PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? New Mexico State’s Anikia Jawara has been named the Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 13. This is the first WAC Player of the Week of the season.
Jawara, a junior forward from Oakland, Calif., led the New Mexico State women’s basketball team to a 69-52 season opening win in her Aggie debut. Jawara had a game-high 18 points on an 8-for-18 shooting performance. The Oakland, Calif., native also grabbed seven rebounds along with a pair of assists and steals.
Other nominees included: Jackie Lee of Boise State had 16 points in a win at home against UC Davis ... Cherlanda Franklin of Nevada recorded her first career double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in a win against Cal Poly ... Ty Moore of Louisiana Tech had 17 points and 13 rebounds in a loss to Western Kentucky.
NEW MEXICO STATE TO HOST 2007 TOURNAMENT ? The 2007 WAC Basketball Tournament will be held March 6-10 in Las Cruces, N.M., at the Pan American Center and will be hosted by New Mexico State. The tournament was held at Nevada’s Lawlor Events Center the last two seasons. New Mexico State will also host the 2008 tournament.
LET’S GET IT STARTED ? Hawai?i is 17-8 (.680) in season-opening games dating back to the 1981-82 season. Hawai?i has lost its last three home openers. Prior to that they had reeled off 14 straight season-opening wins. The Rainbow Wahine are 0-2 in season openers under head coach Jim Bolla (L, USC and L, Santa Clara).
ANOTHER TOUGH MATCHUP ?The Bulldogs will host their home opener this weekend, welcoming No. 18 BYU to the Save Mart Center in one of the most anticipated home openers in recent memory. The game marks the first time the Bulldogs have opened at home with a ranked opponent, and is the earliest home game against a ranked opponent since 2003, when Fresno State hosted No. 22 Utah on Nov. 29.
LOUISIANA TECH TO PARTICIPATE IN KATRINA RELIEF CLASSIC ? Tickets to Louisiana Tech’s women’s basketball game against LSU at the New Orleans Arena on Dec. 30 at 2:00 p.m. will go on sale through Ticket Master. Individuals wishing to purchase tickets must do so by calling Ticket Master at 504-522-5555 and asking for “LSU Operation Rebound game” or visiting www.ticketmaster.com.
Ticket prices are $25 for the floor seats directly behind the Tech bench or $7, $5 and $3 for all other reserved seats. All proceeds from the game go the LSU Operation Rebound to benefit the Friends of New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) and the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity. For more information about the event visit www.LSUOperationrebound.com.
KEY NON-CONFERENCE MATCHUPS ? The WAC has several key non-conference matchups this season. WAC teams will play at least 12 games against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season. WAC teams will face two teams that advanced to the Sweet Sixteen (Utah and Stanford) and one team that advanced to the Final Four (LSU).
Games vs. 2005-06 NCAA Tournament Teams:
Fresno State at Utah, Nov. 13
BYU at Fresno State, Nov. 17
Louisiana Tech at Stephen F. Austin, Nov. 17
Tennessee at Louisiana Tech, Nov. 28
Utah State at BYU, Nov. 29
New Mexico State at New Mexico, Dec. 1
BYU at New Mexico State, Dec. 6
Fresno State at California, Dec. 7
Nevada at Washington, Dec. 10
New Mexico at New Mexico State, Dec. 19
Louisiana Tech vs. LSU, Dec. 30
Stanford at Fresno State, Jan. 2
NEVADA RETURNS STELLAR SOPHOMORES ? Nevada boasts a pair of splendid sophomores in its backcourt in Brandi Fitzgerald and Dellena Criner, both of whom made the WAC All-Freshmen Team a season ago. Fitzgerald was named the WAC Newcomer of the Year after leading Nevada in scoring, steals and blocked shots. Criner dished out a team-best 59 assists last season and was also named to the WAC’s All-Tournament Team.
CALIFORNIA DREAMING ? Thirteen of the 17 student-athletes on the 2006-07 San Jose State roster are from the state of California. Alisha Hicks, Breana Fields and Tamiko Davis are all from Sacramento. The Spartans have two players each from Stockton, Calif. (Laretha Griffin, Lawanna Griffin) and Sylmar, Calif. (Carlyn Steward, Brittany Morris). Four SJSU players hail from outside California, with Myosha Barnes and Brittany Powell both from Milwaukee, Wis., Brittany Helm from Baton Rouge, La., and Natalie White from Dubuque, Iowa.
FRESNO STATE TO HOST REGIONALS ? Fresno State has been selected to host a 2007 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Regional at the Save Mart Center, the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee announced. The Administrative Committee of the NCAA Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet approved the sites.
