PLAYER OF THE WEEK San Jose State's Teoma Taylor has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 12-18. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior. This is the second player of the week honor for the Spartans with Cricket Williams earning the honor earlier this season.
Taylor, a center from San Francisco, Calif., shot .652 from the field as the Spartans went 1-1 on the week with a home win against SMU and a loss to Louisiana Tech. Both teams were tied for first in the WAC to start the weekend.
Taylor scored a team-high 19 points in the come-from-behind overtime win against SMU. Against the Mustangs she also added nine rebounds, shooting .800. The Spartans were down as many as 16 points against SMU. Against Louisiana Tech, Taylor recorded her first double-double of the season and third of her career with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Also nominated: Jamie Hawkins, Boise State; Erica Smith-Taylor, Louisiana Tech; Anne Peck, Rice; Kaira White, SMU and Vaida Zagurskyte, UTEP.
WHAT A RACE! Louisiana Tech has taken sole possession of first place in the WAC. The Lady Techsters are 5-1, while the Lady Owls are 4-1. This week, Louisiana Tech travels to SMU to take on the 3-3 Mustangs. Boise State and UTEP are two of the hottest teams in the league. The Miners put their three-game winning streak on the line at home against San Jose State and Hawaii. The Broncos put a two-game winning streak on the line also against the Spartans and the Rainbow Wahine.
UTEP WINS BACK-TO-BACK WAC GAMES UTEP won back-to-back conference road games for the first time since the 1998-99 season, when the Miners won at Fresno State and at San Jose State. Now in 14 seasons in the WAC, UTEP has taken back-to-back road game four times. The other two previous times came during the 1997-98 season and the 1992-93 season. The Miners will also be seeking its first four-game winning streak of the season. UTEP last won three-straight conference games during the 1998-99 season, when it defeated San Diego State, Fresno State and San Jose State. UTEP's longest WAC win streak is five (1997-98 & 1992-93). Last time the Miners had a four-game winning streak came to open the 1998-99 season.
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 The WAC is an even .500 with a 46-46 record against non-conference opponents. The WAC has the most wins against the Southland Conference with a solid 7-2 record. The WAC is 5-1 against the Big West Conference. The league has a solid 2-0 mark against the Big Ten. The WAC has seven losses against the Big 12 and Pac-10 Conferences.
SAN JOSE STATE'S WILLIAMS FINALIST FOR SENIOR CLASS AWARD San Jose State senior Cricket Williams has been selected as one of 31 finalists nationwide for the Bayer Advantage Senior CLASS Award. The award is presented annually to the top senior male and female NCAA Division I Player-of-the-Year. Nominees were selected based on performance and achievements from their junior season. Williams was a first team all-WAC selection her junior year. She set the school scoring record with 571 points, 20.4 per game, and finished as the 17th leading scorer in the nation. Williams also dished out 192 assists including 16 against Tulsa in early March. This season, Williams is third in the country in assists and averages 12.8 points and 8.5 assists per game. The award was launched during the 2001-02 season in response to the recent trend of college basketball players leaving school early to turn professional. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the award was developed to honor seniors for completing their collegiate athletic eligibility.
WAC ADDS NEW MEXICO STATE, UTAH STATE On Oct. 23, 2003, the WAC issued invitations to New Mexico State and Utah State for the 2005 season. New Mexico State is currently 7-8 this season. Utah State is 2-11 in its first season of women's basketball in 17 years. The Aggies earned their first win of the season against Cal Poly.
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 had its first conference road sweep since the 1994-95 season when Broncos defeated Fresno State, 52-50, and Nevada, 89-66, last weekend. Sophomore Jamie Hawkins led the team in scoring and rebounds during the two games, averaging 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. She recorded her second double-double of the year at Fresno State with 11 points and 10 rebounds followed by 19 points at Nevada. Over the course of the two games she shot 56.5 percent (13-of-23) from the floor for 30 points and went 4-of-6 from the foul line for 66.7 percent.
Fresno State's current four-game losing skid is the team's longest since it dropped six in a row to close out the 2001-02 campaign. Aside from a three-game losing streak last year, the Bulldogs had not lost two in a row since the aforementioned slump in 2001-02. Three of the team's last four losses have been by 10 points or less. The Bulldogs are now 5-3 in games following a loss this season and can improve on that mark with a victory against Rice on Thursday night. Last year, Fresno State was 8-3 in games following a defeat, compared to a 5-14 mark in similar situations during the 2001-02 season.
