PLAYER OF THE WEEK SMUs Andrea Cossey has been named the Western Athletic Conference womens basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 9-15. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior this season. Cossey earned the award once last season.
Cossey, a guard from Prescott, Ark., averaged 22.0 ppg and 3.5 apg in two games, as the Mustangs defeated San Jose State and Hawaii. She posted a career-high 31 points against Hawaii. She set a new school-record (and Moody Coliseum record) with seven three-pointers against the Rainbow Wahine, shooting 68% from the field, including 67% from three-point range the past two games.
Cossey played 64 total minutes over the weekend out of a possible 80. Her 31 points against Hawaii are the most points scored by an individual in a single game among all WAC players this season. She is the team leader in scoring average, field goal attempts, three-point field goal attempts, three-point field goals made, and second to Sarah Davis in blocked shots.
Also nominated: Amisha Carter, Louisiana Tech; Lauren Neaves, Rice; Tatiana Taylor, San Jose State; Ana Valtierra, UTEP and Jillian Robbins, Tulsa.
LOUISIANA TECH TAKES SLIGHT LEAD With two wins last week, Louisiana Tech took a slight lead in the tight WAC race with a 12-1 record, while Rice is currenly 11-1. This week, Rice will travel to Nevada and Fresno State. Lousiana Tech will only play once this week traveling to Dallas to face SMU. UTEP, winners of three-straight, looks to take sole possession of third place this week, hosting San Jose State and Hawaii. Tulsa looks to improve upon its fifth-place standing this week facing Fresno and Nevada on the road.
HOME SWEET HOME Three WAC schools remain undefeated at home this season. Rice, Louisiana Tech and SMU are all undefeated. The Lady Owls and Lady Techsters lead the way with a 7-0 home WAC records, while the Mustangs are 6-0. Overall, Louisiana Tech is 11-0 at the Thomas Assembly Center this season. Rice had four non-conference losses at home for an 8-4 overall home record. SMU is 7-3 at Moody Colisuem.
AGAINST THE BEST The WAC is 1-9 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. 7 Stanford and 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. Rice has also lost to Baylor who is now ranked. 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.
WHAT'S IN A NAME Of the nine main offensive categories, in WAC games seven of the leaders are athletes with names starting with a vowel. Lousiana Tech's Amisha Carter is the leader of three of the cetegories, scoring (17.5 ppg), field goal percentage (.561) and rebounding (10.3 rpg). Hawaii's April Atuaia leads in free throw percentage (.909). UTEP's Ana Valtierra is first in three point percentage (.486), while SMU's Andrea Cossey is first in three-pointers made per game (2.23) Finally, Louisiana Tech's Erica Smith-Taylor lead in steals per game (3.46 spg).
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST This week, Rice is third in the nation in blocked shots (6.7 bpg). Tulsa jumped to fourth, averaging 6.3 bpg. Louisiana Tech moved into first in scoring margin (25.6). The Lady Techsters are also second in steals (14.5 spg) and scoring offense (84.0).
LOW SCORING AFFAIR On Feb. 12, the Miners and Fresno State tied a WAC record UTEP and Hawaii had set earlier in the season for the least combined points in a conference game. On Feb. 12, UTEP and Fresno State scored 83 points together. The mark was originally set on Jan. 22 when the Wahine and the Miners did so. While the Miners don't plan on raising a banner in the arena to honor this feat, they are relieved to escape both games with a win. UTEP won three games when scoring under 60 points this season. The Miners have scored under 60 points in 11 games and are 3-8 in those contests.
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 10-13 this season. Utah State is 4-17 in its first season of women's basketball in 17 years. The Aggies earned their third Big West win against Long Beach State, 64-60.
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 against. No. 7, etc. The winners will play in the semifinals on Friday and the championship game will be Saturday.
AROUND THE COURT Boise State broke a season-high six-game losing streak with a, 63-52, win over Nevada. The Broncos almost pulled off the weekend sweep, but fell to Fresno State, 77-75 in overtime. The Broncos look to get back on track this week, but have the long road trip of Honolulu and San Jose. Boise State faces Hawaii on Feb. 19 and San Jose State on Feb. 22.
Fresno State's loss to UTEP on Feb. 12 guaranteed Fresno State will finish with an under .500 conference record for the first time since the 2001-02 season. However, Fresno State can still wrap up the season with a .500 or better overall record for the second-straight year. The Bulldogs were 11-for-36 from the three-point line in a 77-75 overtime win over Boise State on Feb. 14, establishing a single-game record for three-point field goals attempted. Veronica Mack, who was 3-16 from three-point land and finished with 17 points, matched a program record previously set by Lindsay Logan (16 vs. Bowling Green in 2000) for most triples in a single game with 16 attempts. Chantella Perera was 7-15 from beyond the arc and ended with 25 points.
