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NMSU'S SALAS NAMED WAC WOMENâ€S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
NM State's Brooke Salas has been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week for Nov. 7 through Nov 13.
Salas, a sophomore guard from Placentia, Calif., earned the double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds as the Aggies opened up 2016-17 with a win over San José State. She was a perfect 4-for-4 on free throws and also added four assists, three steals and a block. Salas and the rest of the Aggies forced 21 turnovers on the night.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Aja Williams scored 27 points and brought down eight rebounds to help lead the Runners to a 58-51 win over Hawai'i … Chicago State's Sh'Toya Sanders provided much of the Cougar offense in a loss at Kansas State, finishing with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double … Grand Canyon's Casey Rarrick led the Lopes with 20 points, including six three-pointers, in a 33-point win over visiting Alcorn State … UMKC's Kiana Law earned the double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds in a season-opening loss to Tulsa … Seattle U's Alexis Montgomery scored 18 points as the Redhawks dropped a close game to reigning Big Sky champion Idaho … UT Rio Grande Valley's Laura Van Tilburg had three blocks to go with 11 points in a Preseason WNIT loss at Nebraska on Saturday … Utah Valley's Britta Hall shook off the rust with 15 first-half points en route to 18 total points in a loss to rival Brigham Young.
ON TAP
The early schedule continues this week with a large collection of games across the conference. NM State will be the busiest of the teams, taking on rival New Mexico on Tuesday before heading to Honolulu for games against Sacramento State and host Hawai'i this weekend. CSU Bakersfield takes on a pair of Pac-12 foes in Oregon and California while Grand Canyon heads to the east coast for a matchup with Duke.
STAT LEADERS BACK
The statistical leaderboard may see some new names rising up this season but it won't be without some familiar faces.
On the scoring list, UTRGV's Shawnte' Goff was the leading scorer at 15.5 ppg and returns to the Vaqueros for her senio season. Chicago State's Kaylee Allen returns after scoring 12.6 ppg last season for the third-best average in the WAC and Grand Canyon's Jessica Gajewski looks to lead the Lopes after finishing fifth on the scoring list at 12.4 ppg.
On the rebounding list, a pair of juniors look to battle for the title as UTRGV's Hildur Björg Kjartansdóttir and UMKC's Kiana Law were third and fourth respectively last year at 7.5 and 7.1 rpg.
NM State's Brianna Freeman is the top returning shooter, finishing third last season in field goal percentage at .482. Seattle U's Kaylee Best finished fourth last season in assists at 3.8 per game but is the top returner in the category. Best also ranked second in steals (2.3) and will look to lead that category this season.
LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF
CSU Bakersfield junior Aja Williams made quite an impact in her first game the in the Roadrunner blue and gold, dropping 27 points in a win over 2016 NCAA Tournament participant Hawai'i.
RAINING THREES
Both Grand Canyon and Seattle U hit 12 three-pointers in their season openers last Friday. For the Redhawks, it was their highest total since 2010. For Grand Canyon, it was their highest total in three seasons.
PRESEASON COACHES POLL
NM State is the favorite to win the 2016-17 Western Athletic Conference women's basketball title and UT Rio Grande Valley's Shawnte' Goff 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 second straight WAC title last season, received 49 points and seven first place votes in the preseason poll. UT Rio Grande Valley was a close second with 42 points and the remaining first place vote. Grand Canyon earned the third spot with 34 points while CSU Bakersfield was selected fourth with 29 points. UMKC was predicted fifth with 26 points, followed by Utah Valley (23), Seattle U (13) and Chicago State (8).
Goff, the 2015-16 WAC Player of the Year, leads the list of Preseason All-WAC honorees. Joining her on the first team are NM State's Moriah Mack and Brianna Freeman, Utah Valley's Mariah Seals and Grand Canyon's Jessica Gajewski.
