LOUISIANA TECH DOWNS TEXAS TECH TO ADVANCE TO REGIONAL SEMIFINAL Louisiana Tech (29-2), defeated the Lady Raiders of Texas Tech, 81-64, before 4,261 at Dahlberg Arena. With the victory, Tech advances to the Mideast Regional in Norfolk, Va., and will play Duke.
For the second game in a row, Tech junior guard Erica Smith-Taylor carried her team offensively, recording a career-high 30 points on 10 of 16 shooting, including 4-of-7 from the three-point line and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Smith-Taylor, who scored a career-high 29 points in the first round against Montana on March 20, ignited the Techsters in the first half with 17 points. Smith-Taylor's heroics were big as Tech played most of the first half without Trina Frierson, who picked up two early fouls and only played five minutes, and with Amisha Carter struggling inside, hitting only 4-of-19 field goals in the game.
LOUISIANA TECH WINS THIRD-STRAIGHT WAC TOURNAMENT TITLE The top-seeded and sixth ranked Louisiana Tech brought home their third WAC title in as many seasons, defeating the Rice Lady Owls, 76-52, at the 2004 McCaffrey WAC Basketball Tournament in Fresno, Calif. on March 13. After a first-half 29-23 lead, Louisiana Tech pulled away in the second half, out-scoring the Owls, 47-29. The Techsters were led by both Erica Smith-Taylor who registered 22 points, and the tournament's MVP, Amisha Carter, who tallied 18 points and 16 rebounds en route to the title.
LOUISIANA TECH CAPTURES THIRD REGULAR SEASON WAC TITLE With solid wins over Rice and Tulsa at home, Louisiana Tech captured its third-straight WAC title. This season was the tightest race for the Lady Techsters since joining the WAC in 2001-02. Rice ended the regular season with a 16-2 league record with the losses coming against Louisiana Tech and UTEP. Third place Tulsa set a school record by winning 18 regular season games. Louisiana Tech has won 12-straight conference titles, dating back to its days in the Sun Belt Conference. The Lady Techsters' have won 160-straight games at home against unranked opponents.
NCAA SWEET SIXTEEN Duke defeated Marquette, 76-67, in the second round of the Mideast Regional. All-American Alana Beard scored 30 points in her last game at Cameron Indoor Stadium and freshman Brittany Hunter added 12 after halftime. The Blue Devils were also led by Monique Curries 15 first-half points. Top-seeded Duke is now 29-3 and have won 12-straight games.
The ACC Tournament and regular-season champions have played three common opponents with Louisiana Tech. Duke is 2-1 against common opponents with wins against Stephen F. Austin and Tulsa. The only loss came against overall No. 1 seed Tennessee. Louisiana Tech is 3-1 with two wins against Tulsa and win over Stephen F. Austin. The Lady Techsters also have a loss against the Lady Vols.
Overall, the Blue Devils hold the series lead 1-0. In the only meeting, the Duke defeated Louisiana Tech 76-64 during the 2001-02 season. The Louisiana Tech and Duke match up will pit the two teams with the longest current winning streaks in the nation, as the Lady Techsters have won 21- straight games, while the Blue Devils have won 12-straight.
MIDEAST REGIONAL Minnesota and Boston College round out the Mideast Regional.
The seventh-seeded Gophers upset second-seeded Kansas State, 80-61, to advance to its second-straight NCAA Regional Semifinal. The Golden Gophers are now 23-8 this season. The crowd of 13,425 fans was a Mideast Regional record for a first or second round game. Minnesota is led by All-American Lindsay Whalen who missed five weeks with a broken hand. Whalen scored 31 points in the Gophers' first round win over UCLA.
Boston College defeated Eastern Michigan and Ohio State to reach the regional semifinals. Boston College held Ohio State scoreless for eight minutes of the second half en route to a, 63-48, victory in the second round. The Eagles are led by Amber Jacobs who scored 17 points against the Buckeyes. Boston College won its first Big East tournament title with a, 75-57, victory over Rutgers. The Eagles also stunned Connecticut in the Big East Tournament.
