LA TECH’S DOWDELL NAMED VERIZON WIRELESS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Louisiana Tech senior forward Shanavia Dowdell has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 28-Jan. 3. This is the second WAC Player of the Week honor of the season for Dowdell and the sixth of her career.
Dowdell, a Calera, Ala. native, averaged 23.3 points on 62 percent shooting, 14.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 2.0 blocks as the Lady Techsters went 3-0 in a trio of road games on the week, including claiming the championship of the UTSA New Year’s Classic. Dowdell was named to the all-tournament after scoring 14 points and grabbing 16 rebounds in a win over Stephen F. Austin, then following it up with a career-high-tying 30 points to go with a career-high 18 rebounds in a win over UTSA. In Sunday’s win over Southern Miss, she scored 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Other nominees included: Tasha Harris of Boise State just missed a triple-double and posted her first double-double of the season with 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in the Broncos’ victory over Wyoming … Fresno State’s Jaleesa Ross averaged 12.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals as the Bulldogs went 1-1 on the week … Leilani Galdones of Hawai’i averaged 14.5 points in a pair of wins over Kent State … Idaho’s Bianca Cheever tallied 11 points, five rebounds and two steals in a win over UC Santa Barbara … Crystal Boyd of New Mexico State averaged 19.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks as the Aggies went 3-0 on the week, including an upset of No. 21 Kansas, the program’s third-ever win over a ranked team … Utah State’s LaCale Pringle-Buchanan averaged 16.0 points and 2.5 steals as the Aggies extended their winning streak to four games.
NM STATE UPSETS NO. 21 KANSAS, PICKS UP THIRD WIN EVER OVER RANKED TEAM
New Mexico State’s Crystal Boyd connected on her second free throw at the line with 0.8 seconds remaining, then swatted away the final inbound pass to seal a 61-60 upset of No. 21 Kansas Sunday. The victory marked the Aggies’ first win over a ranked opponent in exactly five years and third ever. Boyd scored a career-high 25 points, including 20 of NM State’s 34 first-half points, to go along with team-high eight rebounds in the contest.
CODDINGTON NABS WAC-RECORD 13 STEALS VS. WEBER STATE
Utah State’s Alice Coddington nabbed a WAC-record 13 steals on Dec. 21 against Weber State, surpassing the previous record of 11 held by Nevada’s Cherlanda Franklin and BYU’s Tomika Young. The Utah State record was 12 steals set by Carol Garrison in 1981. Coddington added 13 points for her first double-double of the season. The record-breaking steal came with 5:24 remaining in the game, while the 13 is one shy of the NCAA record.
ROSS RANKS SECOND IN SCHOOL HISTORY, SIXTH IN WAC, IN THREE-POINTERS MADE
Fresno State’s Jaleesa Ross is currently in second place on the school’s career three-pointers list with 229. She needs 273 to own the record. Ross’ total also ranks sixth in the WAC record books, eight shy of fifth place.
SAN JOSE STATE UPSETS CAL, POSTS FIRST WIN OVER RANKED TEAM SINCE 1983
Chasity Shavers scored a career-high 32 points and made three free throws in the final 34 seconds to give San Jose State a 68-66 upset of No. 22 California on Dec. 9. Shavers finished 11-of-19 from the field and had eight rebounds, while Samantha Marez added 13 points. The last known time the Spartans beat a nationally-ranked opponent was Feb. 5, 1983, when San Jose State upended then-No. 17 Oregon State, 69-56, in a NorPac Conference game played in Spartan Gym.
FRESNO STATE, LOUISIANA TECH FAVORED IN PRESEASON POLLS
Fresno State, the 2008-09 WAC regular season co-champion and tournament title winner, was selected as the favorite by the coaches in the WAC preseason poll. The Bulldogs received five of the nine first-place votes and 60 points to beat out Louisiana Tech for the top spot.
Meanwhile, Louisiana Tech, which shared last year’s WAC regular-season title with Fresno State, was picked to win the title in the media poll. The Lady Techsters received 14 first-place votes, earning 180 points.
PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAMS ANNOUNCED
Along with the preseason polls, the coaches and media also voted on preseason all-WAC teams. Both the coaches and media selected Louisiana Tech senior forward Shanavia Dowdell as the WAC’s preseason Player of the Year.
