December 21, 2008

The Week before Christmas

1. Stanford 8-3:

2. Cal, 8-2: No games this week.


3. Arizona State, 8-3:

Lost to Texas 81-71. ASU outscored Texas by 14 from the floor, including going 9 for 19 from three. Texas made 30 of 33 free throws for the win. 21 points for Dymond Simon. Briann January made 3 three’s for 9 points and also had 7 assists and only 2 turnovers. Sybil Dosty added 12 rebounds for the Sun Devils. A tough game for ASU to lose, to the # 5 Texas Longhorns.

Beat Xavier 75-57 before 4,200 people in Tempe. Xavier is now 9-4. Briann January had 16 points and 9 assists. Both Becca Tobin and Sybil Dosty had 3 blocks. Lauren Lacey had 13 points in 11 minutes.



4. UCLA, 9-1:

Beat Rice 82-64. UCLA jumped off to a 20-0 lead. This is UCLA’s best start in 28 years. Doreena Campbell led the way with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Chinyere Ibekwe had 10 points, 12 rebounds and blocked 4 shots, but also had 6 turnovers.

Beat Kansas 67-64. Kansas came into the game with only one loss. Eight players had between 5 and 12 points. 1500 in attendance at UCLA.



5. Oregon State, 8-1:

Beat UC Irvine 71-42. Brittany Davis had 18 points, 6 assists, and 1 turnover. She was 4 of 8 from three. Alex Mitchell also had 18 points.

Beat Cal State Bakersfield 66-56. Talisa Rhea scored 23 points, and Cedes Fox-Griffin added 17 points and 6 assists.



6. USC, 6-4:

Lost to # 5 Duke in Overtime. Sadly USC led by 10 with under 4 minutes to go and couldn’t hold on. Hopefully they will use this performance, an outstanding one for 36 minutes to build on. Duke had 8 assists and 29 turnovers to 18 and 25 for USC. Kind of sloppy but really non stop hustle too.

Brynn Cameron hit 4of 9 three’s on her way to 16 points, and Ashley Corral also had 16 points with 6 assists and only a single turnover. Hailey Durham had 10 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals. 1,611 saw the game at USC.

Beat Harvard 95-74. Briana Gilbreath scored 22 points on 9 of 12 from the floor. USC shot 54% with a great stat, 28 assists.


7. Washington State, 7-2:

Beat Hawaii 66-48 in Hawaii. April Cook led the Cougars with 17 points. Jazmine Perkins and Katie Appleton each had 12 points. Appleton also had 7 assists and no turnovers. Rosie Tarnowski had 7 points and 10 rebounds. Frosh Jessica Oestreicher made her college debut with 3 points and 3 rebounds in 6 minutes. WSU was 11 for 37 from three.


8. Arizona, 6-4:

Beat UC Riverside 53-48. Ify Ibekwe with 23 points and 15 rebounds was almost the whole show for the Wildcats.


9. Washington, 4-5:

Lost to UConn 109-51. Not much to say as Washington shot 26% and UConn 64%. Tia Charles had 29 points on 13 of 15 in only 19 minutes for the East Coast Huskies.

Beat Florida State, a team that was 9-2 and getting Top 25 votes, 62-60. A huge win for the Huskies. 12 points for Sara Mosiman and 11 for Laura McClellan. Kristi Kingma and Christina Rozier each had 3 steals as the Huskies had 11 total steals.

Lost to Northern Colorado 65-63. Laura McClellan led the Huskies with a career high 22 points. Michelle Augustavo scored 12 points on 4 of 6 from three. The Huskies had only 8 assists and 20 turnovers.


10. Oregon, 3-6:

Lost to Marquette 69-39. The Ducks shot only 22%. Micaela Cocks made 4 of 10 three’s for 14 points, and that was it.

Lost to Baylor 81-71. A nice game and tough loss for the Ducks who were 9 for 18 from three. Taylor Lilly was 4 for 9 from three and 20 points. Cocks was an amazing 5 for 6 from three and scored 18 points. Things are looking up for the Ducks with Lilly back full time.

December 16, 2008

Getting current on the Pac 10.

I have rated the Pac 10 teams, as we get closer to the start of League play.

1. Stanford 7-2: Five players averaging double figures with Pohlen right behind at 9.5.


2. Cal, 8-2:

Beat San Jose State 76-40. Ashley Walker led the way with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Kelsey Adrian hit 3 of 6 three’s for her 15 points. Cal out rebounded SJS 45 to 20.

Lost to Oklahoma 86-75, while being outscored at the end 36-4. The first half was all Cal and they played with intensity, while Oklahoma coasted. Walker had 22 in the first half and the whiling dervish Alexis Gray-Lawson had 13. In the second half the two combined for just 7 points. Lauren Greif had 18 points total, on 5 of 7from three. Watching the game from the 2nd row, my thoughts were that Cal just wore out. Hard to play a top team who plays with desire, as Oklahoma did in the 2dn half, when you stars are playing 38, 39 and 40 minutes. Gray-Lawson had 9 assists, but 5 turnovers, while Natasha Vital had 2 assists and 8 turnovers.


3. Arizona State, 7-2:

Beat UC Riverside 68-45. Briann January led the scoring for the Sun Devils with 16 points. 11 players had 11 or more minutes and 3 other between 6 and 8 minutes for the Sun Devils.



4. UCLA, 7-1 :

Beat the University of San Diego 95-58. Five players in double figures, led by Doreena Campbell with 18 points, Nina Earl with 17 and Darxia with 15 points. Campbell added 8 assists and no turnovers.