The Save Mart Center, which hosted its first sporting event in November 2003, experienced March Madness for the first time when Fresno State hosted the first and second rounds of the 2005 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. Arizona State and Stanford won first and second round contests to advance to the regional round. The first and second rounds of the 2007 NCAA Championship will be conducted at eight pre-determined sites, with two teams advancing into the regional round of 16.
Boise State Broncos (11-7, 3-3 WAC)
The Broncos are coming off a loss (Jan. 19) at San Jose State 63-57 and a home 83-75 victory over Hawaii (Jan. 23) night ... the Hawai?i game was the first of three contests for Boise State this week with a trip to Nevada on Thursday before returning home to host arch-rival Idaho Saturday afternoon ... this week will mark the mid-way point of WAC action for Boise State who is currently tied for third place with Idaho at 3-3 ... freshman Jessica Thompson has averaged 23 points in the last two contests and now leads the Broncos in scoring on the year at 14.6 points per game, the highest ranked freshman in the league.
Fresno State Bulldogs (1-0, 0-0 WAC)
Fresno State has posted a 27-10 overall record under the direction of interim head coach Adrian Wiggins, who has been at the helm of the Bulldogs since Feb. 9, 2005 ... of the 27 victories under Wiggins, 21 have been of the double-digit variety ... in addition, Fresno State has also posted a 17-1 record in games played at the Save Mart Center under Wiggins’ guidance ... Chantella Perera’s 23 points in a road win against Utah was the second-most scored in the WAC this season.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
The 2006-07 Rainbow Wahine squad sports a diverse squad with players from four different states and three foreign countries ... the roster includes six players from Hawai?i, four from California, and one each from New Mexico and Louisiana ... there is also a total of three foreign players hailing from Australia, Latvia and Poland ... UH led the WAC and finished 20th in the country in blocked shots at 5.0 per game in 2005-06 ... with 64 blocks, junior post player Brittany Grice had nearly half of the teams 141 blocks.
Idaho Vandals (0-1, 0-0 WAC)
Idaho will compete in three tournaments this season. Beginning with a trip to Fort Collins, Colo., to compete in the Colorado State Tournament ... the Vandals will also take a trip to Kansas to compete in the Kansas State Tournament ... the Vandals end their regular season tournament slate with a trip to Montana to compete in the Montana Tournament ... the Vandals will be pitted against three teams that received votes in the WBCA preseason coaches poll: Montana, whom Idaho has the potential to face twice, one regular season matchup and a potential tournament pairing at Montana’s tournament.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (0-1, 0-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech will have to wait at least one more game to become a member of the 900 Club after losing to Western Kentucky, 73-60 last week ... Louisiana Tech, trying to join Tennessee as the only two programs to register 900 wins, shot only 31 percent from the field for the game, hitting only 21 of 66 shots ... this week, the Lady Techsters will try again at Stephen F. Austin.
Nevada Wolf Pack (2-0, 0-0 WAC)
The Wolf Pack are off to a fast start winning their first two games , a home win against Cal Poly and a road win against San Diego State ... Dellena Criner’s 24 points against the Aztecs was the most scored in the WAC so far this young season ... in the first two games, Criner is averaging 16.5 ppg ... Traci Graham’s six steals against Cap Poly is a high in the WAC this season.
New Mexico State Aggies (1-0, 0-0 WAC)
New Mexico State won its opener against Lamar, 69-52 ... this week, the Aggies will take on UC Irvine in the newly re-modeled Pan American Center ... the Pan Am Center will be the host of the next two WAC Tournaments ... junior Anikia Jawara earned the first WAC Player of the Week honor of the season, scoring 18 points in the Aggies win ... junior Carla Denning also added 13 rebounds to help the Aggie cause.
San Jose State Spartans (0-1, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State won the turnover battle in its opener against Cal State Fullerton, committing just 13 to the 18 made by the visiting Titans ... the Spartans had 11 steals on the afternoon. Cal State Fullerton produced a 48-27 rebounding edge, however, in achieving the 69-52 victory ... the Spartans will look to their senior trio of Amber Hall, Brittany Imaku and Brittany Morris for leadership in the 2006-07 season ... they are the only three seniors on the roster ... the 2006-07 San Jose State roster features 12 underclassmen, including seven true freshmen and five sophomores, among its 17 players.
Utah State Aggies (0-1, 0-0 WAC)
After dropping its season opener to Utah Valley State on the road, Utah State returns home to the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum for its home opener is Nov. 17 ... the Aggies open a two-game homestand, beginning with Idaho State followed by Weber State on Nov. 21 ... in the loss to Utah Valley State Danyelle Snelgro scored 18 points which is tied for third in the WAC in most points scored in a game so far this season ... Snelgro also added four assists.