Second team selections include Hildur Björg Kjartansdóttir (UT Rio Grande Valley), Kaylee Allen (Chicago State), Aries Washington (UMKC), Kaylee Best (Seattle U) and Erika Williams (CSU Bakersfield).
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 2016-17 and UT Rio Grande Valley's Shawnte' Goff as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year.
The Aggies earned six first place votes in the media poll to collect 90 points and edge out UT Rio Grande, who earned five first place votes to finish with 88 points. Grand Canyon was selected third with 64 points, followed by CSU Bakersfield, who earned 55 points including one first place vote. Utah Valley was selected fifth, followed by UMKC, Seattle U and Chicago State.
Goff, the 2015-16 WAC Player of the Year, leads the list of Preseason All-WAC honorees. Joining her on the first team are NM State's Moriah Mack, Grand Canyon's Jessica Gajewski, UMKC's Aries Washington, and Utah Valley's Mariah Seals.
Second team selections include Hildur Björg Kjartansdóttir (UT Rio Grande Valley), Mary Savoy (UT Rio Grande Valley), Brianna Freeman (NM State), Kaylee Allen (Chicago State) and Brooke Salas (NM State).
RETURNING ALL-CONFERENCE PLAYERS
Just two of five First Team All-WAC players from last season return for the 2016-17 season as reigning WAC Player of the Year Shawnte' Goff from UT Rio Grande Valley and NM State's Moriah Mack are the only returners.
KEY NON-CONFERENCE MATCHUPS
This season, WAC teams will face some tough competition in the non-conference portion of the schedule, with a minimum of 15 games against NCAA Tournament participants and a minimum of 17 against Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) participants. The complete list is below.
Games vs. NCAA Teams
Nov. 11 - Chicago State at Kansas State
Nov. 11 - Idaho at Seattle U
Nov. 11 - Brigham Young at Utah Valley
Nov. 13 - Hawai'i at CSU Bakersfield
Nov. 15 - Seattle U at San Francisco
Nov. 20 - NM State at Hawai'i
Nov. 26 - Idaho at Grand Canyon
Nov. 26 - Washington at Seattle U
Dec. 1 - Washington at Grand Canyon
Dec. 1 - Stanford at CSU Bakersfield
Dec. 8 - UT Rio Grande Valley at Oklahoma
Dec. 11 - UT Rio Grande Valley at Oklahoma State
Dec. 15 - UT Rio Grande Valley at Texas
Dec. 18 - Seattle U at Colorado State
Dec. 29 - Grand Canyon at Hawai'i
Games vs. WNIT Teams
Nov. 12 - UT Rio Grande Valley at Nebraska
Nov. 18 - CSU Bakersfield at Oregon
Nov. 19 - Wright State at Chicago State
Nov. 19 - Utah Valley at Utah
Nov. 25 - Utah Valley vs. Central Michigan (Cal Poly Holiday Tournament)
Nov. 27 - South Dakota at CSU Bakersfield
Nov. 29 - Grand Canyon at UC Riverside
Dec. 1 - Chicago State at Ball State
Dec. 4 - Seattle U at Montana State
Dec. 4 - Chicago State at Northwestern
Dec. 10 - Seattle U at UC Riverside
Dec. 12 - Seattle U at San Diego
Dec. 14 - Chicago State at Milwaukee
Dec. 14 - UC Riverside at CSU Bakersfield
Dec. 15 - NM State at UTEP
Dec. 19 - NM State vs. Quinnipiax (Play for Kay Shootout)
Dec. 28 - CSU Bakersfield at UTEP
ORLEANS ARENA IN LAS VEGAS TO HOST 2016 WAC TOURNAMENT
The 2017 WAC Basketball Tournament returns to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas for the seventh year in a row. This year's tournament includes all seven eligible teams and will be held Wednesday-Saturday, March 8-11.
COMING TO YOU LIVE
The WAC Digital Network will broadcast 43 regular season women's basketball games, including all four games on the final day of the regular season and the first round and semi-final games at the 2017 WAC Basketball Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.