sarah Davis recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 boards against Boise State. It also marked the fourth-straight game in which an SMU player posted a double-double.
UTEP looks to end its 13-game WAC losing streak on the road. UTEP's last WAC road victory came against SMU on Jan. 3, 2002. The Miners are 0-4 on the road this season against conference opponents. UTEP has won three games away from the Don Haskins Center this season, two away and one neutral. Last season they were 2-13 while playing on the road (2-12 away/0-1 neutral). In 2000-01, they finished 2-12 in road games (2-10 away/0-2 neutral) and they were 1-14 (0-11 away/1-3 neutral) in 1999-00.
Tulsa completed the first half of WAC play with a 7-2 record, which is the best WAC start in school history. The Golden Hurricane's 89 points against San Jose State were the most points scored by Tulsa since the program was reinstated in 1996-97 and the 54 points scored in the second half are the most points scored in one half in a single game. Tulsa has tied the school record for consecutive home wins with five. Head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller picked up her 50th career win as a head coach against San Jose 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.