PLAYER OF THE WEEK Louisiana Tech's Amisha Carter has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 26-Feb. 1. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior. The Lady Techsters have earned the player of the week honor three times this season with Amber Obaze and Trina Frierson also earning the award.
Carter, a senior from Oakland, Calif., led the Lady Techsters to wins over Boise State and UTEP to help Louisiana Tech stay tied with Rice for first place in the WAC. The 6-2 forward averaged 21.5 points and 14.0 rebounds in the two wins. Carter shot .560 percent from the field and .720 percent from the free throw line for the week.
She led the Lady Techsters with 20 points and a career-high 21 rebounds in a, 75-58, win over UTEP. Carter also led Tech with 23 points and seven boards in a 95-58 victory over Boise State. The 21 rebounds were also the most by any WAC player this season. Carter leads the WAC with nine double-doubles.
Also nominated: Talisha Quick-Rath, Nevada; Lauren Neaves, Rice; Andrea Cossey, SMU; Vaida Zagurskyte, UTEP and Jillian Robbins, Tulsa.
TIGHT RACE Louisiana Tech and Rice remain tied for first in the WAC at the midway point of league play. After winning six of its last seven games, Tulsa has charged into third place with a 6-3 record. During that stretch the Golden Hurricane have won four road games. Tulsa is 4-1 on the road in WAC play. This week, Tulsa looks to improve upon its 2-2 home record in league games, hosting Boise State and Tulsa. Louisiana Tech will face Fresno State and Nevada on the road, while Rice hosts UTEP and Boise State. All three top teams are in the midst of winning streaks. Louisiana Tech has won seven-straight games, while Rice has won five-straight. Tulsa has won four in a row.
HOME SWEET HOME Three WAC schools remain undefeated at home half way through the season. Rice, Louisiana Tech and SMU are all undefeated with the Lady Owls and Lady Techsters holding 5-0 records and the Mustangs standing 4-0. On the flip side, there are two teams that are still looking for their first road wins. Nevada is 0-4 away from Reno, while Fresno State is 0-5.
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 TAYLOR REACHES 1,000 POINTS Senior forward Tatiana Taylor scored her 1,000th career point at San Jose State on Jan. 31, but the Spartan womens basketball team lost to Rice, 74-60. Taylor scored 15 points to lead the Spartans. Taylor now has 1,008 points in 103 games for the Spartans. She joins current Spartan guard Cricket Williams on the list who has 1,548 points in 95 games. Williams finished the game with 14 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, four steals and one blocked shot.
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST This week, Rice is second in the nation in blocked shots (6.7 bpg). Tulsa moved up to fourth, averaging 6.3. Louisiana Tech is also second in steals (14.3 spg), scoring offense (83.8) and scoring margin (23.8).
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 9-10 this season. Utah State is 3-14 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 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 has lost a season-high four-straight games and looks to break that streak on the road against Tulsa and Rice. The Broncos have a tough task, facing the third place Hurricane and the first place Lady Owls. The Broncos lost to Rice and Tulsa at home earlier this season. Boise State's last win came against Nevada on Jan. 17.
Fresno State has lost seven-straight games, the league's longest losing streak of the season. Nevada has two six-game losing streaks this season. The Bulldogs are still looking for their first WAC road win of the season. Overall, Fresno State has an even 4-4 record at home. Junior Aritta Lane is ninth in the league in scoring, averaging 12.8 points per game. Teammate Jasmine Plummer, a freshman, is seventh in the WAC in rebounding, averaging 6.4 rpg.
Hawaii has been tough defensively this season. The Rainbow Wahine are second in the league in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to a shooting percentage of .376. In WAC games, Hawaii is first in scoring defense with opponents scoring 58.3 points per game. The Rainbow Wahine are also first in league games in field goal percentage defense with opponents shooting .346. Offensively, Hawaii is led by Jade Abele, who is third in the league scoring, averaging 15.3 points per game. Abele is 15th in the WAC in three-point field goal percentage, shooting .300.
Louisiana Tech won its 156th-straight home games against an unranked
opponent with its wins over Boise State and UTEP. The Lady Techsters have also now won 91-straight home games against conference foes.
