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CSU BAKERSFIELD'S WILLIAMS NAMED WAC WOMENâ€S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
CSU Bakersfield's Erika Williams has been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week for Dec. 12 through Dec. 18.
Williams, a senior forward from Fresno, Calif. (Diamond Ranch HS), posted a pair of 19-point games as the ‘Runners went 1-1 on the week. In a close home loss to UC Riverside, she finished with 19 points and six rebounds for CSUB. She closed out the week with a strong performance at UC Irvine, shooting 7-for-9 from the field and 3-for-4 on free throws for 19 points in a 20-point win. On the week, she shot .591 from the field as CSU Bakersfield moved up to fifth in the conference standings.
Other nominees included: Chicago State's Kaylee Allen averaged 16.5 ppg and 8.5 rpg as the Cougars fell twice ... Grand Canyon's Zelor Massaquoi earned the double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds in a road win at Southern Utah … UT Rio Grande Valley's Mary Savoy scored 17 points and brought down 17 rebounds in a win over Evangel.
ON TAP
The short schedule is already underway with all the action packed into the first three days of the week. On Monday, Grand Canyon and UT Rio Grande Valley picked up home wins against Northern Arizona and North Dakota State respectively. UTRGV will look for a win over rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Tuesday at the Battle on the Border in Edinburg. NM State dropped a close one to Quinnipiac at the Play4Kay Shootout in Las Vegas and will take on UNLV on Tuesday before playing either Santa Clara or South Florida on Wednesday. UMKC hopes to bounce back after a loss to Southern Illinois on Monday when they host Northern Illinois at the Roo Winter Classic. Utah Valley travels to Pocatello to take on Idaho State on Tuesday night while Seattle U is in Dallas to take on SMU on Wednesday afternoon. Chicago State will close out the week with a home game against Western Michigan on Wednesday night.
BY THE NUMBERS
NM State leads a number of statistical categories, sitting atop the WAC in scoring offense (70.4), scoring defense (62.8), scoring margin (+7.5), field goal percentage defense (.369), three point defense (.266), rebounding offense (41.0), steals (11.1), turnover margin (+4.64), offensive rebounds (13.9) and defensive rebounds (27.1). CSU Bakersfield is the top free throw shooting team at .745 while UMKC is the best shooting the three at .361. The Roos also lead the conference in rebounding defense (32.9) and rebounding margin (+3.0). UT Rio Grande Valley holds the top blocked shots average at 5.2 while Grand Canyon leads the league in assists (15.9) and assist/turnover ratio (1.1).
Individually, Grand Canyon's Marina Laramie is leading all scorers with 20.6 ppg and her teammate Zelor Massaquoi is the top rebounder at 8.7 per game. Utah Valley's Sam Lubcke is the top shooter (.593) while NM State's Tamera William leads the WAC at the free throw line (.857) and CSU Bakersfield's Erika Williams leads the league from behind the three-point arc (.485). The UVU duo of Mariah Seals and Taylor Gordon leads the WAC in assists and steals with 5.2 apg and 3.3 spg respectively. Seattle U's Kaylee Best is averaging a league-high 2.8 three-pointers per game while CSUB's Jazmyne Bartee has a WAC-best 1.7 blocks per game. GCU guard Laura Marcos-Canedo has the top assist/turnover ratio at 2.8.
CLEANING UP
Chicago State sophomore Sh'Toya Sanders set a new NCAA Division I season best with 23 rebounds in a loss at Northern Illinois. She wasn't just rebounding as she also finished with 38 points agaisnt the Huskies. Sanders recently left the CSU program and is not expected to return this season.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
When CSU Bakersfield played host to nationally-ranked Stanford on Dec, 1, CSUB head coach Greg McCall welcomed home his daughter and Cardinal senior forward Erica McCall. The Ridgeview HS graduate scored a game-high 18 points with 12 rebounds to lead Stanford past CSU Bakersfield, 77-56.
HOME SWEET HOME
UMKC opened the season with a home game and a road trip but for the remainder of non-conference play, the Roos will have the comfort of their home beds most of the nights. After four straight at home, they played a single road game on Dec. 3 at Abilene Christian and then return for four more at home before heading back east to take on La Salle and Stony Brook to wrap up non-conference play in late December.
FREQUENT FLIERS
On the other side of the spectrum will be Seattle U, who opened a six-game road trip on Dec. 4 that will have them visiting four different states. The Redhawks were at home on Dec. 2 against Montana and now won't play at the Connolly Complex again until a Dec. 29 game against CSUN.
RAINING THREES
Both Grand Canyon and Seattle U hit 12 three-pointers in their season openers. 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.