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UTAH VALLEY'S CHRISTENSEN NAMED WAC WOMENâ€S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley's Taylor Christensen has been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week for Dec. 4 through Dec. 10.
Christensen, a senior guard from Mount Pleasant, Utah (North Sanpete HS), led the Wolverines to a pair of wins at home over Air Force and Utah State. Against Air Force, she finished with 17 points, including 7-of-8 on free throws, with nine rebounds and three assists. She followed that up with 22 points, six rebounds and five steals in a dominating win over in-state rival Utah State. On the week, she averaged 19.5 points per game, 7.5 rebounds per game, 3.5 steals per game and 3.0 assists per game.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Aja Williams average 14.0 points per game in a pair of road losses at UC Riverside and South Dakota … Chicago State's Destiny Harris posted her best game of the season with 16 points and nine rebounds in a loss at Valparaiso … Kansas City's Kiana Law averaged 20.5 points per game on the week as the Roos dropped a pair to Oral Roberts and Wichita State … NM State's Brooke Salas scored 29 points as the Aggies knocked off border rival UTEP, 76-68 … Seattle U's Alexis Montgomery tallied her fourth double-double of the season with 23 points and 12 rebounds in a home loss to Nevada.
UP NEXT
It's a fairly light schedule around the WAC as students around the country turn their focus to final exams this week. Seattle U has a Big Sky road trip this week, traveling to Montana on Wednesday and Idaho on Friday. Grand Canyon heads up to Northern Arizona on Wedensday in the Lopes' lone game this week. Chicago State heads to Kansas to take on Wichita State and Oral Roberts while Utah Valley welcomes Idaho State to Orem. CSU Bakersfield plays host to DIII Whittie on Saturday while NM State heads to the west coast to take on Pepperdine. UT Rio Grande Valley rounds out the schedule with a road game at Texas Tech.
BY THE NUMBERS
Defending champion NM State leads the WAC in scoring at 70.5 ppg. The Aggies are also tops in field goal percentage (.414), three point field goal percentage (.354), rebounding (39.8), blocked shots (4.5), assists (13.0), assist/turnover tratio (0.9), defensive rebounds (28.8) and three-pointers made (7.8). CSU Bakersfield is the leader in scoring defense (57.4), field goal defense (.373) and offensive rebounds (14.4). UT Rio Grande Valley leads the league in scoring margin (+1.1), free throw percentage (.749), rebounding defense (36.8) and rebounding margin (+2.2). Kansas City is the leader in three-point defense (.289) while Utah Valley is tops in both steals (10.0) and turnover margin (+3.70).
Individually, Seattle U's Alexis Montgomery leads the WAC in scoring (20.4) and rebounding (10.0). UTRGV's Laura Van Tilburg is tops in field goal percentage (.506) while UVU's Gabrielle Leos is the top free throw shooter (.875). NMSU's Brooke Salas and SU's Jacinta Beckley are tied for the lead in three point percentage (.438) while Salas has the solo lead in three-pointers per game at 2.6. GCU's Brie Mobley is the assists leader at 4.8 while UVU's Taylor Christensen is averaging a league-best 3.1 steals per game. Chicago State's Ines Mata Boix is the top shot blocker (2.4) while UMKC's Daijane Dillard has the best assist/turnover ratio (2.6).
THE 1,000-POINT CLUB
Two WAC women's basketball players recently joined Utah Valley's Mariah Seals as active members of the WAC's 1,000-point club. Seattle U's Alexis Montgomery scored her 1,000th point on Nov. 30 at California and Grand Canyon's Jessica Gajewski scored her 1,000th point on Dec. 3 at Bethune-Cookman. Two more players are close to joining the trio in the club as Kansas City duo Samantha Waldron and Aries Washington have 973 and 959 career points respectively.
200 FOR TIDWELL
UT Rio Grande Valley head coach Larry Tidwell earned his 200th career win on opening night against Concordia (Texas).
FIRST-TIME LEADERS
The WAC has three new head coaches in 2017-18 and all three of them are first-year head coaches. NM State's Brooke Atkinson, who was an assistant with the Aggies early in her career, headed to Las Cruces after serving as an assistant at Colorado State. Grand Canyon's Nicole Powell returns to her hometown of Phoenix after working as an assistant at Oregon. Kansas City's Jacie Hoyt comes to the Roos from Kansas State.
PRESEASON COACHES POLL
NM State is the favorite to win the 2017-18 Western Athletic Conference women's basketball title and Seattle U's Alexis Montgomery 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 third straight WAC title last season, received 47 points and six first place votes in the preseason poll. CSU Bakersfield picked up the remaining two first place votes for a total of 39 points to edge out Seattle U by one point for second place. Utah Valley was selected fourth while Grand Canyon, UT Rio Grande Valley and Kansas City were all separated by just two points for the fifth, sixth and seventh spots. Chicago State rounded out the poll.
