United Athletic Conference

 

Grand Canyon's Jada Holland has been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week for Feb. 10-16.

 

Holland, a freshman guard from Pleasanton, Calif., took over for the Lopes down the stretch in their wins over Kansas City and Chicago State. Against Kansas City, she scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to lead her team to a 62-56 win in a battle of the top two teams in the conference. At Chicago State, she controlled the end of the game once again with 15 of her career-high 26 points coming in the final quarter. She also grabbed six rebounds, added eight assists and managed zero turnovers against the Cougars. With wins over KC and CSU, Holland helped GCU capture its seventh straight win and the top spot in the WAC. She also shot a combined 61.5 percent from the field and 85.7 percent from the free throw line in the pair of road wins.

 

Other nominees included: Chicago State's Tyeshia Bowers scored 28 points and collected three rebounds in a seven-point loss against CSU Bakersfield… Kansas City's Ericka Mattingly led the Roos in scoring in both matchups this weekend, scoring 19 against Grand Canyon and 18 in a win over CSU Bakersfield… NM State's Rodrea Echols scored 19 points on 100 percent shooting in a road win at Utah Valley in her first game back after suffering an MCL injury… Seattle U's Joana Alves scored 19 against UTRGV and recorded 12 points and 13 rebounds against NM State to lead the Redhawks to a pair of conference wins at home… UT Rio Grande Valley's Desirea Buerge tied a career-high with three assists in a loss to Utah Valley.

 

The week will open up on Wednesday in Riverside, Calif., where California Baptist will host Kansas City. Thursday begins with a matchup between the two hottest teams in the league as Seattle U will put their five-game win streak on the line against Grand Canyon who is riding a seven-game win streak. The Lopes will look to make it a season sweep of SU as they took down the Redhawks 56-48 in Seattle on Jan. 23. The second game on Thursday will feature CSU Bakersfield and Utah Valley. The Wolverines will take a trip to the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, Calif., where they have yet to win since joining the WAC in 2013. Earlier this season, the 'Runners took down UVU on a buzzer-beating three pointer from the hands of Andie Easley.

 

A full slate of games will take place on Saturday starting with UT Rio Grande Valley hosting NM State. CSU Bakersfield will host Seattle U, Utah Valley will visit Grand Canyon and California Baptist will host Chicago State. Seedings for #WACVegas are still up in the air as the gap between third place CSU Bakersfield and seventh place UT Rio Grande Valley is only a game and a half with three weeks of regular season basketball remaining.

 

California Baptist leads the WAC in scoring offense (73.6), rebounding offense (40.7), assists (17.8), assist/turnover ratio (1.3), three point defense (.273), defensive rebounds (31.1) and three-pointers made per game (10.0). Utah Valley is the leader in free throw percentage (.761) while CSU Bakersfield is the leader in steals (9.9) and offensive rebounds (13.6). UT Rio Grande Valley leads the league in scoring margin (+2.0) and turnover margin (+2.84). Grand Canyon has the top scoring defense (61.2), field goal percentage (.427), three-point shooting percentage (.344) and rebounding defense (35.1). Kansas City is the leader in field goal percentage defense (.371) and scoring margin (+1.9) and blocked shots (4.6). NM State leads the conference in rebounding margin at +2.3.

 

Individually, NM State's Gia Pack is the leading scorer at 18.4 points per game and has the league's top free throw shooting percentage (.844). GCU's Da'jah Daniel is the leader in rebounds (10.5), field goal percentage (.557), blocked shots (1.6) and defensive rebounds per game (7.8). UTRGV's Amara Graham has the top three-point field goal percentage (.435). CBU's Ane Oleata holds the lead in assists (6.0) while SU's Kamira Sanders holds the lead in steals (2.7). KC's Emily Ivory holds in three-pointers per game (2.8). CSU's Tyeshia Bowers leads the league in minutes played per game at 34.9. CSUB's Dalis Jones is the leader in assist/turnover ratio at 2.4. CSU's Ines Mata Boix is the top offensive rebounder (3.4).