Joining Dowdell on the first team in the coaches poll was teammate Adrienne Johnson, along with Yinka Olorunnife of Idaho, Jaleesa Ross of Fresno State and Madison Spence of New Mexico State. The second team was comprised of New Mexico State’s Crystal Boyd, Tasha Harris and Jessica Van Hoogen of Boise State, Fresno State’s Hayley Munro and Derisa Taleni of Idaho.
The media’s all-WAC first team included Dowdell, Harris, Johnson, Ross and Spence. Second-team selections included Munro, Olorunnife, Taleni, Van Hoogen and Lydia Whitehead of Utah State.
NEVADA TO HOST 2010 WAC TOURNAMENT
Reno and the University of Nevada will host the 2010 WAC Tournament, March 10-13. It will be the second year in a row and the fourth time Nevada has hosted the event. The Wolf Pack also hosted the tournament in 2005, 2006 and 2009. The tournament features the top eight men’s and women’s teams.
BOISE STATE BRONCOS (11-3, 0-0 WAC)
The Broncos picked up their third-straight win with a 73-67 victory over Wyoming last Thursday in their only game of the week to remain atop the WAC standings ... Tasha Harris just missed a triple-double, recording 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. It was her fifth career double-double and her first of the season ... Jessica Van Hoogen added 15 points, while Kinzi Poteet tallied a career-high 10 points ... The Broncos rank 12th nationally in steals per game (12.4) and 36th in three-point field goal percentage defense (27.2) ... Van Hoogen ranks 40th in the nation with 2.9 steals per game ... The Broncos open WAC play by hosting New Mexico State on Wednesday and playing at Nevada on Saturday.
FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS (9-5, 0-0 WAC)
The Bulldogs fell 68-46 to No. 2/2 Stanford last Wednesday and defeated Cal State Bakersfield 64-54 on Saturday to close out non-conference play ... The 3,859 fans that watched the game against the Cardinal were the most to watch a Fresno State women’s basketball game since Feb. 26, 2005, when the Bulldogs defeated Nevada in front of a crowd of 6,171 people ... Jaleesa Ross had 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in the win over CSU Bakersfield ... Joh-Teena Filipe tied her career high for blocks against Bakersfield with six ... Ross has 1,109 career points and needs 78 to move into 10th place on the school’s career scoring list ... Ross has 229 career three-pointers and needs 46 to move into first place on the Fresno State career list ... Fresno State has made a three-pointer in 78 straight games ... The Bulldogs host Hawai’i on Wednesday and play at Idaho on Saturday.
HAWAI’I RAINBOW WAHINE (6-7, 0-0 WAC)
The Rainbow Wahine defeated Kent State 54-53 and 63-60 in a pair of games last week for the Waikiki Beach Marriott Showdown ... In the first game, Keisha Kanekoa hit the game-winning shot and led the team with 19 points, while Leilani Galdones had 14 points off the bench ... Trailing 53-52 with 10 seconds left, Kanekoa dribbled the length of the floor, came off a pick and hit a 10-foot jumper with 3.3 seconds left to give the Rainbow Wahine a one-point lead and the win ... The following night, Galdones led a group of four players in double-digit scoring with 15 points, while Breanna Arbuckle, Allie Patterson and Mai Ayabe added 10 points each ... Rebecca Dew had a career-high 15 rebounds to go with nine points and three blocks ... The Rainbow Wahine play at Fresno State on Wednesday and at New Mexico State on Saturday.
IDAHO VANDALS (2-11, 0-0 WAC)
The Vandals snapped a six-game losing skid with a 47-40 win over UC Santa Barbara last Monday ... Idaho missed its first 20 attempts from the field and fell behind 16-1 before Rachele Kloke finally hit a three-pointer at the 7:43 mark ... UC Santa Barbara didn’t take advantage of Idaho’s poor shooting, because the Gauchos committed 19 first-half turnovers and 29 total for the game ... Bianca Cheever led the team with 11 points ... Idaho ranks 18th nationally with 14.8 personal fouls per game ... Kloke ranks 10th in the WAC with a 12.2 scoring average, while Shaena-Lyn Kuehu is 13th at 11.4 ... Kuehu also ranks 12th with 6.2 rebounds per game ... Jessica Graham is fourth in the WAC with 1.38 blocks per game ... In their only game this week, the Vandals host Fresno State on Saturday to open WAC play.