Hawaii has not fared well on the boards in WAC play. Despite a 2-7 start, Hawaii held a rebound advantage in six of its nine non-conference games. UH has now been out-rebounded in four of five WAC games and has given up a conference-high 48.0 rebounds per game. The Rainbow Wahine have been out-rebounded by an average of 8.0 in WAC games. After out-rebounding its opponents in the first four games of the season, UH has been beaten on the boards in seven of the last 10 games. Junior Jade Abele recorded her first career double-double when she tallied 10 points and a career high 12 rebounds at San Jose State (Jan. 8). It was also the first double-double of the season by a Rainbow Wahine.
Louisiana Tech junior guard Erica Smith-Taylor registered consecutive
double-doubles after not recording a double-double in her first 76 career games at Louisiana Tech. She scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds at San Jose State and then followed it up with 11 points and 13 rebounds at Hawaii. Louisiana Tech boasts four players averaging 13.7 points or more in its six conference games. Four are in the top 11 in the conference stats. In Louisiana Tech's, last three trips to Hawaii, the Lady Techsters have scored 67 points in each game (W 67-55 in 2001-02, W 67-44 in 2002-03, W 67-50 in 2003-04). Senior guard Amber Obaze scored a career-high 23 points in the win over Hawaii, surpassing her previous career-high of 22 points accomplished twice, once against Hawaii in Honolulu.
Nevada will return to the road for its next two WAC opponents. On the first leg of the road trip, the Wolf Pack travels to Tulsa on Jan. 22. Tulsa 9-6 (2-3) dropped its last game to Rice, 76-69 in Houston, Texas. Nevada will also travel to the Lady Owls on Jan. 24. Junior April Bankston is among the WAC leaders in scoring and rebounding. Bankston is 12th in WAC games in scoring, averaging 12.3 ppg. Bankston is also ninth in the league in field goal percentage, shooting. 485.
Rice won its fourth of its last five games Saturday with a 76-69 victory over Tulsa. Junior Eshombi Singleton made her first career start, and responded with a career-high seven points and eight assists. Lindsey Maynard scored 14 points, marking the sixth-consecutive game the senior has recorded double-digit points. Kate Beckler hit three treys, bringing her career total to 74, seventh all-time at Rice. Lauren Neaves enters this week needing just one block to crack the Rice top-10 list for
blocks in a season. She has 33 on the year. The Lady Owls will play their next two at home. Rice hosts Fresno State on Jan. 22 and then Nevada on Jan. 24.
San Jose State senior Teoma Taylor Taylor scored a team-high 19 points in the come-from-behind overtime win against SMU. Against the Mustangs she also added nine rebounds, shooting .800. The Spartans were down as many as 16 points against SMU. Against Louisiana Tech, Taylor recorded her first double-double of the season and third of her career with 14 points and 11 rebounds. For her efforts she earned the team's second player of the week honor.
SMU has gone 14 games without a double-double, dating back to March 14, 2003 against Fresno State in semifinals of the WAC Tournament when both Kaci Alexander and Shonte Roberts posted double-doubles. Sophomore forward Sarah Davis moved into sixth all-time on SMU's all-time career list for blocked shots. She now was 677 blocks and needs seven more to take over fifth place which is held by Kerri Delaney (1992-96) with 73 blocks. Freshman forward Katie Gross recorded a career-high 11 rebounds at Hawaii and just missed a double-double with nine points.
UTEP broke a 20-game WAC losing streak away from El Paso and 13-game road losing skid against all opponents with a 85-54 win at Nevada on Jan. 15. UTEP's 31 point win on the road was its largest margin of victory on the road in the WAC in program history and its second biggest against a conference opponent. The Miners' largest victory over a conference foe came on Feb. 1, 1992 when UTEP ripped New Mexico by 35 (76-41). The margin of victory was also the eighth largest in program history on the road and its biggest since they defeated McMurry by 36, 78-42, on a neutral floor. UTEP won at Fort Bliss by 70 (107-37) on Nov. 28, 1976 for its largest away from home win. UTEP's five other biggest road victories follow: 41 (89-48) at Central Arizona, Nov. 23, 1980; 38 (58-20) at Beaumont, Dec. 13, 1974; 37 (67-30) at Sul Ross State, Jan. 1978; 33 (79-46) at Mesa College, Nov. 21, 1980.
Tulsa senior Candice Brewer currently ranks second among Tulsa's career assist leaders with 329. Brewer needs just 18 more assists to tie the school's current assist leader, Kasie Pittman (1996-2000), and 19 assists to become the TU's all-time leader. Brewer played in her 100th career game at Tulsa against Rice (1/17) and became just the fourth player in school history to reach the century mark for games played. In just under two seasons, sophomore Kara Pongonis has already moved into the top-10 among TU's career three-point field goal leaders with 54, which puts her in sixth place. She recorded 28 in 27 games during her freshman season and already has 26 through 15 games this year.
*Tournament MVP