PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? New Mexico State’s Sherell Neal has been named the Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Mar. 4. This is the second WAC Player of the Week honor for the junior this season, and the final women’s basketball player of the week of the season.
Neal, from Phoenix, Ariz. (Alhambra HS), led the New Mexico State women’s team in the final week of the regular season with 15.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. In the Aggies 68-57 win over Nevada on March 3, Neal collected 16 points and 10 rebounds for her 17th double-double of the season. At Louisiana Tech, Neal recorded another double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. The senior forward also had seven blocks, five assists and four steals last week.
Other nominees included: Boise State’s Tasha Harris averaged 15.0 points as the Broncos earned their first No. 1 seed in the WAC Tournament ... Fresno State’s Tierre Wilson had a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds in a win against Utah State ... Hawai?i’s Tanya Smith averaged 12.5 points per game and 12.0 rebounds per game as the Rainbow Wahine went 1-1 last week ... Nevada’s Dellena Criner led the Wolf Pack to a 1-1 record last week ... San Jose State’s Lynette Jacobs recorded her first double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds against Idaho ... Utah State’s Jenny Gross tied a career-high with 18 points in a loss to Fresno State.
TOURNEY TIME ? For the first time since joining the league during the 2001-02 season, a team other than Louisiana Tech will be the No. 1 seed in the WAC Tournament. Boise State is the top seed in the tournament after tying the Lady Techsters with a 12-4 conference record and taking the tie-breaker. Boise State will take on the winnder of the game between No. 8 San Jose State and No. 9 Idaho.
Louisiana Tech is the second seed and will take on the seventh-seed and host New Mexico State. Nevada earned its highest ever seed in a WAC Tournament with the No. 3 seed. The Wolf Pack will face No. 6 Utah State. The two teams split games during the regular season. Fourth-seeded Fresno State will take on fifth-seeded Hawai?i. The Rainbow Wahine had their eight-game winning streak stopped by WAC Champion Boise State on March 3.
LOUISIANA TECH AND BOISE STATE SHARE WAC TITLE ? Boise State earned a share of its first WAC regular season title with a 66-56 win against Hawai?i. This is the second time in three years that the Lady Techsters have had to share the regular season title.
The win gives Boise State their first regular season conference title since the 1993-94 team shared the Big Sky title and only their third league title ever. The Broncos also have two league divisional titles in 1978 and 1998. The Broncos finish the regular season at 21-8 overall and 12-4 in WAC play, tied with Louisiana Tech for first place. By virtue of Boise State’s season sweep of Hawaii the Broncos earn the number one seed into next week’s WAC Tournament at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico. They will play the winner of Tuesday night’s play-in game between San Jose State and Idaho, at 2:30 p.m. (mountain) Wednesday afternoon in the quarterfinals.
BRONCOS EARN 21ST WIN AND NO. 1 SEED ? It took two weeks, but Boise State captured its 20th and 21st wins against Fresno State and Hawai?i at home. It is Boise State’s fourth 20-win season all-time and first since the 1993-94 team went 23-6. The Broncos 21st win, a 66-56 victory over Hawai?i, sealed the top-seed in the WAC Tournament. The second largest crowd of the year, 1,910 fans, saw the Broncos earn a share of their first WAC regular season title.
MAKING HISTORY ? Boise State’s Jessica Thompson and Michelle Hessing became the first Broncos to be named to all-WAC first or second teams since the school joined the league in 2001. Coincidentally, both were members of their respective WAC all-freshman teams. In addition, second year head coach Gordy Presnell was named the 2007 WAC Coach of the Year after guiding his team to a league regular season co-championship with a 12-4 record and a 21-8 overall mark.
HOME COOKING ? After three-straight home losses, the Rainbow Wahine won five of its last six in the Stan Sheriff Center, including four straight. Hawai?i picked up double-digit wins in its final three home contest and scored a season- high 79 points in back-to-back games versus Fresno State and Utah State, while putting on a 64 percent shooting display against Nevada (Feb. 3), the team’s best shooting performance in nine years. The Rainbow Wahine finished the year 10-7 at home.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE LEADER ? Junior forward Sherell Neal paces the Aggies with 17 double-double performances this season and had a five-game streak that began at San Jose State, Jan. 6, and ended against the Spartans, Jan. 27. Neal had four consecutive double-doubles that began against Texas-San Antonio and ended with UTEP. Junior forward Anikia Jawara has seven double-doubles and recorded her first double-double in a NMSU uniform against Utah Valley State.
DOUBLE DIGITS ? Seven of the nine WAC teams have reached double digits in wins. Boise State leads the WAC with 21. The Broncos are the only 20-win team in the WAC. Louisiana Tech and Fresno State both now have 17 wins. Both Nevada has 16, while Hawai?i has 15 wins. Utah State and New Mexico State have 11.
UNDERCLASSMEN CONTINUE TO SHINE ? Underclassman continue to lead the WAC this season. Idaho’s Katie Madison leads the WAC in scoring, averaging 19.4 points per game. Madison is 22nd in the nation in scoring. Madison is also fourth in the WAC in rebounding, averaging 8.9 rpg. Boise State sophomore Jessica Thompson is sixth in the WAC in scoring, averaging 13.8 ppg, while fellow sophomore Dellena Criner of Nevada is fourth in scoring, averaging 14.4 ppg. Criner is first in the WAC in steals and 31st in the nation (2.72 spg). Criner’s teammate, sophomore Brandi Fitzgerald, is tied for fifth in the WAC in steals per game (2.18 spg).