LOUISIANA TECH LADY TECHSTERS (9-3, 0-0 WAC)
The Techsters defeated Stephen F. Austin (65-61) and UT-San Antonio (82-72) to claim the title at the UTSA New Year’s Classic, then beat Southern Mississippi 76-68 on Sunday ... Shanavia Dowdell was named to the all-tournament team at the UTSA New Year’s Classic after scoring 14 points and grabbing 16 rebounds vs. SFA and tying her career-high with 30 points and setting a career-high with 18 rebounds against UTSA ... In the win over USM, Dowdell led the team with 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds ... The Techsters host Utah State on Wednesday in a game that features the league’s top scoring team against the league’s top defensive team as Louisiana Tech ranks No. 1 in the WAC in scoring offense (77.0), while Utah State leads the league in scoring defense (54.5).
NEVADA WOLF PACK (6-8, 0-0 WAC)
The Wolf Pack fell 72-60 to San Diego and 85-60 to California last week at the Maggie Dixon Surf N Slam Classic before falling 61-41 at Brigham Young on Saturday ... Shavon Moore was named to her second all-tournament team of the year at the Surf N Slam Classic after averaging 9.0 points and 6.5 rebounds ... Moore scored 20 points vs. San Diego and 14 points vs. Cal ... The 41 points vs. the Cougars was a season low ... Tahnee Robinson has scored in double figures in three of her four career games ... Nevada has recorded 25 or more turnovers in its last seven games and is 1-6 during that time ... Nevada has out-rebounded its opponents in 10 games this year, including seven straight ... Nevada is 0-6 this season on the road ... The Wolf Pack play at San Jose State on Wednesday and host Boise State on Saturday.
NEW MEXICO STATE AGGIES (10-4, 0-0 WAC)
The Aggies defeated UTEP (63-56), New Mexico Highlands (80-39) and No. 21 Kansas (62-60) last week ... Crystal Boyd recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 21 points and 14 rebounds vs. the Miners, handing UTEP its first home loss of the season ... In the win over Highlands, Boyd scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds in just 25 minutes of action ... In the upset of KU, Boyd hit a free throw with 0.8 seconds remaining, then swatted away the inbound pass to give the Aggies their first win over a ranked team in five years and just third ever ... Boyd finished with a career-high 25 points and a team-high eight rebounds ... The Aggies’ 10 wins so far this season surpasses its overall win total from 2008-2009 ... The Aggies play at Boise State on Wednesday and host Hawai’i on Saturday.
SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS (4-9, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State fell 86-64 at Cal State Bakersfield last Tuesday and defeated Santa Clara 75-64 last Saturday ... Sayja Sumler led the team with 13 points in the loss to CSUB ... The Roadrunners scored 35 points off 26 Spartan turnovers ... In the win over the Broncos, four of the five Spartan starters scored in double-figures, led by Chasity Shavers with 23 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for her first career double-double ... Shaunna Ridge, Palagi Atoe, Sayja Sumler and Samantha Marez all chipped in with 10 points each ... The win snapped a four-game losing skid vs. Santa Clara ... The Spartans host Nevada on Wednesday and play at Utah State on Saturday.
UTAH STATE AGGIES (8-5, 0-0 WAC)
The Aggies defeated Utah Valley 63-45 last Thursday and beat UNLV 78-70 on Saturday to close out non-conference play ... Against Utah Valley, LaCale Pringle-Buchanan tied a then-career-high with 14 points ... In the win against UNLV, Pringle-Buchanan scored a new career-high 18 points to go with eight rebounds and three steals ... The Aggies have now won four-straight games for only the second time since the reinstatement of the program for the 2003-04 season. USU also won four-straight last season ... Utah State has 60 blocks this season compared to the 23 of its opponents ... Utah State is 6-1 at home this season, just two wins away from tying last season’s win total at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum ... The Aggies play at Louisiana Tech on Wednesday and host San Jose State on Saturday.