Weekly Women's Basketball Notes (Dec. 17)


WAC BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Hawai'i's Natasja Allen has been named the Western Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 9-15. This is the first career WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior.

Allen, a forward from Port Orchard, Wa., was named the Co-MVP of the Hawai'i Invitational along with teammate senior Christen Roper. Allen led Rainbow Wahine to wins over Kentucky and UNLV to take the tournament title. Against Kentucky, Allen had a career-high three blocks along with her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. In the title game against UNLV, she scored a game-high 17 points and added nine rebounds and three assists.

For the week, Allen averaged 13.5 points well above her season average of 12.3 points per game. She also averaged 9.5 rebounds per game and 2.5 blocks per game. The wins put the Rainbow Wahine in a first a place tie with Louisiana Tech and Nevada at 5-2.

OTHERS NOMINATED – Also nominated: Omelogo Udeze, Fresno State, Aarica Ray, Louisiana Tech, April Bankston, Nevada, Allison Curtin, Tulsa and Romie De Anda, UTEP.

Fresno State's Udeze had her fist double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds against San Francisco. She was 8-of-14 from the field. She has had three-straight double-digit performances.

Louisiana Tech's Ray averaged 12.5 points in the Lady Techsters wins over UL-Lafayette and Nicholls State. She averaged only 16.5 minutes but was 10-of-14 from the field. She scored a career-high 11 points in 15 minutes against Lafayette.

Nevada's Bankston led the Wolf Pack to a win over Saint Mary's. She scored her first double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

UTEP's DeAnda scored a season-high 16 points in a win over Southwest Texas on Dec. 14. She scored 14 of UTEP's 30 second half points. She also added three rebounds in 18 minutes.

Tulsa's Curtin led the Hurricane to a 1-1 week averaging 24.5 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game. She also added 2.0 blocks per game and 2.5 steals per game. She shot 40 percent from the three point line.

WEEK FIVE – This is the fifth full week of games with all 10 of the WAC schools back in action. This week, Hawai‘i puts its two-game winning streak on the line with another home tournament, the Ala Moana Hotel Paradise Classic. In the opening game the Rainbow Wahine take on Loyola Marymount. Fresno State will also be in tournament action in Annapolis, Md. at the Navy Classic. The Bulldogs will face Pennsylvania on Dec. 21 in the first game. One of the feature games of the week is Tulsa's battle with No. 1 Duke. The top-ranked Blue Devils face the Hurricane on Dec. 21. First place, Louisiana Tech, puts its four-game winning streak on the line against New Mexico in the tough environment of The Pit on Dec. 21. After a week off, San Jose State, SMU and Rice all return to action.

TOP-RANKED DUKE INVADES TULSA – Tulsa will play its fourth nationally ranked team of the season when it hosts top-ranked Duke at the Reynolds Center on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 8:05 p.m. The Hurricane has already faced No. 24 Mississippi State, No. 22 Oklahoma and No. 11 Arkansas. Oklahoma narrowly escaped the Reynolds Center with a 64-61 win over Tulsa. The Blue Devils are 8-0 after defeating Charleston Southern in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Dec. 16.

TWO-SPORT ATHLETE – Fresno State announced it has added senior Java Johnson, a standout performer for the Bulldog volleyball squad, to the roster. The 5-11 native of Fresno, Calif., started at middle blocker for the volleyball team that went 23-7 overall this year and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Johnson was a 2002 first-team all-WAC selection and was also named to the 2002 AVCA all-West Region squad. Last year, Hawai‘i added Kim Willoughby to its roster after volleyball season. Willoughby went on to average over 6.0 points per game and was named to the all-tournament team of both the WAC Volleyball and Basketball Tournaments.

NON-CONFERENCE MARK – WAC teams are 37-32 (.536) in non-conference games. The WAC is 1-6 against teams that were ranked or are ranked in the top 25 - Louisiana Tech is 1-1 after defeating then-No. 7 Texas Tech, but falling to No. 5 Tennessee. Tulsa is 0-3 after falling to then-No. 24 Mississippi State, then-No. 22 Oklahoma and No. 13 Arkansas.

TURN ON THE TUBE – Louisiana Tech's Dec. 21 game against New Mexico will be televised to 20 million homes. The game at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., will be televised throughout Louisiana and other parts of the nation. The No. 16 ranked Lady Techsters and the host Lobos will tip off at 3:30 p.m. CST in the second game of the Triple Crown Classic. The first game of the classic feature No. 22 Brigham Young against Alabama at 1 p.m. CST .

IN THE POLLS – Louisiana Tech is the only WAC team ranked in both the Associated Press and the ESPN polls. This week, the Lady Techsters are ranked No. 17 in both polls after improving to 6-2.

PRESEASON RANKINGS – Three preseason publications (Athlon, Lindy’s and Street & Smith’s) ranked the top schools in the country. Street & Smith’s picked Louisiana Tech No. 8 in the country behind Duke, Tennessee, LSU, Notre Dame, Kansas State, Georgia and Stanford. Lindy’s ranked the Lady Techsters No. 14 after a 25-5 finish last season. Athlon gave Louisiana Tech a No. 18 ranking for a team that returns only two starters.