THE WAC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT The WAC owns an all-time record of 72-35 (.673) in NCAA Tournament games. The 10 teams from the 2003-04 season own an 15-22 record (.405) as WAC members. Louisiana Tech is 66-20 (.767) in NCAA play.
THE WAC IN THE WNIT The WAC owns an all-time record of 16-18 (.471) in WNIT games. The 10 teams currently in the WAC own an 14-12 (.538) record in WNIT games, 10-10 (.500) as WAC members. In 2000-01, Hawaii advanced to the semifinals of the WNIT, falling to New Mexico. In 2002-03, both Hawaii and Rice fell in the first round. This season, Rice advanced to the second round, while Tulsa lost in the first round.
LOUISIANA TECH'S CARTER AND FRIERSON EARN ACCOLADES Louisiana Tech's Amisha Carter and Trina Frierson were both named to the 2004 Associated Press Women's All-American honorable mention team. Carter, who was named the 2004 WAC Player of the Year, is averaging 17.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game for Tech while recording 17 double doubles on the year. The Oakland, Calif., native has shot 52 percent from the field while leading the Lady Techsters in scoring 14 times.
Frierson is averaging 16.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while hitting 51 percent of her field goals and 72 percent of her free throws. The Vicksburg, Miss., native has scored over 1,500 career points in her Lady Techster career.
Despite not making any of the five-man first three teams, Carter did receive one first place team vote.
RICE FALLS IN WNIT SECOND ROUND UNLV's Sheena Moore scored a game-high 33 points as UNLV defeated Rice, 68-66, in the second round of the WNIT in Las Vegas.
Rices Lauren Neaves and Lindsey Maynard both scored 18 points for the Lady Owls, who finish the season 22-10. Michelle Woods and Latrice Elder each scored 10. This is the third time under McKinneys tutelage that the Lady Owls have advanced to the second round of the WNIT.
UNLV used a 9-2 run in the last five minutes of the first half to finish the first half down by one point, 35-34 at the half, and scored 34 points in the second half to end Rices season. The Lady Owls led the entire first half and were up by as much as 12 points in the first half.
TULSA MAKES FIRST POSTSEASON APPEARANCE In its first-ever postseason appearance, Tulsa trailed 66-64 with 0:12 remaining in the contest and had a chance to tie or take the lead on the games final possession. TU inbounded the ball to sophomore Kara Pongonis on the right side and the second-year guard dribbled to the left side past a double screen. However, Memphis defenders snuffed out the play and never gave Pongonis a good look at the basket, and her last second heave came never reached the rim. Tulsa concluded the most successful season in school history with a 19-12 overall record, while Memphis advanced to the second round and improved to 21-9 on the year.
FRIERSON AND CARTER EARN REGION SEVEN HONORS Louisiana Tech seniors Trina Frierson and Amisha Carter were both named to the 2004 NCAA Division I Kodak/WBCA All-American Region 7 Team, released by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and Eastman Kodak Company.
Region 7 consists of schools from the Mountain West, Big Sky and Western Athletic Conferences and Carter and Frierson joined UNLV's RanDee Henry and Sherry McCracklin, Eastern Washington's Kathleen Nygaard and Utah's Kim Smith. WBCA head coach members from each of the eight WBCA geographical regions determine finalists .
ON THE TUBE For the second-straight season, all 63 games from the 2004 NCAA Women's Championship will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN FULL COURT, starting on Saturday, March 20. During the first two rounds, ESPN and ESPN2 will present the 48 games within 16 telecast windows, while ESPN FULL COURT will offer complete game telecasts of all 48 games. All games from the regional semifinals to the championship game will all be telecast ESPN or ESPN2.
RECORDS SET Several records were broken at this year's McCaffrey WAC Tournament. Tulsa freshman Jillian Robbins tied the record for most field goals attempted in a game with 28 against Rice. Also in that game, Rice set the record for best field goal percentage defense, holding Tulsa to a .203 shooting percentage. Rice had a strong defensive tournament setting the record for blocked shots in the championship game against Louisiana Tech with 14. The Lady Owls also set the record for blocks in a tournament with 28.
