LADY TECHSTERS AND LADY VOLS MET AGAIN ? Louisiana Tech and Tennessee renewed their rivalry for the 39th. The Lady Vols stopped the Lady Techsters, 71-50. The game, which was seen live on CSTV at 7:00 p.m. CT, featured the two teams that have advanced to all 25 NCAA Tournament.
Lady Vols entered the game 5-0 on the young season, and boasting the game’s most talented player in sophomore Candace Parker. Coming off a freshman campaign that saw her earn Kodak All-America honors, Parker is averaging 20.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.4 steals, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 assists per game, while shooting 63 percent from the field and 77 percent from the free throw line.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Louisiana Tech’s Ty Moore has been named the Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 27. This is the third career WAC Player of the Week for the senior, who earned the honor twice last season.
Moore, a forward from Shreveport, La., (Southwood) averaged 17.0 points and 9.7 rebounds a game, while leading Louisiana Tech to a 2-1 mark during the week. Moore, who shot 58 percent from the field for the week (23-for-40) scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a road win over Iowa. She then recorded a career-high 26 points and 11 rebounds in an 86-84 a loss to Eastern Kentucky. Moore scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a win over Grambling State. Moore was named to the all-tournament team at the La Quinta Inn Lady Eagle Classic hosted by Southern Mississippi. Moore also averaged 1.7 blocks and 1.7 steals for the week.
Other nominees included: Jessica Thompson of Boise State averaged 14.7 points as the Broncos went 1-2 ... Janevia Taylor of Hawai?i led the Rainbow Wahine to a third place finish at the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic, averaging 14.3 ppg ... Sherrell Neal of New Mexico State scored 38 points in two games as the Aggies went 0-2 last week ... Brittany Helm of San Jose State averaged 16.0 ppg at the SMU Tournament ... Taylor Richards of Utah State scored 14 points in the Aggies’ 72-55 loss to Weber State.
LEADER OF THE PACK ? Senior guard Cecilia-Russell Nava is leading the WAC in scoring with 16.4 points per game, 1.000 free-throw percentage and an average of 3.8 three-point field goals made per game. Junior forward Sherell Neal ranks first in rebounding with 10.4 per contest, second in field goal percentage with .446 and fourth in scoring with 14.8 points per game.
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.
HISTORY LESSON ? The 2006-07 season marks the 19th year of women’s basketball at USU, and just the fourth since the program was restarted prior to the 2003-04 season. The women’s hoops program at USU had been disbanded following the 1987 season due to budget cuts. USU is playing in its second season in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) after playing its first two seasons in the Big West Conference.
TOUGH START ? San Jose State is still in search of its first victory of the 2006-07 season, currently at 0-5. The Spartans head into another three-game week in the week ahead, as they host area rival University of San Francisco on Wednesday, November 29, at 7:00 p.m. inside The Event Center, before taking part in the Contra Classic Times Classic in Berkeley, Calif. The tournament is being hosted by California on Saturday, December 2, and Sunday, December 3. SJSU kicks off the tournament against Arkansas State on Saturday.
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
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.
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 (3-2, 0-0 WAC)
Boise State moved to 3-2 overall on the year coming off a hard fought 1-2 record last week where they lost two games by a combined three points to the defending West Coast Conference champion Santa Clara Broncos (67-65) and the undefeated Pittsburgh Panthers (71-70), who are the projected number five team out of the Big East this season ... Boise State had two players named to the Oregon Thanksgiving all-tournament team over the weekend of Nov. 24-25 in senior center Michelle Hessing and sophomore guard Jessica Thompson.
Fresno State Bulldogs (3-2, 0-0 WAC)
Jasmine Marshall buried a three-pointer with 44.6 seconds remaining to pull within two points at 58-56, but late success from the line proved to be the difference as Cal State Fullerton held off the Bulldogs on Tuesday 61-56 ... Fresno State’s Chantella Perera led the Bulldogs with 14 points on the game, but 34 turnovers and 2-9 shooting from three points undid the Bulldogs on the night ... the team returns home on Friday, when the Bulldogs will try to set the women’s attendance record against No. 23 Texas Tech.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine (3-2, 0-0 WAC)
Janevia Taylor was named to the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine All-Tournament Team ... she led UH to a third-place finish in the eight-team tournament ... she averaged 14.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 4.0 apg in games vs. Texas Tech, Arkansas and Gonzaga, scoring 17 points in a 57-54 win over Texas Tech .... UH finished third in the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic for the second-straight year.
Idaho Vandals (1-3, 0-0 WAC)
The Vandals will 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, Kansas State another potential tournament matchup when Idaho travels to Manhattan for the K-State Tournament and finally Louisiana Tech.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (2-4, 0-0 WAC)
Tennessee’s defensive pressure led the fourth-ranked Lady Vols to a 71-50 win over Louisiana Tech before 6,348 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center Tuesday night ... the Lady Vols (6-0) forced 19 first half turnovers en route to building a 42-15 halftime lead as Tennessee won for the seventh-straight time in the series.
Nevada Wolf Pack (3-2, 0-0 WAC)
The Wolf Pack look to recover after a tough trip to the Centennial State ... Nevada lost to host Colorado and Wyoming at the Coors Classic in Boulder ... Dellena Criner is tied for third in the WAC in scoring, averaging 14.8 ppg ... Jessica Preslar is fifth in rebounding, averaging 8.0 rpg ... this week the Wolf Pack will play host at the Nugget Classic ... Nevada will face Auburn and UC Riverside.
New Mexico State Aggies (2-3, 0-0 WAC)
Junior forward Sherell Neal paces the Aggies with three double-double performances this season ... junior forward Anikia Jawara recorded her first double-double against Utah Valley State ... the Aggie point guards junior Monique Bribiescas and freshman Jazmyn Foster had a solid outing against Lamar ... the pair each had four assists and combined for five steals ... against UTSA, the duo had three assists each and helped to spark the second half comeback ... Foster is making an impact after five assists against the Miners ... Bribiescas had a season-high seven assists at Utah Valley State.
San Jose State Spartans (0-5, 0-0 WAC)
Brittany Helm was chosen as the San Jose State University representative on the 2006 SMU Hoops for the Cure Classic All-Tournament Team ... it was the first collegiate honor for the freshman point guard, who had family in attendance from Baton Rouge, La. ... former standout Lamisha Augustine was the last Spartan to earn a spot on an all-tournament team, gaining recognition at last year’s KCRG-TV9 Hawkeye Challenge in Iowa City, Iowa.
Utah State Aggies (2-2, 0-0 WAC)
Utah State’s women’s basketball team faces a familiar foe on Wednesday in former Big West opponent Pacific ... the Aggies tangle with the Tigers at 7 p.m. (Mountain Time) at Pacific’s Alex G. Spanos Center at Stockton, Calif. ... Utah State is 2-2 after a hard-fought 67-61 win over St. Mary’s, matching the Aggies’ best record through four games since the 2004-05 season .... a win Wednesday would give USU its first back-to-back wins since the Aggies had a pair of three-game win streaks in that same 2004-05 season, both of which included wins over Pacific. Pacific is 1-3 after losing at Wichita State, 71-55, on Sunday. All three of the Tigers’ losses are by double-digits.