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UTRGV'S SAVOY NAMES WAC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
UT Rio Grande Valley's
Mary Savoy has been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week for Nov. 9 through Nov. 15.
Savoy, a junior center from Salem, Ore. (West Salem HS) averaged 14.0 points per game and 14.5 rebounds per game as the Vaqueros split a pair of games at the Hampton Inn & Suites Islanders Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas. Her best game came in a 66-58 win over Cal Poly, scoring 20 points and bringing down 22 rebounds against the Mustangs.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's
Batabe Zempare recorded her 23rd career double-double against Pacific … Missouri-Kansas City's
Daijane Dillard led the Kangaroos with 12 points in a season-opening loss to North Florida … NM State's
Tamera William set a new career-high with 19 points in a 10-point win at North Dakota State … Seattle U's
Taelor Ross averaged 14.5 ppg and 6.5 rpg in a weekend split against Montana State and Montana … Utah Valley's
Rebecca MaWhinney had a career-high 23 points in a win against Bethesda.
BREAK OUT THE WINDEX
UT Rio Grande Valley's Mary Savoy brought down an NCAA season-high 22 rebounds against Cal Poly, tied for the top spot with Butler's Tori Schickel.
DISHING OUT DIMES
Utah Valley's Georgia Agnew tied the NCAA's season-best for assists in a game, dishing out 12 in a win against Bethesda.
STAT LEADERS BACK
The statistical leaderboard could have a familiar look this season as many of the top players from a year ago return to the WAC.
On the scoring list, four of the top five scorers return, led by NM State senior
Sasha Weber, who was second last season at 14.93 ppg. UTRGV's
Shawnte' Goff was third on the scoring list last season and returns after averaging 14.88 ppg as a sophomore.
On the rebounding list, the top five all return. CSU Bakersfield's
Batabe Zempare averaged 9.9 rebounds per game to lead the WAC. Chicago State's
Layne Murphy will be cleaning the glass for the Cougars after averaging 8.0 rpg while NM State's
Brianna Freeman looks to keep up her consistent play after averaging 13.7 ppg and 7.9 rpg as a sophomore.
Assist leader
Courtney Hayes returns for Grand Canyon after dishing out an average of 4.56 apg a year ago. Runner-up
Alyssa Shannon will be back for her senior season at CSU Bakersfield as she averaging 4.44 apg last season.
NM State's
Shanice Davis will look to lead the WAC in steals for a second straight season after averaging 2.47 per game last year while Seattle U's
Taelor Ross is the favorite to lead the WAC in blocks after swatting 1.87 per game as a sophomore.
PRESEASON COACHES POLL
NM State is the favorite to win the 2015-16 Western Athletic Conference women's basketball title and the Aggies' Brianna Freeman was selected WAC Preseason Player of the Year in a vote of the league's eight head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.
The Aggies, who won their first WAC title last season, received 49 points and seven first place votes in the preseason poll. CSU Bakersfield was selected second with 39 points. Seattle U earned the third spot with 33 points and the remaining first place vote while UT Rio Grande Valley was selected fourth with 30 points. Grand Canyon was predicted fifth with 27 points, followed by Utah Valley (26), Missouri-Kansas City (13) and Chicago State (7).
Freeman, the 2014-15 WAC Player of the Year and 2015 WAC Tournament MVP, leads the list of Preseason All-WAC honorees. Joining her on the first team are teammates Sasha Weber and Shanice Davis, UT Rio Grande Valley's Shawnte' Goff and Seattle U's Taelor Ross.
PRESEASON MEDIA POLL
The Western Athletic Conference women's basketball media have selected NM State as the preseason favorite to repeat as conference champions in 2015-16 and Aggie junior Brianna Freeman as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year.
The Aggies earned nine of 10 first place votes in the media poll to collect 79 of 80 possible points. CSU Bakersfield earned the other first place vote to take second with 65 points. UT Rio Grande Valley, last season's WAC Tournament runner-up, was picked third with 54 points. Seattle U picked up 48 points to earn the fourth position, followed shortly behind Grand Canyon in fifth with 43 points. Utah Valley took sixth with 40 points followed by Missouri-Kansas City (19) and Chicago State (12).
