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THREE TEAMS HEADED TO POSTSEASON
Three teams from the WAC will participate in postseason play this year. NM State heads to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year as the WAC's representative and will face Stanford on a neutral court in Manhattan, Kan. on Saturday, March 18 at 12:30 p.m. CT. Seattle U received an automatic berth into the Women's National Invittaion Tournament and the Redhawks will travel to Wyoming on Thursday, March 16 to open play. UT Rio Grande Valley makes its third straight trip to the postseason and will play at home for the first time, hosting Stephen F. Austin on Thursday, March 16 in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI).
NM STATE TO PLAY NO. 2 STANFORD IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
Three-time defending champion NM State had to wait until Monday evening to learn its postseason plans and the Aggies are headed to Manhattan, Kan. to take on No. 2 Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. The Aggies (24-6) enter the tournament riding a 17-game winning streak, including a perfect 14-0 in WAC play and two wins last week in Las Vegas to earn the WAC's automatic selection to the big dance. This is NM State's third straight year in the NCAA Tournament and the fifth overall. Stanford (28-5) enters the tournament as a No. 2 seed but will have to travel to Kansas State to open the NCAA Tournament due to Maples Pavilion hosting the Pac-12 Gymnastics Championship this weekend. They earned the Pac-12's automatic bid after defeating Oregon State for the tournament title. The Cardinal are led by 14.6 points per game from Erica McCall, daughter of CSU Bakersfield head coach Greg McCall.
SEATTLE U TO TRAVEL TO WYOMING FOR WNIT
Seattle U will travel to Laramie, Wyoming on Thursday for the Women's National Invitation Tournament. The gametime is expected to be announced by Wyoming officials on Tuesday. After being picked seventh in the WAC preseason coaches' poll, Seattle U played its way to the second seed in the WAC Tournament and the Redhawks were given an automatic bid to the WNIT after falling to NM State in the WAC Tournament Championship game. The Redhawks head to the WNIT with a record of 15-17 under first-year head coach Suzy Barcomb. Redshirt-junior wing Alexis Montgomery was named First Team All-WAC. Wilma Afunugo and Kaylee Best were both named All-Tournament last week in Las Vegas. Wyoming is currently 21-9 after being upset by Fresno State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament. They are led by 15.6 points per game from Liv Roberts.
UTRGV TO HOST STEPHEN F. AUSTIN IN WBI
The UT Rio Grande Valley women's basketball team announced on Monday that it has accepted an invitation to compete in the eighth annual Women's Basketball Invitational, marking the third postseason tournament appearance in program history, starting with a home game against Stephen F. Austin on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. It's the first postseason home game in program history. The Vaqueros are 18-13 this season after being upset by UMKC in the quarterfinal round of the WAC Tournament. UTRGV is led by First Team All-WAC honoree Shawnte' Goff, who is averaging 15.9 points per game. Stephen F. Austin will come to Edinburg with a record of 25-7. The Ladyjacks fell to Central Arkansas in the Southland Championship Game.
NM STATE WINS THIRD-STRAIGHT WAC TOURNAMENT
NM State moved its winning streak to a school-record 17 games at the WAC Tournament, defeating No. 5 UMKC in the semifinals, 71-63) and No. 2 Seattle U in the championship, 78-60. Tamera William led the Aggies with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Tournament MVP Moriah Mack finished with 18 points to lead the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament.
All-Tournament Team
Wilma Afunugo, Seattle U
Kaylee Best, Seattle U
Kristen Moore, UMKC
Tamera William, NM State
MVP: Moriah Mack, NM State
BY THE NUMBERS
Regular season champion NM State finished the regular season leading the league in scoring offense (69.8), scoring defense (58.6), scoring margin (+11.2), field goal percentage (.424), three-point field goal percentage (.356), three-point field goal defense (.277), rebounding margin (+3.2) and turnover margin (+2.86). Grand Canyon finished its season ranked first in free throw percentage (.723), assists (14.3) and assist/turnover ratio (1.0). UT Rio Grande Valley led the league in field goal defense (.365), rebounding offense (40.1) and steals (9.6). UMKC is the leader in rebounding defense (31.9) while CSU Bakersfield led the WAC in blocked shots (5.3) and three-point field goals made (7.6).
Individually, GCU's Marina Laramie finished the season averaging 20.1 points per game to lead all players in scored. UVU's Sam Lubcke led the league in rebounding (8.6) and CSUB's Jazmyne Bartee shot a WAC-best .590 from the field, also leading the league in blocks (2.5). NM State's Brooke Salas was the leader in free throw percentage (.853) while teammate Zaire Williams shot a league-best .450 from three-point range. UVU duo Mariah Seals and Taylor Gordon led the WAC in assists (4.9) and steals (2.6) respectively. Seattle U's Kaylee Best led the conference in three-pointers made (2.4) and GCU's Laura Marco-Canedo led the WAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.9).
In WAC-only play, NM State led the league in scoring offense (71.5), scoring margin (+13.7), field goal percentage (.446), three-point field goal percentage (.381), rebounding margin (+5.4) and three-pointers made (7.9). CSU Bakersfield had the top scoring defense (56.4), field goal defense (.331) and the most blocks (5.6). Grand Canyon led in free throw percentage (.774) and steals (9.1) while Seattle U was on top in three-point defense (.289), assists (14.5), and assist/turnover ratio (1.0).
Individually, GCU's Laramie led the WAC in scoring at 19.8 ppg in league games. CSUB's Bartee was the top rebounder (9.6), shooter (.552) and shot blocker (2.9). UVU's Seals led the league in assist (4.6) while NM State's Moriah Mack led the league in steals (2.2). NMSU's Salas was the top free throw shooter (.906) and CSUB's Kate Tokuhara led the WAC in three-point shooting (.577).
THREE-PETE
NM State clinched it's third straight WAC regular season title with a perfect 14-0 record. The Aggies are now 40-2 in WAC games dating back to the start of the 2014-15 season. Add in WAC tournament games and the Aggies are 46-2 against WAC schools over the last three seasons.
DON'T TAKE ME OUT
Chicago State's Cailin Nix played 533 of 565 possible minutes for the Cougars in conference play. Her teammate Jessica Cerda played 521 minutes for CSU in conference play.
WAC TOP 10
UT Rio Grande Valley senior Shawnte' Goff moved into the WAC top 10 scoring list and currently sits at sixth with 1,868 career points. She is now 13 points out of fifth place, currently held by Colorado State's Katie Cronin with 1,881 points between 1995-99. The WAC's leader in career points in Colorado State's Becky Hammon, who scored 2,740 points in her Ram career. Goff is also in the top 10 in scoring in WAC games, with 879 points, good enough for ninth all-time, and is tied with New Mexico's Abby Garchek for 10th in career field goals made with 640.
GOOD WORK(S)
Utah Valley's Britta Hall was named to the Allstate/WBCA Good Works Team. The award comes to Hall after she took time off from playing college basketball to serve a voluntary mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rancagua, Chile, for 18 months. This year, the members of the Allstate WBCA Good Works Team® will be recognized during the 2017 WBCA Convention and at the 2017 NCAA Women's Final Four® in Dallas, and will also participate in a local community project in Dallas community.