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LADY TECHSTERS FALL TO TOP-SEEDED LSU IN SWEET SIXTEEN Doneeka Hodges' high arching bank shot with 0:37 remaining sealed Louisiana Tech's fate as LSU downed the Lady Techsters 69-63 Sunday night at Maples Pavilion.
With the shot clock running down and the Tigers leading by 65-63, Hodges penetrated to the free throw line and hit the off-balance hanger. LSU overcame a 17-point Tech lead in the second half to end the Lady Techsters (31-3) season.
Leading 50-33 on a Toya George 18-foot jump shot at the 14:31 mark of the second half, Tech failed to score for over six minutes while the Tigers produced a 16-0 run to cut the Techster advantage to 50-49.
Tech held onto its lead until Hodges hit a 15-footer with 5:24 remaining in the game to give LSU a 57-56 lead, the first by the Tigers in the game. With LSU leading 65-61, Amber Obaze hit a floater in the lane with 1:07 remaining to cut the deficit to two, setting up Hodges heroics.
Trina Frierson led Tech with 18 points, while Cheryl Ford finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Erica Smith added 11 points and eight rebounds while freshman guard Tasha Crain chipped in with 10 points, six assists and five rebounds in 40 minutes.
LOUISIANA TECH ADVANCES TO SWEET SIXTEEN WITH WIN OVER OHIO STATE The fifth-seeded Louisiana Tech women's basketball team advanced to the sweet sixteen with a 74-61 win over fourth-seeded Ohio State on Tuesday in Ruston. Two-time Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Cheryl Ford, scored 25 points and added 15 rebounds to lead the Lady Techsters to the win.
TULSA'S CURTIN AND LOUISIANA TECH'S FORD EARN ALL-AMERICAN HONORS Tulsa's Allison Curtin joined Louisiana Tech's Cheryl Ford as the only two players from the WAC to receive any type of All-America honors for the 2002-03 season after being named an honorable mention to the 2002-03 Associated Press All-American Team.
Curtin became the first player in school history to earn All-America honors.
The honorable mention All-America selection is the latest in a season full of honors for Curtin. Last month, she was named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) 2003 All-Star Challenge, a team composed of the top-20 seniors in the country, and she was also named WBCA/Kodak All-District VII squad and to the 2003 all-WAC first team.
Ford led Tech to a 31-3 record, the Western Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles, a 29-game winning streak, a No. 6 national ranking and a trip to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. The Summerfield, La., native ranked No. 3 nationally in rebounding at 12.9 per game while also averaging 15.7 points per game with 24 double doubles. Ford was named the Western Athletic Conference's Player of the Year for the second straight year while also being the WAC Tournament MVP.
Despite falling to LSU in the Sweet Sixteen, Louisiana Tech senior Ford was also named to the West Regional all-tournament team.
THE WAC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT The WAC owns an all-time record of 70-35 (.667) in NCAA Tournament games. The 10 teams from the 2002-03 season own an 13-22 record (.371) as WAC members. Louisiana Tech is 64-20(.762) in NCAA play.
THE WAC IN THE WNIT The WAC owns an all-time record of 15-16 (.484) in WNIT games. The 10 teams currently in the WAC own an 13-10 (.565) record in WNIT games, 9-8 (.529) as WAC members. In 2000-01, Hawaii advanced to the semifinals of the WNIT, falling to New Mexico. Last season, both Hawaii and Rice fell in the first round.
FRESNO STATE LOSES IN WNIT QUARTERFINALS After holding a comfortable lead for the entire first half, Fresno State shot just 16.2-percent in the second period in a 72-65 loss to Baylor in the quarterfinals of the WNIT on Wednesday night.
Fresno State finishes the 2002-03 season at 21-13 overall, a program-best 12-game improvement over last year's 9-20 ledger. The successful campaign marks Fresno State's first winning season since the team went 14-13 in 1996-97.
Senior Lindsay Logan (Sandy, Utah) closed out her Bulldog career with the squad's first 30-point performance of the year. Fellow senior Omelogo Udeze (Los Angeles, Calif.) recorded her 12th double-double of the year, tallying 11 points and 14 rebounds in the loss.
HAWAII FALLS IN WNIT Hawaii's season came to a close with a 57-44 loss to Arizona State in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Arena. The Rainbow Wahine, who were playing on the road for the eighth time in the last 10 games, battled throughout but ran out of gas in a low-scoring defensive battle.
UH, making its fourth consecutive appearance in the WNIT, ended its season at 16-14. It is the eighth season in a row the program has finished with a winning record. ASU (16-3), meanwhile, advanced to the second round where they will next travel to Baylor.