Louisiana Tech is now 23-0 all-time at home in WAC games. Louisiana Tech guards Tasha Crain is first in the league in assist/turnover ratio (2.79). Also leading the WAC statistics is senior Amisha Carter who is first in rebounds (10.6 rpg). Senior Trina Frierson is first in the WAC in scoring (16.5 ppg).
Nevada junior Talisha Quick-Rath led the Wolf Pack to its first win since Jan. 5 and second WAC win of the season. Nevada bested WAC rival Fresno State on Jan. 31, 71-53. Quick-Rath led all scorers for the first time in her career Saturday, with 15 points. She had one of Nevada's six three-pointers, and was astonishing from the free throw line with 6-6. The Wolf Pack committed a season low 10 turnovers, forcing the Bulldogs to 20 on 13 steals. Nevada remains in Reno, where all three of its three wins have come this year. SMU and Louisiana Tech will come to town next week. The Wolf Pack will play SMU on Thursday, Feb. 5, and the Lady Techsters on Saturday, Feb. 7. Louisiana Tech handed Nevada its worst loss in program history in Ruston, La., 110-47.
Rice beat Hawaii and San Jose State on the road for the second time in as many seasons. Senior Lindsey Maynard scored 13 points against the Spartans for her ninth double-figure points total this season. Sophomore Latrice Elder stepped up big, scoring a career-high 10 points against San Jose State, including going eight of eight from the free throw line. Senior Elisa Inman had a breakout game against the Wahine with a team-high 16 points, connecting on seven of 10 from the field. The Lady Owls win at Hawaii was the 180th career victory for head coach Cristy McKinney. Rice has now won six straight, and seven of its last eight. The Lady Owls are 5-0 at home in conference play this season, and 3-1 on the road. This week, Rice returns home to Autry Court to host UTEP and Boise State to open the second half of WAC play this week.
San Jose State has its twin towers leading the way this season. Twins Tatiana and Teoma Taylor are among the WAC's leaders. Tatiana Taylor is fifth in the WAC in scoring, averaging 13.6 points per game. Her sister, Teoma, is first in field goal percentage (.553). She is also 13th in rebounding (6.1 rpg). Teammate Cricket Williams leads the WAC in assists (7.72 apg) and steals (3.67 spg).
SMU has gone 17 games without a player posting a double-double, dating back to March 14, 2003 when both Kaci Alexander and Shonte Roberts had double-doubles in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament. Sophomore Sarah Davis moved into sixth on SMU's all-time career list in blocks. She has 71 blocks and needs only three more to move into fifth. This spot is currently held by Kerri with 73. She tied her career high with four blocks against Boise State on Jan. 31. On Feb. 5 against UTEP, SMU head coach Rhonda Rompola will coach in her 375th game as Mustang head coach.
UTEP had its five-game winning streak snapped with a 54-39 defeat at SMU on Jan. 29. Their five-game winning streak was the first since the Miners defeated BYU, Wyoming, Colorado State, UNLV and Air Force in January of 1998. The streak also tied UTEP's longest WAC win streak (1997-98 & 1992-93). With 10 wins overall and five in the conference UTEP is well ahead of where it has been for the last five years. Last year UTEP won 10 games overall and had five in the conference. UTEP has not won more than 10 games since winning 12 in 1998-99. That was also the last time UTEP won more than five conference games (6-8). UTEP's best finish in the WAC was 10-6 during the 1997-98 season. That season along with a 8-6 record in 1992-93 are the Miners only winning seasons in WAC play.
Tulsa senior guard Candice Brewer will enter the Boise State and UTEP games needing just five assists to become the schools all-time leader. She currently has 343 and trails Kasie Pittmans (1996-2000) record of 347.
Tulsa has matched its record this season for consecutive games won with four. TU has won its last four contests and a total of six out of its last seven decisions. Earlier this season, Tulsa strung together four wins to complete its non-conference season. In her first career start against Hawaii, sophomore Emily Jaskowiak posted her second career double-double with career highs of 15 points and 13 rebounds against the Rainbow Wahine. She also connected on 7-of-12 field goal attempts.