PLAYER OF THE WEEK Tulsa's Becky Heidotten has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec 29-Jan. 4. This is the third WAC Player of the Week honor for the junior, who captured the honor twice during the 2001-02 season. This is the second player of the week honor for Tulsa this season with Sarah Lundberg also being honored.
Heidotten, a forward from Florissant, Mo., led Tulsa to a 1-1 home record last week with a, 73-56, win over Stephen F. Austin and a narrow, 63-60, loss to No. 8 Louisiana Tech. For the week, Heidotten averaged 17.0 points, eight rebounds, three blocks, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game, while hitting 73-percent of her field goal attempts and both free throw attempts.
In the final non-conference against Stephen F. Austin, Heidotten scored 20 of her career-high 26 points in the first half and led Tulsa to a 73-56 victory over Stephen F. Austin. She hit her first 11 field goal attempts and tied the school's single-game record for field goals, hitting 13-of-15 attempts (.870). She also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Heidotten also collected a career-best four blocked shots and tied her career mark for assists with three.
Also nominated: Jade Abele, Hawai'i; Lindsey Maynard, Rice and Cricket Williams, San Jose State.
HAPPY NEW YEAR WAC action continues this week, with two undefeated teams and two winless teams. Rice and Boise State are the only teams without a WAC loss this season. Tulsa and UTEP are the only teams without a WAC win. One team will end the week with a win when the Miners host the Golden Hurricane on Jan. 8. First-place Rice travels to Boise State and UTEP.
RICE'S MCKINNEY ECLIPSES 200 CAREER VICTORIES With a 64-51 victory over Sam Houston State on Dec. 21, Rice head coach Cristy McKinney eclipsed the 200 career-wins mark. In her 13 seasons as a head coach, McKinney has amassed a record of 204-154, including a two-year stint as the head coach at Montevallo from 1984-86. As the head of the Lady Owls, McKinney is 177-127 in 11 seasons.
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 (.506) 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.
RICE REMAINS UNDEFEATED Rice is the only two-win team in the WAC after upsetting No. 8 Louisiana Tech, 87-84 in overtime. Rice and Boise State are the only undefeated teams remaining in league play. The Broncos are 1-0. After a slow start, the Lady Owls have won three of their last four games. Rice welcomed back Elisa Inman from injury. Preseason all-WAC selection Johnetta Hayes is still out until February with a knee injury.
WAC ADDS NEW MEXICO STATE, UTAH STATE On Oct. 23, the WAC issued invitations to New Mexico State and Utah State for the 2005 season. New Mexico State is currently 6-5 this season. Utah State is 0-9 in its first season of women's basketball in 17 years.
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 enters the week at 4-6 overall and 1-0 in league play coming off a WAC season opening 69-59 victory over UTEP in Boise. The Broncos were led by junior guard Jodi Nakashima with 14 points who hit 4-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc. She currently leads the team and WAC in three-point percentage and an average at .583 percent and 2.1 makes per game. Sophomore forward Jamie Hawkins continues to lead the Broncos in scoring and on the boards at 13.5 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Fresno State improved to 7-5 overall and 1-1 in the WAC with an 81-39 win over San Jose State on Jan. 5. The win broke the Spartans season-high eight-game winning streak. The Bulldogs were winning, 38-17, at halftime and led by as many as 44. Fresno State made a season-high 12 three-pointers in the victory. The win came one game after a dissapointing loss to Hawaii at home. After six home games this season, the Bulldogs are packing the new Save Mart Center. Fresno State leads the WAC in attendance, averaging 4,452 a game. The Bulldogs have drawn a total of 26,710.
Hawaii won its first road game of the season in the WAC opener at Fresno State. The Rainbow Wahine remain on the road this week, traveling to San Jose State. Last season, the Rainbow Wahine and Spartans split games. In the latest NCAA statistics, Hawaii is sixth in the nation in fewest turnovers a game, averaging only 13.3 per game. The Rainbow Wahine are also 11th in fewest personal fouls per game, averaging 14.3.
Louisiana Tech had its 22-game WAC regular season winning streak stopped by Rice on Jan. 5. The Lady Owls are the only WAC team to defeat the Lady Techsters also taking a game in 2002. Louisiana Tech has recorded a record of 209-14 all-time in regular season conference games (American South, Sun Belt, Western Athletic). The Lady Techsters won all 18 WAC games last season. Louisiana Tech is ranked No. 8 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 Poll, the Lady Techsters highest ranking of the season. Louisiana Tech has now been ranked in 207 straight AP Top 25 polls, dating back to the 1991-92 season.
Nevada first-year head coach Kim Gervasoni earned her first WAC win with a 77-62 win against Hawaii. The win will give the Wolf Pack much needed momentum as it travels to the WAC's highest ranked team, No. 8 Louisiana Tech. The Lady Techsters will be looking to prove themselves on their home court in Ruston, La., after tallying their first WAC loss since 2002 to Rice. The Wolf Pack has never beaten Louisiana Tech in any of its five chances against the Lady Techsters. Last time out, Nevada lost 79-67 last season in Ruston.
Rice defeated No. 8 Louisiana Tech in overtime on Jan. 5. The victory marked only the second time that Louisiana Tech has lost a WAC game, the other setback came at the Owls' Autry Court in 2002. Lindsey Maynard led the way with 18 points, upping her season-high for the second consecutive game. Freshman Lauren Neaves had a career-high 17 points, including five in overtime. In addition to Neaves, the Lady Owls got double-figure scoring from Anne Peck with 14 and Michelle Woods with 10. Peck led Rice's rebounding effort with a career-best eight.
San Jose State shot just 22.7 percent from the field in an, 81-39, loss to Fresno State on Jan. 5. The loss ended the Spartans' eight-game winning streak and four-game conference winning streak. The Spartans look to get back on track this week at home against Hawaii in their only game of the week. Last year, the Spartans and Rainbow Wahine split with both teams winning at home. San Jose State is only four wins away from matching last season's win total of 13.
SMU wrapped up a seven-game, 7,000-mile road swing on Jan. 5 against Tulsa with an overtime win. It was the most number of consecutive road games (in regular season play) under head coach Rhonda Rompola.
Sophomore Sarah Davis posted a season-high 16 points and just missed a double-double with nine boards at Rice just days after the passing of her father. SMU has been out-rebounded on the offensive glass, 168-107. SMU has allowed an opponent double-double in six games this season. Freshman forward Katie Gross made her first collegiate start against Rice.
UTEP ranks among the nation's best in scoring defense. The Miners are 50th, allowing only 58.9 points per game. The Miners are also 45th in rebound margin (+5.6), one of three WAC teams among the top 50. This week, UTEP looks to break a two-game losing streak and capture its first WAC win. The Miners host Tulsa and Rice. The Golden Hurricane are also looking for their first WAC win of the season. Tulsa and UTEP are the only teams without a league win.
Tulsa had its season-high four-game winning streak snapped against No. 8 Louisiana Tech on Jan. 3 with a, 63-60, loss. Previously, Tulsa had home victories against UMKC, Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, Texas-Pan American and Stephen F. Austin. Tulsa closed out the homestand with an overtime loss to SMU. Tulsa is 5-3 at home this season with victories over Oral Roberts, UMKC, Texas A&M-CC, Texas-Pan American and Stephen F. Austin, and suffered its losses to Arkansas, Louisiana Tech and SMU. Senior Candice Brewer leads Tulsa in scoring with 11.9 points, while redshirt freshman Jillian Robbins leads the team in rebounding with 7.2 rpg.