United Athletic Conference

NEVADA'S ROBINSON NAMED VERIZON WIRELESS WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nevada guard Tahnee Robinson, a senior from Fort Washakie, Wyo. (Sheridan College), averaged 29.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in a pair of wins over the weekend.  On Friday, she scored a career-high 33 points on 12-of-21 shooting in a win over Cal Poly Pomona.  She was 5-of-10 from three-point range and also had two assists.  On Sunday, she added a game-high 25 points with 14 in the first half against Pepperdine.  Robinson set another career-high with 10 rebounds and was 9-of-10 from the free throw line.  For the week, she was 19-of-32 from the field (.594), 7-of-14 from three-point range (.500) and 13-of-15 from the free throw line (.867).

Others nominated:
Janie Bos, Sr., F, Boise State - averaged 10.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in a split of two games last week.  She was 7-of-13 from the field and made all six of her free throw attempts.
Hayley Munro, Sr., F, Fresno State - averaged 16.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in two wins.  She was 12-of-23 from the field, including 6-of-11 from three-point range.
Yinka Olorunnife, Sr., C, Idaho - scored 13 points and grabbed 10 boards in a win over Eastern Oregon.
Adrienne Johnson, Sr., F, Louisiana Tech - scored 25 points and pulled down eight rebounds in a win over Prairie View A&M.
Tabytha Wampler, Jr., F, New Mexico State - averaged 15.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in a split of two games.  She was 9-of-16 from the field and 12-of-13 from the charity stripe.
Britney Bradley, Sr., G, San Jose State - scored 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting in a game against Weber State.
Devyn Christensen, So., G, Utah State - scored 13 points and was 5-of-7 from the field in a game against Dixie State.

FRESNO STATE, LOUISIANA TECH AND NEVADA OPEN 2-0
The 2010-11 WAC women's basketball season began last Friday and three teams have jumped out to 2-0 records.  Defending WAC regular season champion Fresno State picked up road wins at Santa Clara and Sacramento State while Louisiana Tech and Nevada won their home openers.  Nevada's Kayla Williams and Tahnee Robinson each recorded a double-double in their win over Pepperdine.  Robinson had 25 points and 10 rebounds while Williams grabbed 20 rebounds to go along with 16 points.  Louisiana Tech's Adrienne Johnson joined Robinson as the only two WAC players to put up at least 20 points in each game played this season.

HAWAI'I OPENS SEASON ON FRIDAY
After watching the rest of the WAC get underway last week, Hawai'i gets its chance when it hosts the 31st Jack in the Box Rainbow Wahine Classic Friday through Sunday.  The Wahine open the tournament against Cal State Northridge on Friday and will then play Eastern Michigan the next day and Oregon State in the finale on Sunday.  The Rainbow Wahine are coming off a pair of exhibition wins over Chaminade and BYU-Hawai'i. Against the DII Silverswords, freshman Kamilah Jackson led UH with 15 points and nine rebounds to help carry the 'Bows to a 74-34 victory. Last week, the 'Bows overcame a slow start to surge past BYU-H, 73-49. Redshirt freshman guard/forward, Shawna-Lei Kuehu led the Rainbow Wahine with a strong overall performance with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots. Also having solid games were Jackson and Breanna Arbuckle who both tallied double-doubles in the win over the Seasiders.

ORLEANS ARENA IN LAS VEGAS TO HOST WAC TOURNAMENT
The 2011 WAC Basketball Tournament will be held March 9-12 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. It will feature a new format from year's past, rewarding teams based on regular-season success, giving the top two teams byes into the tournament semifinals. Under the format, the tournament will begin on Wednesday with two men's games and two women's games featuring the No. 5 seed against the No. 8 seed and No. 6 vs. No. 7. The winners then advance to Thursday's quarterfinal matchups to play the No. 4 and No. 3 seeds. The winners of those games then advance to Friday's semifinals against the top two seeds.

FRESNO STATE FAVORED IN PRESEASON POLLS
Fresno State, which won the WAC regular-season title last year with a perfect 16-0 record, was the preseason favorite to win the Western Athletic Conference in both the coaches and media polls.

In the coaches poll, the Bulldogs received 63 points and seven first-place votes to beat out Louisiana Tech for the top spot. The Lady Techsters captured second place with 57 points and two first-place votes.

In the media poll. Fresno State received 14 first-place votes, earning 158 points. Meanwhile, Louisiana Tech was picked to finish second with 146 points and four first-place votes.

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 Fresno State senior guard Jaleesa Ross as the WAC's preseason Player of the Year.

ESPNU TO TELEVISE FOUR GAMES IN 2010-11 SEASON
ESPNU will televise four WAC women's basketball games during the 2010-11 season. The network will televise three regular-season WAC women's basketball match-ups and will also air the championship game of the WAC Tournament, held at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.

The complete schedule:
Thursday, Jan. 6-Idaho at Nevada, 8 p.m. (PT)
Thursday, Jan. 13-Louisiana Tech at Fresno State, 6 p.m. (PT)
Monday, Feb. 28-Louisiana Tech at Nevada, 8 p.m. (PT)
Saturday, March 12-WAC Tournament Championship, 1 p.m. (PT)

TOP PLAYERS RETURNING
A total of seven players from all-WAC first and second teams return this season. Three players return from the first team - Louisiana Tech's Adrienne Johnson, Nevada's Tahnee Robinson and Fresno State's Jaleesa Ross. There are four players returning from the second team, including Fresno State's Hayley Munro, Idaho's Rachele Kloke, Nevada's Shavon Moore and Utah State's Amber White. Meanwhile, four members of the All-Defensive Team return in Alice Coddington of Utah State, Johnson, Moore and White.

STAT LEADERS BACK
Five of the top 10 scorers return for the 2010-11 season, including the second and third scorers last year, Fresno State's Jaleesa Ross (17.4) and Louisiana Tech's Adrienne Johnson (16.0). Also returning are Idaho's Rachele Kloke, who was seventh (14.5), New Mexico State's Jasmine Lowe, who was eighth (14.1) and Fresno State's Hayley Munro, who was 10th (11.7).

Six of the top 10 rebounding leaders from a year ago return. Idaho's Yinka Olorunnife returns this season after ranking second in the WAC with 7.9 rebounds per game last year. Nevada's Kayla Williams and Louisiana Tech's Johnson were third and fourth, respectively, last year at 7.3 and 7.2 per game, respectively. Boise State's Janie Bos was sixth (7.0), Nevada's Shavon Moore was seventh (7.0) and New Mexico State's Tabytha Wampler was 10th (7.0).

LETTERWINNER/STARTER CAPSULE
Nevada and Idaho return the most starters this season with five. New Mexico State returns four starters, while Fresno State, Hawai'i and Louisiana Tech each return three starters. Boise State, San Jose State and Utah State each return two starters.