UTAH STATE’S SNELGRO EARNS WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Utah State guard Danyelle Snelgro has been named the Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for Feb. 2-8. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor for Snelgro.
The senior from Altadena, Calif., finished with a career-high 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting to go along with four assists and three steals in the Aggies’ 63-52 win over first-place Nevada. The win was Utah State’s first ever in Reno and knocked the Wolf Pack out of the top spot in the WAC.
Other nominees included: Jamia Malone of Boise State averaged 15.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists as the Broncos went 2-0 on the week ... Fresno State’s Jaleesa Ross averaged 16.0 points on 75 percent shooting in a pair of wins ... Tara Hittle of Hawai?i finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds in a win over San Jose State ... Idaho’s Derisa Taleni averaged 19.5 points and 6.5 rebounds as the team went 1-1 on the week ... Danisha Corbett of New Mexico State averaged 18.0 points and 4.5 rebounds on the week.
BULLDOGS LEAD NATION IN THREE-POINT FIELD GOAL AVERAGE
In statistics through Feb. 8 games, Fresno State leads the nation in three-point field goals per game, with an average of 9.6 per game. The Bulldogs have had 10 or more treys in 13 of 23 games this season, including a WAC record 16 vs. UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 20.
IDAHO OFF TO BEST-EVER START IN WAC PLAY
Idaho is off to its best-ever start in WAC play, as the Vandals are 6-3 and tied for third place in the conference. Idaho’s six WAC wins bettered its previous highest total since joining the conference ? the team went 5-11 in 2005-06, its first season in the WAC. In addition, the Vandals’ 3-1 road record in WAC play is its best-ever in the conference
HAWAI?I’S KANEKOA RANKS THIRD NATIONALLY IN FREE THROW PERCENTAGE
Hawai?i point guard Keisha Kanekoa currently ranks third nationally with a .923 (48-of-52) free throw percentage. The sophomore has been perfect from the charity stripe in 11 games this season. What’s more, she has improved by nearly 23 percent, as a year ago as a freshman she connected on just 30-of-43 free throws for a .698 clip.
PLAY UP TOUR CONCLUDES IN RUSTON, MOSCOW THIS WEEKEND
The WAC Play Up Tour for women’s basketball concludes this weekend when Louisiana Tech hosts Hawai?i on Friday, Feb. 13, and Idaho hosts San Jose State on Sunday, Feb. 15. WAC staff members will be on site to distribute promotional items. Fans will also have the opportunity to sign up to win a WAC prize pack that includes WAC apparel and other WAC related items. All fans that enter the drawing will be eligible for the grand prize of a WAC Basketball Tournament package. The package includes two tickets to the tournament, airfare and hotel accommodations.
The following are the dates and times of the remaining 2009 Play Up Tour stops. All times are local and subject to change.
Friday, Feb. 13 ? Ruston, La.
Hawai?i at Louisiana Tech, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 15 ? Moscow, Idaho
San Jose State at Idaho, 2 p.m.
Boise State Broncos (13-10, 6-3 WAC)
The Broncos went 2-0 last week, defeating New Mexico State in overtime (79-77) and edging Louisiana Tech (66-61) ... Against NMSU, Boise State rallied twice from double-digit deficits in the second half to defeat the Aggies on a Janie Bos field goal with four seconds left overtime ... Bos averaged 11.5 rebounds per game on the week ... Jamia Malone recorded a career-high 19 points vs. NMSU ... Malone scored 12 points and added a career-high eight rebounds in the win at Louisiana Tech ... Boise State is in a tie with Idaho for third place in the WAC standings ... Boise State hosts San Jose State on Friday and Fresno State on Sunday.
Fresno State Bulldogs (17-6, 8-2 WAC)
The Bulldogs went 2-0 last week, defeating Nevada (63-60) and San Jose State (76-47) to take sole possession of first place in the WAC standings ... Jaleesa Ross shot 75 percent from the field (12-of-16) and was 5-of-8 from three-point range on the week, averaging 16.0 points ... Fresno State’s 17-6 record is the second-best record in school history through 23 games ... The Bulldogs’ last 11 wins have been by an average of 20.8 points a game ... The month of February has been a successful month for the Bulldogs under coach Adrian Wiggins as his team is 22-6 in the month, good for a .785 winning percentage ... The Bulldogs play at Idaho on Friday and at Boise State on Sunday.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine (5-17, 2-7 WAC)
The Rainbow Wahine defeated San Jose State 64-48 in their only game last week ... Hawai?i out-rebounded the Spartans 46-26 for its second biggest rebounding margin of the season ... Tara Hittle recorded her second double-double of the season with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 12 rebounds ... Dita Liepkalne scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while Megan Tinnin added 10 points and seven rebounds ... Hawai?i has won two of its last three games ... As a team, the Rainbow Wahine have shot 40 percent or better in each of the last three games ... The Rainbow Wahine play at Louisiana Tech on Friday in their only game this week.