 

In WAC play only, UT Rio Grande Valley is the leader in scoring offense (70.2) and turnover margin (+2.3). Grand Canyon has the top scoring defense (57.7) while also pacing the conference in field goal percentage (.428). Kansas City leads the league in scoring margin (+5.2), field goal percentage defense (.356), blocked shots per game (4.8) and offensive rebounds (13.7). The Utah Valley Wolverines are atop the conference in free throw percentage (.775), assists (16.7) and assist to turnover ratio (1.3). Chicago State holds the conference's best three point percentage at .357 while Seattle U leads the league in three point defense (.254). NM State has the best rebounding offense (41.0) and rebounding defense (32.8) while also maintainging the league's best rebounding margin (+8.2). CSU Bakersfield leads in steals per game (9.0) while UT Rio Grande Valley has the best turnover margin (+2.3). California Baptist collects the most defensive rebounds and also makes the most three pointers per game (8.0).

 

Individually, NM State's Gia Pack is the scoring leader with 18.7 points per game. Pack also leads the conference in rebounds (11.3), defensive rebounds (10.0) and free throw percentage (.895). CSU's Ines Mata Boix has the top field goal percentage (.579). CBU's Ane Olaeta is the leader in assists (6.3) while SU's Kamira Sanders holds the lead in steals (2.8). SU's Joana Alves is the most accurate three-point shooter (.524) and KC's Emily Ivory hits the most three-pointers per game (2.9). GCU's Jada Holland has the league's top assist/turnover ratio (3.4) while KC's Cristina Soriano collects the most offensive rebounds per game at 4.5 and blocks the most shots at 1.8 per game. UVU's Maria Carvalho leads the conference in minutes played (37.6).

 

Two WAC athletes eclipsed career milestones with their numbers from the week of Jan. 13-19. On Saturday, Jan. 18, Chicago State's Tyeshia Bowers became the third active conference player to reach 250 free throws made as she went nine of 10 from the stripe to in the Cougars 60-58 victory over CSU Bakersfield. During this past weekend, Bowers joined the 1,000 point club as she went for 28 in a loss to CSU Bakersfield. She currently sits at 1,038 points for her career. She joins NM State's Gia Pack, Seattle U's Kamira Sanders, Utah Valley's Jordan Holland and Kansas City's Ericka Mattingly as the only active WAC players with 1,000 career points.

 

UT Rio Grande Valley's Megan Johnson became the sixth active WAC player to grab 500 rebounds for her career. Johnson became part of the 500 club with her four rebounds in a win over Seattle U on Thursday, Jan. 16.

 

After scoring 20 points against CSU Bakersfield on Jan. 23, Utah Valley's Jordan Holland went into UVU's contest with GCU only two points shy of 1,000 career points. Holland sunk a layup just 51 seconds into the first quarter to put her in elite company. She became just the eighth player in the Wolverines NCAA Division I era to reach this mark.

 

Five more players reached impressive career marks during the week of Jan. 27-Feb. 2. Both Seattle U's Courtney Murphy and California Baptist's Lexy Ram eclipsed 100 three-pointers made for their careers. Murphy nailed two triples in the Redhawks victory over CBU on Feb. 1 to put her over the 100 mark. Meanwhile, Ram went four of seven from downtown in the Lancers home matchup with Utah Valley on Jan. 29 to give her exactly 100 three-pointers for her career.

 

NM State's Gia Pack and Kansas City's Ericka Mattingly also joined elite company as they both surpassed 250 free throws made in their careers. Pack went a perfect 10 for 10 at the stripe on Thursday, Jan. 30 to reach the mark. She also added another two free throws on Saturday, Feb. 1 against GCU to put her at 254 for her career. Mattingly went 7 for 10 against Chicago State on Saturday, Feb. 1 to put her over 250 free throws.

 

Mattingly also sits among the career 150 steals group as she reached the mark thanks to seven steals in the Roos 73-57 win over Chicago State on Saturday, Feb. 1. Last week, Mattingly reached another career milestone as she hit her 100th triple in a win over UTRGV. This week, Mattingly eclipsed 1,000 career points when she posted 19 points in the Roos loss to Grand Canyon. She sits in fifth amongst active WAC players with 1,019 points.

 

Hercules Tires was named the title sponsor of the upcoming WAC Basketball Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Hercules Tires will also be the exclusive tire partner for the Conference and will have an integrated marketing presence throughout the year, allowing the brand to connect with WAC alumni, fans, students, and employees at all conference championship events.