Defensively, the Lady Techsters were also strong, setting the record for most turnovers caused in a tournament with 83. Junior Erica Smith-Taylor tied the record with 14 steals in a tournament. Louisiana Tech also set a few offensive records, scoring 100 points against Boise State in the quarterfinals. The 100-53 Lady Tecshters win was also the largest wining margin, 47 points. In that game, Louisiana Tech scored 66 first-half points also a record.
In a loss to Boise State, Hawaii tied the record for three-point field goals attempted with 31.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM Louisiana Tech's Amisha Carter earned the Lady Techsters their third-straight WAC Tournament MVP. Following in the steps of Ayana Walker and Cheryl Ford, Carter earned the tournament's top honor. She was joined by teammates Erica Smith-Taylor and Trina Frierson. Freshman Lauren Neaves of Rice and Jillian Robbins of Tulsa rounded out the team.
NON-CONFERENCE RECORD The WAC has 49-48 (.505) 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.
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST Rice is first in the nation in blocked shots (7.0 bpg). Tulsa is seventh, averaging 5.7 bpg. Louisiana is first in steals (14.4 spg) and second scoring margin (24.4) and scoring offense (83.5).
20 SOMETHING Louisiana Tech and Rice are the only WAC teams this season to reach the 20-win plateau. With its 21-game winning streak, the Lady Techsters have won 29 games this season. Rices 22 wins this season is the fifth under head coach Cristy McKinney with 20 or more wins.
CARTER AND FRIERSON MAKE WAC HISTORY Louisiana Tech senior Amisha Carter and Trina Frierson made WAC history by being the only teammates to end the regular season one-two in scoring. Carter leads the WAC in scoring, averaging 17.2 ppg. Frierson is second in scoring, averaging 16.0 ppg. Carter is also first in the league in rebounding, averaging 10.6 rpg.
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 13-16 this season. Utah State is 5-22 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.
REWIND In Tulsa last season, Louisiana Tech won its second-straight WAC Tournament title emphatic 89-57 win over Fresno State. It was the Bulldogs first ever WAC Tournament final. Tournament MVP Cheryl Ford set a WAC record with 25 rebounds against the Bulldogs. It was a meeting of two former assistant coaches under Leon Barmore with Louisiana Tech's Kurt Budke defeating Fresno State's Stacy Johnson-Klein.
AGAINST THE BEST The WAC is 2-9 against non-conference 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. The Lady Techsters earned their second win in the second round against Texas Tech. 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.
SINGLE-SEASON RECORDS Several WAC players made it into the single-season top five. Louisiana Tech's Amisha Carter moved up to second behind former teammate Cheryl Ford in total rebounds with 329 so far this season. Teammate Erica Smith-Taylor is fifth in total steals with 101.
WAC SINGLE-SEASON RECORDS ALL GAMES (Top 5)
Total Rebounds
1. 438 Cheryl Ford, LTU, 2002-03
2. 329 Amisha Carter, LTU, 2003-04
3. 311 Tanya Zachary, UU, 1991-92
4. 309 Omelogo Udeze, FS, 2002-03
5. 304 Tanya Zachary, UU, 1991-92
Rebound Average
1. 12.77 Cheryl Ford, LTU, 2002-03
2. 10.63 Janee Young, FS, 1996-97
3. 10.61 Amisha Carter, LTU, 2003-04
4. 10.59 Amy Burnett, UW, 1993-94
5. 10.54 Keishsha Garnes, SDSU, 1990-91
Total Steals
1. 115 Tamika Stukes, UNM, 1997-98
2. 106 Tomika Young, BYU, 1991-92
3. 103 Tomika Young, BYU, 1992-93
103 Falisha Wright, SDSU, 1993-94
5. 101 Erica Smith-Taylor, LTU, 2003-04
Total Blocks
1. 110 Christen Roper, UH, 2002-03
2. 96 Christen Roper, UH, 2000-01
Alyssa Shriver, TU, 2002-03
4. 87 Michelle Suman, SDSU, 1994-95
5. 84 Lauren Neaves, RU, 2003-04
Debbie Dimond, BYU, 1992-93