TEXAS STATE’S PEOPLES NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Texas State freshman guard Erin Peoples has been named Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 3-9. This is her first WAC Player of the Week honor.
The Little Rock, Ark. native led the Bobcats in their most dominant win of the season, a 93-42 win over Huston-Tillotson. She posted her first career double-double with a career-high 23 points and 12 rebounds. She went 2-of-3 from three-point range and added four assists, two steals and a block. Peoples entered the week averaging 9.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
Other nominees included: Denver’s Morgan Van Riper-Rose averaged 16.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists as the Pioneers went 1-1 on the week ... Christina Salvatore of Idaho averaged 14.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and four three-pointers per game as the Vandals went 2-0 on the week ... Seattle U’s Ashley Ward finished with 23 points and six rebounds in a win over Portland State ... Simone Young of UTSA averaged 20.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals as the Roadrunners went 1-1 on the week ... Utah State’s Devyn Christensen averaged 19.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals on the week.
TEXAS STATE PICKS UP OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION
Texas State currently leads the WAC and ranks 11th nationally in scoring with an average of 78.7 points per game. The Bobcats have scored 80 or more points in five of their first seven games for the first time since the 1980-81 season.
TRAKH PICKS UP 300TH CAREER VICTORY
When the Aggies defeated Southern Utah 70-68 on Dec. 1 at the Centrum Arena in Cedar City, Utah, it was career victory No. 300 for head coach Mark Trakh. In his 18 years as a head coach, Trakh has a 300-214 (.584) record.
SOWELL GRABS 500TH CAREER REBOUND
In her team’s 61-60 overtime loss to UC Irvine on Dec. 1, Seattle U junior forward Kacie Sowell grabbed her 500th career rebound with 32 seconds remaining in regulation. She now has 513 boards on her career.
TEXAS STATE BEATS BIG 12 OPPONENT FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2005
When the Bobcats defeated TCU 91-80 on Nov. 25, it was Texas State’s first win over a Big 12 opponent since 2005, when it defeated Oklahoma State, 77-69. Against TCU, all five starters scored at least nine points for Texas State, for the third time this season. The Bobcats are 3-0 in those games.
CHRISTENSEN SCORES 1,000TH CAREER POINT
With her game-winning three-pointer with eight seconds remaining against Prairie View A&M on Nov. 20, Devyn Christensen became the seventh member of the 1,000-point club at Utah State. The senior currently has 1,107 career points, good for fourth place all-time and 31 points shy of third place. At her current pace, Christensen would become Utah State’s career scoring leader on Jan. 31 vs. Idaho.
WAC STAT LEADERS
Texas State leads the WAC in scoring (78.7), three-point field goal percentage defense (23.5), rebounding (44.3) and blocks (4.14). UTSA is tops in scoring defense (50.5), scoring margin (11.1), field goal percentage defense (30.8) and turnover margin (2.2). Seattle U leads the WAC in field goal percentage (39.9), rebounding defense (36.3), rebounding margin (4.7), assists (15.3) and steals (15.1). Denver is tops in three-point field goal percentage (32.8) and assist-turnover ratio (0.93). Utah State tops the WAC in free throw percentage (81.0), while Idaho leads the league in three-pointers per game (8.2).
Individually, Utah State’s Devyn Christensen leads the WAC in scoring (22.1), free throw percentage (93.8), three-point field goals per game (3.6) and minutes played (36.7). Seattle U’s Kacie Sowell is tops in rebounding (10.6) and field goal percentage (58.0), while San Jose State’s Riana Byrd leads the league in blocks (2.0) and teammate Ta’Rea Cunnigan is tops in steals (4.3). Denver’s Emiko Smith leads the league in assists (5.75) and assist-turnover ratio (3.07), while Texas State’s Jasmine Baugus is tops in three-point field goal percentage (47.1).
RETURNING ALL-CONFERENCE PLAYERS
Two of the first team All-WAC players from last year return for the 2012-13 season in Idaho’s Alyssa Charlston and Utah State’s Devyn Christensen. Other WAC honorees that return are Louisiana Tech’s Whitney Frazier, who was named to both the All-Defensive and All-Freshman Teams, and fellow All-Freshman honorees Ta’Rea Cunnigan of San Jose State and Krissy Karr of Idaho.
Diamond Ford of Texas State was named first team All-Southland, while Emiko Smith of Denver was named second team All-Sun Belt. Ashley Ezeh of Texas State was named third team All-Southland, while UTSA’s Judy Jones was an honorable mention honoree.
KEY NON-CONFERENCE MATCHUPS
WAC teams have several key non-conference matchups this season, including 41 games against teams that participated in the NCAA Tournament or the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) last season. The complete list follows.
Games vs. NCAA Teams
Nov. 11 – UT Arlington at Michigan State
Nov. 12 – South Carolina at Louisiana Tech
Nov. 14 – New Mexico State at UC Santa Barbara
Nov. 20 – Utah State vs. Prairie View A&M
Nov. 24 – Sacred Heart at Seattle U
Nov. 28 – UTEP at New Mexico State
Dec. 1 – Texas State at UTEP
Dec. 2 – UT Arlington at Fresno State
Dec. 4 – Utah State at Brigham Young
Dec. 4 – Louisiana Tech at Texas A&M
Dec. 5 – New Mexico State at UTEP
Dec. 8 – Utah State at Notre Dame
Dec. 9 – Louisiana Tech vs. Rutgers
Dec. 12 –McNeese State at Louisiana Tech
Dec. 16 – Louisiana Tech at LSU
Dec. 20 – Seattle U at Brigham Young
Dec. 20 – Idaho at Gonzaga
Jan. 30 – Louisiana Tech at UALR
Games vs. WNIT Teams
Nov. 9 – Louisiana Tech at Tulane
Nov. 9 – Pacific at Seattle U
Nov. 10 – Utah at Denver
Nov. 11 – Idaho at Colorado
Nov. 14 – Washington at Seattle U
Nov. 16 – Oral Roberts at UT Arlington
Nov. 18 – UTSA at Wichita State
Nov. 19 – San Jose State at Eastern Illinois
Nov. 20 – Central Arkansas at Louisiana Tech
Nov. 21 – Memphis at UT Arlington
Nov. 25 – San Jose State at San Diego
Nov. 27 – Utah State at Utah
Nov. 28 – Texas State at Oklahoma State
Nov. 29 – Northern Colorado at Denver
Dec. 1 – Cal State Northridge at San Jose State
Dec. 3 – Pacific at San Jose State
Dec. 8 – UNLV at UTSA
Dec. 11 – Colorado at Denver
Dec. 14 – Oral Roberts at Louisiana Tech
Dec. 16 – Idaho at Washington
Dec. 20 – South Dakota at Utah State
Dec. 21 – UMKC at New Mexico State
Dec. 22 – Oklahoma State at UT Arlington