Week seven of WAC action will see eight games played on Thursday and Saturday. Fresno State and Louisiana Tech are both still tied for first with 10-1 WAC records. The Bulldogs will travel to Nevada in their only game of the week. The Lady Techsters will travel to third-place San Jose State and Boise State. Both San Jose State and New Mexico State will be looking to break three-game losing streaks when they meet in San Jose on Feb. 18.
Click Here for a PDF of the Week 13 Women's Basketball Notes
XBOX LIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK ?“ Fresno State?™s Chantella Perera has been named the Xbox Live Western Athletic Conference Women?™s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 13. This is the first Player of the Week honor for the guard.
Perera, a junior from Wantirna, Victoria, Australia, shot .471 in three WAC wins for the Bulldogs. Two of the three wins came on the road. The 5-8 guard led Fresno State to wins over Idaho, Hawai'i and San Jose State. In a win against Idaho, Perera scored 13 points with three rebounds. At Hawai?™i, she was 4-for-12 and 3-for-9 from beyond the arc for 11 points. She was one of four Bulldogs to score in double figures in the game. Against San Jose State, she was 5-for-8 from the floor, shooting .625 and 4-for-6 from the three-point line for a game-high 20 points 12 of which came from three-point territory. She was also 6-for-6 from the free throw line, improving to a WAC-best .882 and ranked 26th in the nation heading into last week.
Other nominees included: Nadia Begay of Boise State scored a career-high 28 points against Hawai'i … Dalia Solia scored a career-high 22 points with eight rebounds in a loss to Fresno State … Aarica Ray-Boyd of Louisiana Tech averaged 19.5 ppg as the Louisiana Tech captured wins against Nevada and Utah State … Jessica Freeman of Utah State led the Aggies to their first ever WAC win with her first career double-double against New Mexico State.
SPARTANS FACE LADY TECHSTERS ON NATIONAL TELEVISION ?“ For the first time in program history, San Jose State will host a nationally-televised women?™s basketball game. The Spartans will host the Lady Techsters on Thursday, Feb. 16. It will be broadcast on College Sports Television, channel 610 on Direct TV and channel 418 on Comcast Cable. Rich Cellini will have the call with Krista Blunk joining him with the color commentary. This will be the first nationally televised WAC game since the 2005 WAC Tournament where Louisiana Tech lost to Rice.
LOUISIANA TECH IN THE POLLS ?“ Once again Louisiana Tech is ranked in both the USA Today/ESPN Division I Coaches Poll and the Associated Press poll this week. Louisiana Tech is No. 24 in this week?™s USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. The Lady Techsters are still No. 24 in the Associated Press top 25. The Lady Techsters received 131 points in this week?™s AP poll, almost double the points Tech earned in last week?™s rankings. Louisiana Tech earned 1045 points in the ESPN poll.
PLAY UP ?“ The WAC?™s marketing campaign, the Play Up Tour, will be hitting women?™s basketball games throughout the season. There are three weeks left in the Play Up Tour. This week?™s game will be Louisiana Tech at San Jose State on Feb. 16. At the end of the season, the fans will have a chance to vote for the Play Up Player of the Year for both men and women?™s basketball. The Play Up Player of the Game from each of the 18 games on the Tour will be listed on wacsports.com.
TUNE IN ?“ All eight games this week can be viewed on wac.tv. On the wacsports.com web site there is a LIVE VIDEO link to each game. The games this week can be viewed for free.
WINNING WITH WIGGINS ?“ Fresno State has posted a 25-9 overall record under the direction of interim head coach Adrian Wiggins, who has been at the helm of the 'Dogs since Feb. 9, 2005. Of the 25 victories under Wiggins, 20 have been of the double-digit variety and two others were nine-point triumphs. Fresno State has also posted a 16-1 record in games played at the Save Mart Center under Wiggins?™ guidance. Wiggins recently notched his 25th career win in a 63-41 win over San Jose State.
UTAH STATE CAPTURES MILESTONE WIN ?“ With a 55-45 road win against fellow Aggies, New Mexico State, Utah State captured its firs-ever WAC win. The victory also broke the Aggies also broke a 12-game losing streak. Their last win was Dec. 10 at home against Utah Valley State on Dec. 10.
NCAA RELEASES RPI FEB. 15 ?“ The NCAA Division I Women?™s Basketball Committees announced that they will make public for the first time the official Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) for their respective championships. The official RPI is used as one of many tools to select teams to participate in the championships. The second official RPI rankings are scheduled for release on Wednesday, Feb. 8 and will include all games played through Monday, Feb. 13.