WAC.TV SPECIAL ? The Western Athletic Conference today released details of the distribution plan for the WAC Basketball Tournament on WAC.tv, the WAC’s web-based content distribution system (www.wac.tv).
All-tournament passes on WAC.tv will be available for $14.95 and all men’s and women’s games with the exception of the men’s final on Saturday, March 10th will be available live on WAC.tv. The men’s championship game will be available exclusively on ESPN2. Individual tournament games may be purchased for $7.95 each.
All 15 games that will be available on WAC.tv will feature a full television-quality production complete with multiple cameras, on-screen scoreboard, and instant replays. In addition, the WAC.tv presentation will also give fans access to live statistics, post-game press conferences, and studio-style analysis and game previews.
WAC.tv will also offer a MegaStream option that will allow users with a robust Internet connection to receive the games at 1.1 megabits per second, compared with the regular stream of 539 kilobits per second. The MegaStream will be offered at $24.95 for the entire tournament, or $10.95 for each game.
TWO-SPORT ATHLETE ? New Mexico State has added a player to its roster. Krystal Torres, an all-WAC sophomore defensive specialist for the NMSU volleyball team, is joining the team. Torres is a 5-3 guard from Las Cruces, N.M. As a senior at Mayfield High School, she earned first-team all-state honors after leading the Trojans to basketball state championship game.
BOLLA TAKES MEDICAL LEAVE ? Jim Bolla underwent a medical procedure on Monday, Feb. 5, and will be taking a leave of absence to recuperate. Associate coach Pat Charity will serve as interim head coach. Bolla is in his third year as head coach of the Rainbow Wahine. He has a 38-37 mark at Hawai?i and a 338-157 career record. The Rainbow Wahine currently are 9-12 overall and seventh in the WAC with a 3-6 mark. Last season, the Rainbow Wahine enjoyed their best season in four years, finishing with an 18-10 record and a third-place finish in the WAC. Charity was the first assistant to join Bolla’s staff after he was hired in July, 2004.
UTAH STATE’S PEBLEY DELIVERS BABY GIRL ? Utah State women’s basketball head coach Raegan Pebley gave birth to an 8-pound, 9-ounce, 21-inch baby girl, Harper Susan Jane Pebley, on Jan. 30 at 4:30 p.m. at Logan Regional Hospital. Harper is the second child for Pebley and husband Keith, as she joins three-year old brother Joe in the Pebley family.
IDAHO’S WESTBROOKS DONE FOR REMAINDER OF THE SEASON ? Junior wing Ticey Westbrooks will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL, according to assistant athletic trainer Megan Borchert. Westbrooks sustained the injury in Wednesday’s triple-overtime victory over New Mexico State. Westbrooks has been plagued by injuries in her time at Idaho. As a freshman she suffered a torn ACL in her left knee, 30 minutes into her first game as a Vandal. Idaho lost senior Karly Felton earlier this season. Felton will miss the remainder of her senior season after tearing her ACL in her left knee.
LIKE THIEVES IN THE NIGHT ? Nevada is averaging 12.34 steals per contest and is ranked ninth in the country.The Wolf Pack has three players ranked in the top 10 in the WAC in steals per game, led by sophomore guard Dellena Criner who leads the WAC and is 31st in the country at 2.7 steals per game. Traci Graham and Brandi Fitzgerald are third and sixth, respectively. The Pack’s proficiency in recording steals and forcing turnovers has the team ranked second in the WAC in turnover margin per game at plus-3.88.
WNIT EXPANSION ? The Women’s National Invitation Tournament will expand its field to 48 teams this spring for the first time in event history. The eight-team expansion will allow for an automatic bid from every conference. The WNIT is guaranteeing that each of the nation’s 31 conferences will automatically have at least one spot guaranteed for one of their teams in the Postseason WNIT.
The selection of the 48 teams for the Postseason WNIT will be according to the following:
1. Thirty-one spots will be filled with one team per conference. That team will be the highest-finishing team in the conference’s regular-season standings, that does not advance to the NCAA Tournament. As in the past, the teams’ record must be at or above .500.
2. The remaining seventeen (17) berths will be filled by the top teams available based on the selection criteria used in the past.
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.
WAC TOURNAMENT RECAP ? Louisiana Tech captured its fourth WAC Tournament title in five years with a dominating 63-39 win over red-hot New Mexico State. Senior Tasha Williams scored a team-high 19 points to lead the Lady Techsters. Louisiana Tech has won WAC titles over four different schools (Hawai?i, 2002; Fresno State, 2003; Rice, 2004; New Mexico State, 2006). New Mexico State advanced to its first ever conference tournament final. The Aggies captured wins over Boise State and second-seeded Fresno State. Tasha Williams earned MVP honors. She is the fourth Lady Techster to earn the honor, following Ayana Walker (2002), Cheryl Ford (2003) and Amisha Carter (2004).
2006 WAC All-Tournament Team
Leilani Mitchell, Idaho
Dellena Criner, Nevada
Shan Moore, Louisiana Tech
Jenean Ford, New Mexico State
Tasha Williams, Louisiana Tech, MVP