Three Rainbow Wahine finished in double figures led by Jade Abele and Kim Willoughby with 11 points each. Senior Christen Roper, playing the final game of her career finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks. The seven blocks set a new single-game WNIT record. Roper finished with 110 blocks on the season and 303 for her career.
Ultimately it was ASU's youth over UH's experience. The squad's top three scorers are freshman and top gun Jill Noe scored 13 of her game-high 18 points in the second half to put the Rainbow Wahine away. Noe drained four 3-pointers and added eight rebounds and four assists.
VAUGHAN AND BASTIAN PARTICIPATES IN THREE-POINT SHOOTING CONTEST Boise State's Abby Vaughan and Nevada's Ashley Bastian participates in the Mountain Dew Slam Dunk / Three-Point Shooting championships. Vaughan and Bastian were two of the eight participants selected for the three-point contest. This event is in its 15th year and is one of the events leading up to the NCAAs Mens Basketball Final Four.
This year's event, the 15th annual competition among shooters and slammers, took place at the Alario Center, just outside of New Orleans, on April 3 .
Bastian and Vaughan competed against seven other women: Coretta Davis, UNC; Katie Davis, Villanova; Kara Lawson, Tennessee, Ashley McElhiney, Vanderbilt; Alicia Ratay, N.D.; Amy Waugh, Xavier and Lindsey Wilson, Iowa State. The mens side that will bring about one competitor for the top woman to face consists of six shooters: Matt Bonner, Florida; Tom Coverdale, Indiana; Willie Deane, Purdue; Kyle Korver, Creighton; Hollis Price, Oklahoma and Kent Willams, Southern Illinois.
Bastian spent the majority of the 2002-03 season as the national leader for three-pointers a game as well as in the top-15 for three-point percentage. She has the school record for three-pointers in a career, ending with 212 replacing her former teammate and Angie Heer who converted on 150 from 1997-01.
Vaughan ended her collegiate career as the most prolific three-point shooter in Boise State history (men or women) with a school record 260 made. She is one of two Boise State athletes to surpass 200 career three-pointers, the other is Abe Jackson (1998-2002), and the only woman to accomplish this feat.
RECORDS SET Several records were broken at this year's WAC Tournament. In the championship game against Fresno State, Louisiana Tech's Cheryl Ford set the record for rebounds in a game with 25. This was also a new single-season WAC record. The former tournament record was 19 held by Utah's Amber McEwen in 1996. Ford also set the record for rebounds in the tournament with 45.
Seventh-seeded SMU's win over second-seeded Rice was the biggest upset based on seeds in WAC Tournament history. Louisiana Tech broke the record for free throw percentage in the tournament, shooting .857 (48-of-56) in three games. Boise State set the record for field goal percentage in a game, shooting .659 (27-of-41) in a win against UTEP.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM Louisiana Tech's Cheryl Ford earned all-tournament honors for the second-straight season also grabbing tournament MVP this season. The senior center is the only repeat member of the all-tournament team. Ford set a new WAC Tournament record with 45 rebounds in three games. Ford was joined by teammates Trina Frierson and Amber Obaze. Frierson lead the team with 18 points, while Obaze scored 17 points with eight rebounds.
Fresno State's Lindsay Logan and Omelogo Udeze were also named to the all-tournament team. Logan, a senior, scored 15 points in the loss. Udeze was a force throughout the tournament.
LADY TECHSTERS CAPTURE SECOND-STRAIGHT WAC TOURNAMENT TITLE Louisiana Tech completed its perfect Western Athletic Conference season as the sixth-ranked Lady Techsters defeated Fresno State, 89-57, in the championship game .
Louisiana Tech ended the regular season with an 18-0 record. The Lady Techsters came out strong in the first half opening up a 14-point halftime lead, and then delivered the knockout punch in the final 20 minutes, out-scoring the Bulldogs 42-24.
Cheryl Ford, the tournament MVP, scored 14 points and pulled down a record-setting and career-high 25 rebounds to lead five Louisiana Tech players in double figures. Ford's 25 rebounds broke the WAC single- game record and the WAC Tournament single- game record, while her 45 rebounds in three conference tournament games also set a new mark.
LOUISIANA TECH'S FORD REWRITES RECORD BOOK With eight rebounds against UTEP on March 1, Louisiana Tech senior Cheryl Ford broke the WAC single-season record for total rebounds. The record was held by Utah's Tanya Zachary with 311 during the 1991-92 season. She ended the season with 438 rebounds. The two-time WAC Player of the Year also broke her own record for rebounds in a WAC season. She had 252 league rebounds, breaking her record of 188 from last season. Ford ended the season, averaging 12.9 rebounds which was third in the nation.