WAC ROUNDUP – Boise State looks for its second home win on Dec. 21 against Idaho State. On Dec. 16, the Broncos fell to Portland 72-64 at home. Boise State had started a winning streak defeating Portland State 66-58 on Dec. 14. Boise State is one of nine WAC teams in action on Dec. 21 before taking time off for the holidays.

Fresno State senior Laura Garcia was perhaps the Bulldog’s most valuable player in road contests at Santa Clara and Utah. The 5-6 guard turned in an impressive outing against Santa Clara on Dec. 4, chipping in with nine points (all on three-pointers and four assists). She also set a new career-high with six steals to help the Bulldogs generate a second-half comeback. She continued her solid play against Utah three days later, leading the club with 13
points and keeping the Bulldogs close by knocking down three

Hawai‘i captured the Hawai‘i Invitational with a 71-66 win over UNLV. UH also defeated Kentucky, 70-59 in the tournament. Three Rainbow Wahine were named to the all-Tournament team: Natasja Allen (Co-MVP), Christen Roper (Co-MVP) and Jade Abele. The Rainbow Wahine is tied for second place with 5-2 Nevada. Hawai‘i is the last of the WAC teams to play a road game. The Rainbow Wahine do not play on the road until WAC play begins. On Jan. 9, Hawai’i faces UTEP in El Paso for its first trip away the island.

Louisiana Tech hit 51 percent of its field goals during its wins over UL-Lafayette and Nicholls State, including 11 of 23 three-pointers. Louisiana Tech forced 59 turnovers in the two games this week (UL-Lafayette 25, Nicholls State 34). The Lady Techsters have forced 168 turnovers in just seven games (24.0 per game). Since going 0-for-13 against Tennessee, junior guard Amber Obaze has hit 20 of her last 42 field goal attempts in three games. Louisiana Tech has now won 799 games in the program's history. If the Lady Techsters will go for win No. 800 Dec. 21 at New Mexico. With its win over Nicholls State Dec. 14, Tech has now won 136-straight home games against unranked opponents. The last time Tech lost to an unranked team at home was to New Orleans on Jan. 30, 1992.

Nevada will face former Big West opponent New Mexico State on Dec. 18. The teams last met in the 1999-00 season which was the final year that the Wolf Pack would compete in the Big West. Nevada fell to the Aggies, 76-63. But Nevada would go on to win the Big West Eastern Division title that season. The Wolf Pack look to extend their three-game winning streak against New Mexico State. Nevada has the second longest current winning in the WAC. Louisiana Tech has captured four-straight wins.

Rice took the week of for final exams. The Owls return this week and travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats on Dec. 18. Two weeks ago, Johnetta Hayes and Elisa Inman were named to the Gene Hackerman Rice Invitational all-tournament team. Hayes scored 20 points, one off her career high and grabbed 14 rebounds in Rice's 85-49 win against Idaho State. Inman was solid for the Lady Owls in both games during the tournament, averaging 8.5 points and 8.5 rebounds a game.

San Jose State returns to action after one week off. The Spartans are 2-0 at home, but have yet to secure a win on the road. San Jose State is averaging 10.7 steals per game compared to the opposition's seven per game. Junior guard Jessica Kellogg was the beneficiary of Cricket Williams' 11 assists against Oregon State. Kellogg scored a career and game-high 21 points against Oregon State and was assisted by Williams on 80 percent (4-5) of her field goals.

SMU returns to action after a break for final exams, but plays three games before the Christmas holiday, beginning with a home contest vs. North Texas (4-2) on Monday, Dec. 16 and a home game vs. Southern Cal (4-3) on the 19th before meeting nationally-ranked Oklahoma in Norman on Dec. 21.

UTEP has already equalled its total of wins for the 2001-02 season with three. Three out of its four losses have come by three points or less . UTEP is shooting 66 percent (51-77) from the free throw line in games lost and 83 percent (49-59) in games won. Senior Dragana Zoric has recorded double-doubles in her last four games. During that span she is averaging 19.3 points and 12.5 rebounds, while shooting 45 percent from the field. Vaida Zagurskyte struggled in her first two games at the Don Haskins Center this season, shooting 28 percent (12-28) and averaging 11.5 points. On the road, Zagurskyte has shot 45 percent (34-76) with an average of 17.4 points. Over her last three games she is shooting 28 percent (11-40) and averaging 12.0 points.

Tulsa, ranked 16th in the nation for blocked shots, recorded a school-record 15 blocked shots vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Senior Alyssa Shriver, who is ranked fifth in the country for blocked shots, recorded seven blocked shots against UAPB. The seven rejections rank second on TU's single-game list. Tulsa's 34-point victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff marked the fourth largest margin over victory in school history. Earlier this season, TU recorded the third largest margin of victory with a 35-point win at Texas-Pan American.