Montgomery leads the list of Preseason All-WAC honorees. Joining her on the first team are NM State's Brooke Salas, Grand Canyon's Brie Mobley and Utah Valley's Taylor Christensen and Mariah Seals.
Second team selections include Utah Valley's Sam Lubcke, CSU Bakersfield's Jazmyne Bartee and Aja Williams, Kansas City's Samantha Waldron and NM State's Zaire Williams.
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 2017-18 and Seattle U's Alexis Montgomery as the WAC Preseason Player of the Year.
The Aggies earned seven first place votes in the media poll to collect 82 points to top the poll. Seattle U was second with four first place votes and 76 points while CSU Bakersfield came in third with 60 points. Grand Canyon was selected fourth with 55 points and Utah Valley earned fifth with 46 points. UT Rio Grande Valley, Kansas City and Chicago State rounded out the poll.
Montgomery leads the list of Preseason All-WAC honorees. Joining her on the first team are NM State's Brooke Salas, Utah Valley's Sam Lubcke, Grand Canyon's Brie Mobley and CSU Bakersfield's Jazmyne Bartee.
Second team selections include CSU Bakersfield's Aja Williams, Utah Valley's Mariah Seals and Taylor Christensen, and Kansas City's Kristen Moore and Samantha Waldron.
RETURNING ALL-CONFERENCE PLAYERS
Just two of five First Team All-WAC players from last season return for the 2016-17 season as WAC Preseason Player of the Year Alexis Montgomery and NM State's Brooke Salas return for this season. Second Team honoreers Brie Mobley (Grand Canyon), Taylor Christensen (Utah Valley) and Jazmyne Bartee (CSU Bakersfield) are back as well.
KEY NON-CONFERENCE MATCHUPS
This season, WAC teams will face some tough competition in the non-conference portion of the schedule, with 14 games against NCAA Tournament participants and 11 against Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) participants. The complete list is below.
Games vs. NCAA Teams
Nov. 10 - Kansas City at Western Illinois
Nov. 12 - Duke at Grand Canyon
Nov. 15 - Utah Valley at Oregon State
Nov. 19 - CSU Bakersfield at Stanford
Nov. 20 - Kansas City at Iowa State
Nov. 22 - Western Illinois at Chicago State
Nov. 24 - NM State vs. Texas Southern (at UTEP)
Nov. 29 - Chicago State at Western Illinois
Nov. 30 - Seattle U at California
Dec. 7 - Long Beach State at Grand Canyon
Dec. 10 - Grand Canyon at Washington
Dec. 18 - Chicago State at Kansas State
Dec. 20 - CSU Bakersfield at Boise State
Dec. 20 - Seattle U at Washington
Games vs. WNIT Teams
Nov. 17 - UT Rio Grande Valley at Oklahoma State
Nov. 19 - Grand Canyon at UNLV
Nov. 20 - Northern Illinois at Chicago State
Nov. 21 - Utah Valley at Brigham Young
Nov. 26 - Morehead State at Chicago State
Nov. 26 - UC Davis at Seattle U
Dec. 3 - Grand Canyon at Bethune-Cookman
Dec. 3 - Chicago State at Wright State
Dec. 3 - CSU Bakersfield at SMU
Dec. 9 - CSU Bakersfield at South Dakota
Dec. 29 - Kansas City vs. Stetson (at FAU)
READY TO GO
After playing through a four-year transition period to NCAA Division I, Grand Canyon is eligible for the postseason this year. The Lopes are predicted to finish fourth by the media and fifth by the coaches
COMING SOON
California Baptist is scheduled to join the WAC for 2018-2019 competition. They will begin their four year transition process to Division 1. This will make them ineligible to compete in post season tournaments (WAC and NCAA) until 2022-2023 season. They will be coming from the Pacific West Conference where they won five championships (M&W Cross Country, W. Basketball, W. Golf, and Softball) during 2016-2017 season.
ORLEANS ARENA IN LAS VEGAS TO HOST 2018 WAC TOURNAMENT
The 2018 WAC Basketball Tournament returns to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas for the eighth year in a row. This year's tournament includes all eight teams and will be held Wednesday-Saturday, March 7-10.
COMING TO YOU LIVE
The WAC Digital Network will broadcast 104 regular season women's basketball games. In addition, the WDN will produce 15 regular-season games as well as all games at the 2017 WAC Basketball Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas for broadcast on ESPN3