Hawaii dropped from first to fourth in scoring defense in WAC games after losses to Louisiana Tech and SMU. The Rainbow Wahine was first in scoring defense with opponents scoring 58.3 points per game. Now Hawaii allows 62.0 ppg. SMU's Andrea Cossey scored a league-high 31 points against theRainbow Wahine, while the Lady Techsters scored 83 points. The Rainbow Wahine look to break a five-game losing streak. Hawaii has also lost seven of its last eight games. The Rainbow Wahine's last win was a, 51-44, victory over Boise State on Jan. 24
Louisiana Tech senior guard Amber Obaze will be making her 100th career start on Feb. 21 against SMU. Obaze, along with current Techster teammate Tiffany Thompson, will both be making a homecoming to Dallas where they prepped at Bryan Adams High School together. Senior forward Trina Frierson started the season by making only 17 of her first 34 free throws. However, since that time, the Vicksburg, Miss., native has hit 28 of 31. Senior forward Amisha Carter has scored 20 or more points in five of her last six games, averaging 20.7 points and 10.5 rebounds over that stretch. Over its last six games, Louisiana Tech is shooting .506 percent from the field as a team.
Nevada returns home for the final time this season. Rice, tied for first in the league with Louisiana Tech, will come into Lawlor Events Center on Feb. 19, while Tulsa travels to Reno on Feb. 21. Nevada will look for revenge on both teams having lost earlier in the season on the road at both locations. Nevada lost to Tulsa, 74-56, on Jan. 22. The Lady Owls downed the Wolf Pack, 78-49, on Jan. 24. After the two-game home stand, the Pack will have just three regular season games left before the WAC Championships hosted in Fresno, Calif. on March 9-13.
Rice won at Tulsa for the first time since the 1999 season with a 64-61 victory on Feb. 14, completing the season sweep of the Golden Hurricane. The Lady Owls have now won eight straight. Lindsey Maynard scored 12 points in the win, her 12th game this season with doublefigure
points. Michelle Woods added 11 points, her 13th game this year with double-digit points. Kate Becklers one three-pointer moved her into fifth on Rices all-time list with 81 in her career. This week, Rice finishes its three-game road swing at Nevada and Fresno State.
San Jose State has lost five of its last six games and two straight. The Spartans look to get back on track this week, hosting Boise State and UTEP. San Jose State defeated Boise State earlier this season. The Miners, however, defeated the Spartans by 10 at El Paso.
SMU sophomore guard Kendall Shead collected a career-high 18 points against San Jose State. She nearly missed a triple-double with nine assists and nine rebounds. SMUs 88 points against San Jose State was the most scored in a single game by the Mustangs this season. SMUs 27-point winning margin was also the largest this season as well. Kim Walter's double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds against Hawaii snapped a 21-game streak since an SMU player posted a double-double, dating back to March 14, 2003, versus Fresno State in the WAC Tournament semifinals, where Kaci Alexander and Shonte Roberts each posted a double-double.
SMUs team total of 149 three-point field goals and 461 three-point field goal attempts are currently the fifth-most and fourth-most tallied (respectively) in a Mustang single season. Besides setting a team single-game record, SMUs 14 three-point field goals agaisnt SJSU set a Moody Coliseum single-game record. Prior to Andrea Cossey's 31 points versus Hawaii, the last time a Mustang player posted 30 or more points in a single game was D-Dra Rucker with 33 points at Fresno State on Jan. 28, 2001.
UTEP moved into a tie for third in the WAC with wins against Fresno State and Nevada last week. The Miners are 8-5 after 13 games. Last season at this time, UTEP was 5-8 with an overall record of 10-13. This season, the Miners have a much improved overall record of 13-9. With three conference road victories, UTEP is just one WAC road win away from tying its most since joining the league for the 1990-91 season. UTEP is currently 3-4 on the road in league play and will have a chance at breaking that mark at San Jose State and Hawaii this weekend. UTEP's most conference wins on the road came during the 1992-93 season, when it went 4-3 away from the Don Haskins Center. Over the past four seasons, UTEP is 5-38 against WAC opponents when playing away from El Paso (0-4 neutral floors, 5-34 on the road).
Tulsa has a better record on the road during conference this season than at home. The Golden Hurricane is 4-1 in road games, but just 3-4 at home. If the winning trend continues on the road, the Hurricane should fair well since it will play four of its final six games on the road. Tulsa's back-to-back home losses to UTEP and Rice this season marks the first time Tulsa has dropped consecutive WAC home games since the 2001-02 campaign.