Idaho Vandals (9-11, 6-3 WAC)
The Vandals went 1-1 last week, falling 70-60 at Louisiana Tech before defeating New Mexico State 57-54 on Sunday ... Against NMSU, Derisa Taleni scored Idaho’s final six points, including two free throws with 3.3 seconds remaining, to complete Idaho’s 12-point come-from-behind victory ... Shaena Kuehu has scored 10 or more points in 10 straight games ... Idaho’s six wins in the WAC are the most-ever for an Idaho team and its 3-1 road record in WAC play is its best-ever in the conference ... Idaho’s five-win turnaround so far this season is tied for fifth-best in Idaho history and ranks tied for 10th nationally ... Idaho hosts Fresno State on Friday and San Jose State on Sunday.
Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (12-11, 5-4 WAC)
The Techsters went 1-1 last week, defeating Idaho 70-60 before falling 66-61 to Boise State ... Shanavia Dowdell and Adrienne Johnson each scored 18 points vs. the Vandals ... Against the Broncos, Johnson had a double-double - 16 points and 10 rebounds ... Dowdell added 10 points and nine rebounds, while Whitney Jones contributed 12 points, four boards and six assists ... Head coach Chris Long was relieved of his duties on Monday and will be replaced on an interim basis for the remainder of the season by Teresa Weatherspoon ... The Techsters host Hawai?i on Friday and Nevada on Sunday.
Nevada Wolf Pack (13-9, 7-2 WAC)
The Pack lost back-to-back games for the first time since the end of December, falling to Fresno State (63-60) and Utah State (63-52) ... The losses dropped previously undefeated Nevada into second place in the WAC standings ... Dellena Criner led the Pack in scoring both games finishing with 22 against Fresno State and 19 against Utah State ... Cherlanda Franklin recorded a career-high seven blocks against Fresno State, second all-time in the Nevada single-game record books ... Attendance vs. the Bulldogs was 2,661, the third-largest crowd in program history ... Nevada plays at New Mexico State on Friday and at Louisiana Tech on Sunday.
New Mexico State Aggies (6-17, 2-7 WAC)
The Aggies went 0-2 at home last week, falling in overtime to Boise State (79-77) and losing 57-54 to Idaho ... Danisha Corbett scored a career-high 22 points against Boise State, making five three-pointers ... NMSU shot 60.7 percent in the first half against Idaho, its highest field goal percentage in any half this season ... The Aggies only scored 17 points in the second half, shooting just 25 percent ... Niki Holt’s 44 blocked shots are tied for the third most by an Aggie in single-season history and ranks sixth in WAC history. Holt needs one more blocked shot to reach 100 on her career, which would make her just the fourth Aggie ever to block 100 shots in a career ... NMSU hosts Nevada on Friday in its only game this week.
San Jose Spartans (2-21, 1-9 WAC)
The Spartans went 0-2 last week, falling at Hawai?i (64-48) and at Fresno State (76-47) ... Sayja Sumler set a career-high with 17 points, while Natalie White added 12 points and six rebounds at Hawai?i ... In the loss to the Broncos, Kelly Blair and Natalie White scored 11 points each, while Sayja Sumler had 10 points and a team-best six rebounds ... The Spartans held Fresno State, the nation’s top three-point shooting team, to just six treys, nearly four below its average ... SJSU is in the midst of a three-week stretch where it plays five of six games on the road ... The Spartans play at Boise State on Friday and at Idaho on Sunday.
Utah State Aggies (11-12, 5-5 WAC)
The Aggies defeated then first-place Nevada (63-52) in their only game last week ... Danyelle Snelgro scored a career-high 29 points to go with four assists and three steals ... The win was Utah State’s first-ever in Reno ... Alice Coddington grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds ... Ana Pares finished with eight points, ending her 13-game streak of double-digit scoring ... Snelgro recorded her 200th career steal vs. the Wolf Pack ... With 916 career points, Snelgro needs 84 to become the sixth Utah State player ever to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau ... The Aggies have 12 days between games as they are idle until a Feb. 20 game at Boise State.
NEVADA TO HOST 2009 WAC TOURNAMENT
Reno and the University of Nevada will host the 2009 WAC Tournament presented by Verizon Wireless, March 10-14. It will be the third time that Nevada has hosted the event. Nevada also hosted the tournament in 2005 and 2006. The tournament features all nine men’s and women’s teams.