Freeman, the 2014-15 WAC Player of the Year and 2015 WAC Tournament MVP, leads the list of Preseason All-WAC honorees. Joining her on the first team is teammate Sasha Weber, UT Rio Grande Valley's Shawnte' Goff, Utah Valley's Rhaiah Spooner-Knight and CSU Bakersfield's Alyssa Shannon.
RETURNING ALL-CONFERENCE PLAYERS
Four of five First Team All-WAC players from last season return for the 2015-16 season as CSU Bakersfield's Tyonna Outland is the lone graduate. NM State will bring back the trio of Brianna Freeman, Sasha Weber and Shanice Davis while UTRGV's Shawnte' Goff looks to expand on a solid sophomore season.
KEY NON-CONFERENCE MATCHUPS
This season, WAC teams will face some tough competition in the non-conference portion of the schedule, with as many as 16 games against NCAA Tournament participants and as many as 16 against Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) participants. The complete list is below.
Games vs. NCAA Teams
Nov. 13 - Utah Valley at Brigham Young
Nov. 15 - Seattle U at Montana
Nov. 18 - Seattle U at Washington
Nov. 19 - Utah Valley at Boise State
Dec. 15 - CSU Bakersfield at Oregon State
Nov. 23 - Grand Canyon at Gonzaga
Nov. 24 - Chicago State at DePaul
Nov. 28 - CSU Bakersfield vs. South Carolina (at Honolulu)
Nov. 28 - Seattle U vs. Princeton (at Los Angeles) (depending on 11/27)
Nov. 29 - CSU Bakersfield vs. Arizona State (at Honolulu)
Dec. 5 - UT Rio Grande Valley at Oklahoma State
Dec. 19 - Boise State at Seattle U
Dec. 22 - CSU Bakersfield at Stanford
Dec. 22 - Missouri-Kansas City at Northwestern
Jan. 2 - Seattle U at CSUN
Games vs. WNIT Teams
Nov. 13 - Hawai'i at Grand Canyon
Nov. 13 - Pacific at CSU Bakersfield
Nov. 19 - Sacramento State at NM State
Nov. 21 - UT Rio Grande Valley at Eastern Michigan
Nov. 23 - San Francisco at Utah Valley
Nov. 27 - CSU Bakersfield at Hawai'i
Nov. 28 - UT Rio Grande Valley at TCU
Dec. 2 - CSU Bakersfield at Fresno State
Dec. 3 - Utah Valley at Eastern Washington
Dec. 5 - CSU Bakersfield at UCLA
Dec. 5 - Kansas State at Chicago State
Dec. 7 - UT Rio Grande Valley at Kansas State
Dec. 21 - Northern Colorado at Grand Canyon
Dec. 30 - Hawai'i at CSU Bakersfield
Dec. 30 - NM State at Fordam (depending on 12/29)
Dec. 31 - Long Beach State at Seattle U
ORLEANS ARENA IN LAS VEGAS TO HOST 2016 WAC TOURNAMENT
The 2016 WAC Basketball Tournament returns to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas for the sixth year in a row. This year's tournament includes all seven eligible teams and will be held Wednesday-Saturday, March 9-12.
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL RULES CHANGES
The NCAA Women's Basketball Rules Committee made a number of rules changes, most of which are intended to align the college game with the international and pro game.
Key Rule Changes
- The time limit to replace a disqualified player is reduced to 15 seconds. When the head coach fails to replace a disqualified player before the second horn, the head coach is assessed a bench technical foul. (Rules 2-10.9 and 10-4.5)
- Playing time for varsity games shall consist of four 10-minute periods. The intermission between the first and second and the third and fourth periods shall be the length of the elctronic-media timeout. (Rule 5-6.1)
- When a timeout is charged to the offensive team during the last 59.9 seconds of the fourth period and/or any extra period, the team has the option to advance the throw-in spot to the 28-foot mark in the frontcourt on the same side of the court as the scorers' table. (Rule 5-14.2)
- A team is awarded two free throws for each common foul beginning with the fifth team fould in a period. (Rule 8-2.1)
- The 10-second count shall reset on all stoppages of the game clock except when the defense causes the ball to be out of bounds, the offense retains possession after a held ball, or there is a technical foul assessed to the offensive team. (Rule 9-10)
- When an offensive post player with her back to the basket in the lane area is in control of the ball, a post defender may only place one forearm or one hand with a bend in the elbow on the offensive player. (Apendix III, Section 3)