OLD FOES MEET AGAIN ?“ Idaho and Utah State are former Big West Conference foes that joined the WAC this season. Idaho remains unbeaten in the series, which took a 19-year hiatus, by winning all seven times the teams have met. Earlier this season, Idaho defeated Utah State 54-51 at Moscow. The Aggies are currently No. 9 in the WAC with a 2-18 overall record and 1-9 conference record. They defeated New Mexico State last week (Feb. 9) for their first WAC win and first win on the road this season.
Mitchell announced as finalist for Lieberman Award ?“ Idaho?™s Leilani Mitchell has been named a finalist for the 7th Annual Nancy Lieberman Award. The award is a national project of the Rotary Club of Detroit honoring the nation?™s top collegiate point guard in women?™s Division I basketball.
The criterion for the award is the floor leadership, play-making and ball-handling skills that personified Hall of Famer, Nancy Lieberman during her career. Mitchell, a junior from Kennewick (Wash.) High School, is currently averaging 17.9 points per game and is ranked No. 3 in the nation for steals per game (4.0). She currently has grabbed 290 steals in her career and set the school record for career steals earlier this season. She also averages 5.7 assists per game to rank 16th in the nation and tied a school record for three-point field goals made in a single game with a 7-of-8 shooting performance against. Utah Valley State (Dec. 18, 2005).
Sportswriters from across the country have determined the final nominee list and will select three finalists and one winner from this list at the end of March 2006. The announcement of the three finalists and one winner will be made during the Final Four Weekend (April 2-4, 2006) with the winner being invited to attend the award luncheon in Detroit, Michigan.
This year?™s award will be presented at a noon luncheon at The Detroit Athletic Club on April 12, 2006 in Detroit, Michigan.
The final nominee list (in alphabetical order):
Nikki Blue - UCLA
Lindsay Bowen - Michigan State
Dee Davis - Vanderbilt
Megan Duffy - Notre Dame
Erin Grant - Texas Tech
Lindsey Harding - Duke
Alexis Hornbuckle - Tennessee
Carolyn Kieger - Marquette
Ivory Latta - North Carolina
Leilani Mitchell - Idaho
Cappie Pondexter - Rutgers
WAC IN THE RPI ?“ In both the Basketball News and CollegeRPI.com the WAC has an RPI of 14. Louisiana Tech, Fresno State and Hawai'i are the only teams in the WAC with an RPI under 100. In Basketball News, the Lady Techsters have an RPI of 47, while Louisiana Tech has an RPI of 47 in CollegeRPI.com. Fresno State has an RPI of 77 in Basketball News and 75 in CollegeRPI.com. Hawai'i has an RPI of 94 in Basketball News and 96 in CollegeRPI.com.
THREE DYNAMIC DUOS ?“ There are three duos that are leading the WAC in scoring this season. Idaho is led by the offense force also known as Emily Faurholt and Leilani Mitchell. Faurholt leads the WAC in scoring (18.0 ppg) and Mitchell is third (17.8 ppg). The San Jose State pair of Lamisha Augustine and Amber Jackson are second and fourth respectively in the WAC. Augustine averages 17.8 ppg, while Jackson averages 17.0 ppg. Boise State has its own dynamic duo that are among the top 10 in scoring. Freshman Jessica Thompson is sixth in scoring, averaging 14.1 ppg, while sophomore Jackie Lee is eighth in scoring, averaging 13.0 ppg.
RE-WRITING RECORDS ?“ With a season-high nine steals versus Boise State, Idaho?™s Leilani Mitchell moved into a tie for the Idaho record for career steals with 284. With one more steal, Mitchell, who is just a junior, will pass Christy Van Pelt (1985-89) for the school record. She is also just two steals from entering the top 10 list for single-season steals for the third-consecutive season.
DID YOU KNOW??? ?“ Senior forward Lamisha Augustine became the 11th player in San Jose State women?™s basketball history to score 1,000 points in her career when she hit a jumper from the left side against Louisiana Tech January 26 in Ruston, La.
WAC TOURNAMENT TICKETS AVAILABLE ?“ Tickets for the 2006 WAC Men and Women?™s Basketball Tournament held in Reno are currently on sale at all WAC athletics ticket offices. Fans may purchase all-session tickets from any WAC institution through January 31 and may purchase them at any time through the University of Nevada athletics ticket office by calling 775-348-PACK (7225). All session tickets are $150 for the lower bowl, $125 for the upper bowl and $90 for the corners. The tournament beg