HAWAII'S ROPER BREAKS SINGLE-SEASON BLOCK RECORD Senior Christen Roper reached a milestone when she broke the career blocks record Feb. 27 against Tulsa. Roper and Tulsa's Alyssa Shriver have been among the nation's best in blocks all season. The record was held by BYU's Debbie Dimond (1991-95). Dimond had 268 career blocks. Roper started the season third in the WAC behind Dimond and San Diego State's Michelle Suman. Roper's 81 blocks this season propelled her into first place. She now has 303 career blocks
At the WAC Tournament, the senior added to her accomplishments by breaking her own single-season block record. During the 2000-01 season, Roper had 96 blocks. She ended the season with 110 blocks.
NON-CONFERENCE MARK WAC teams finished 57-48 (.528) in non-conference games. The WAC was 5-12 against non-conference teams that were ranked in the top 25. Louisiana Tech was 4-2 after defeating then-No. 7 Texas Tech and then-No. 25 New Mexico, No. 23 Ohio State, but falling to No. 5 Tennessee. The Lady Techsters defeated No. 23 Ohio State and lost to No. 3 LSU in the NCAA Tournament. Tulsa was 0-4 after falling to then-No. 24 Mississippi State, then-No. 22 Oklahoma, No. 13 Arkansas and No. 1 Duke. SMU had a win over Oklahoma and a loss to Boston College.
SINGLE-GAME FEATS Cheryl Ford's 25 rebound performance in the WAC Championship game against Fresno State was tied for the second best rebound performance in the nation last season. Ford and Manhattan's Rosalee Mason were second behind UMass's Jennifer Butler who had 30 rebounds against Florida on Dec. 28.
Boise State's Mandy Welch was tied for first in the nation with her six-for-six three-point field goal performance against Tulsa on Feb. 13. Hawaii's Christen Roper and Tulsa's Alyssa Shriver had two of the top blocking performances of the year. Both had eight blocks which is tied for fourth-best this season. Roper had eight against UTEP (March 8) and Texas Tech (Dec. 21). Shriver blocked eight shots against Rice on Jan. 11.
Louisiana Tech freshman Tasha Crain had 10 steals against Boise State on March 1. This performance was tied for fourth-best this season.
WAC ACADEMIC ALL-WAC TEAM To be eligible, a student-athlete must have completed at least one academic year, have at least a 3.2 cumulative grade point average and have participated in at least 50 percent of the teams contests.
Boise StateCariann Ramirez, So., 3.55, General Business Mgmt
Amanda Welch, Jr., 3.31, Health Science
Camille Woodfield, Jr., 3.79, Biology
Fresno StateCophie Moore, So., 3.24, Kinesiology
HawaiiJade Abele, So., 3.44, Pre-Education
Michelle Gabriel, Sr., 3.30, Elementary Education
Christen Roper, Sr., 3.26, History
NevadaAshley Bastian, Sr., 3.54, Pre-Business
Kate Smith, Sr., 3.56, Speech Pathology
Amber Young, So., 3.71, Pre-Business
RiceAarika Florus, Sr., 3.30, Kinesiology
Kim Lawson, Sr., 3.79, Econ., Managerial Studies, Psychology
Kara Liggett, Sr., 3.30, English, Political Science
Lindsey Maynard, Jr., 3.74, Econ., Managerial Studies
IN THE POLLS Louisiana Tech is the only WAC team ranked in both the Associated Press and the ESPN polls. The Lady Techsters ended the season ranked No. 6 in the AP poll, the Lady Techsters highest ranking of the season. The Lady Techsters finished the year No. 9 in the ESPN poll. This is the 22nd time in the 27-year history of the AP poll, Louisiana Tech finished ranked in the Top 10.
The Lady Techsters started the season ranked No. 16 in the country, quickly moved up to No. 10 after a season-opening victory against No. 7 Texas Tech, never fell below No. 17 and finished the year ranked No. 6 in the final four polls. The Lady Techsters have now been ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for 197 straight weeks, dating back to Nov. 24, 1992.
The only years Louisiana Tech failed to finish in the nation's top 10 were 1976-77, 1977-78, 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93.
20 SOMETHING Louisiana Tech was the only WAC team this season to reach the 20-win plateau during the regular season. With its 29-game winning streak, the Lady Techsters reached 30 wins in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Fresno State reached the 20-win mark in the WNIT and ended the season with 21 wins, one shy of the school record.