5. Oregon State, 6-1:

Beat UNLV 91-54. A very nice win by Oregon State with three players with 20 or more points. However an even better stat, 28 assists and 6, SIX, turnovers. Alex Mitchell led the scoring with 23 points, Brittany Davis had 22 points, 3 of 6 from three, and Talisa Rhea had 20 points, 4 of 12 from three. However that assist to turnover margin is just outstanding. Cedes Fox-Griffin, 9 assists and 1 turnover, Davis 6:0 and Rhea 6:1.


6. USC, 5-3:

Beat Montana State 82-61. Five players in double figures. Camille LeNoir had 12 points, 7 assists and one turnover. The rest of the team had 7 assists and 22 turnovers.


7. Washington State, 5-2:

Beat Idaho 53-50 while shooting 26% to Idaho’s 46%. However Idaho committed 27 turnovers to Washington State’s 11. Jazmine Perkins scored 14 points for the Cougars.



8. Arizona, 5-4:

Beat the University of San Diego 66-58. Ify Ibweke led five Wildcat players in double figures with 17 of her own points. Arizona starts three guards, who played all but four minutes of the game. The three had 11 assists to only 5 turnovers. This is an improving team, and the fans, 1,423 came, have been appreciative. San Diego is 6-4 and for reference beat Utah Valley State who beat USC.

Beat Long Beach State 56-47. Ify Ibweke was named the Pac 10 Player of the Week and in this game she had 15 points and 17 rebounds. Reiko Thomas had 23 points including making 11 of 12 Free Throws, many down the stretch.



9. Washington, 3-3: Did not play


10. Oregon, 3-4:

Lost to a good Georgia Tech team 74-59. This game was played in Portland’s Rose Garden before 8,374 people. Contrast that to our attendance or the Cal - Oklahoma game that had 2,640. Oregon shot 50% but had 27 turnovers. Oregon had 15 less shots than GaTech and 5 less free throws. Micaela Cocks had 17 points on 5 of 6 from three. Nicole Canepa had 13 points. Taylor Lilly, their great three point shooter, played for the first time this season.

December 7, 2008

A review of games through Sunday, December 7th.

Cal, 7-1:

Beat Princeton 75-53. Ashley Walker led the way with 21 points on 9 of 12 shooting. 10 assists for Alexis Gray-Lawson and Cal was 9 for 18 from three.

Lost to TCU 82-73. Ashley Walker had a great night with 31 points and 12 rebounds in a game that was very close until under a minute to go. Natasha Vital added 21 points. Devanei Hampton could only score 2 points with 1 rebound in 16 minutes. TCU had been rated about # 22, but lost earlier this week to Stanford’s next opponent, Fresno State.


Arizona State, 6-2:

Beat UC Davis 73-59. Briann January had a career high 25 points, making 7 of 9 three’s. Dymond Simon make 3 of 7 three’s and scored 20 points. Danielle Orsillo had what I think is her best game, back from her ACL of last year, with 10 points on 3 of 4 from three. ASU made 14 of 23 three’s, but Davis out rebounded the Sun Devils by 5 and blocked 5 shots. Haylee Donaghe made both her 3’s, and scored 9 points. She also had 4 assists and 4 turnovers for Davis. Haylee is Hannah’s sister. ASU’s 14 three’s broke their school record of 10 set 3 seasons ago at….Stanford.

Beat UC Irvine, Molly Goodenbour’s new team 75-23. Sybil Dosty with 13 points and 10 rebounds lead the Sun Devils who had 6 players score between 8 and 13 points in the rout.

Beat Northern Arizona 91-65. Orsillo led the way with 16 points.


UCLA, 6-1 :

Beat Cal State Bakersfield 104-57. 12 players played between 11 and 22 minutes and 11 scored from 6 to 13 points for the Bruins.

Beat Nevada 62-47. UCLA out rebounded Nevada by 21. Darxia Morris had 10 points to lead the Bruins.


USC, 4-3:

Beat Michigan 81-53. Michigan is a good team with a win over # 16 Vanderbilt, and a 3 point loss to # 5 Texas A & M. Camille LaNoir led the way with 19 points. Nadia Parker with 12 points in 19 minutes and Briana Gilbreath with 13 points, 6 assists and no turnovers. Ten players played 11 or more minutes and 5 scored in double figures. USC also was 11 for 24 from three.

Lost to Utah Valley State, a huge disappointment, 66-64. USC shot 35 % to Utah Valley’s 45% but still this loss by SC is hard to fathom. USC took 13 more shots and 3 more FT attempts. Kari LaPlante had 8 points and 8 rebounds, while Nadia Parker had 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Lost to BYU 65-64. Not much good to say about the Trojans, but here’s one: JJ’s HS teammates, Jenkins (4) and Hughes (10) Combined for 14 points. Hughes had 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Brynn Cameron made 3 of 4 three’s for 9 points.


Oregon State, 5-1:

Beat USF 83-66. Brittany Davis and Alex Mitchell both had 16 points and Kristen Tilleman had 9 rebounds. Redshirt frosh and Mitty Grad Kassandra McAlister had her first big night going 6 for 7 and 12 points.

Beat Portland State 58-24, setting a school record for fewest points allowed. Center Alex Mitchell had 13 points in the easy win. An interesting fact, the attendance was almost double UCLA’s last home game.


Washington State, 5-2:

Beat Long Beach State 68-50. Frosh Jasmine Perkins had 16 points with 7 assists, although 6 turnovers. Vets Heather Molzen had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Katie Appleton hit 3 of 6 three’s and had 14 points.

Beat Univ of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 73-52. April Cook hit 4 of 6 three’s for 18 points. Perkins had 14 and Rosie Tarnowski also had 14 points. The Cougar frosh scored 50 points, almost more than their opponent.


Arizona, 3-4:

Lost to LATech 68-53. Ify Ibekwe had another double, double, 12 points and 10 rebounds. Courtney Clements had 21 points and Ashley Frazier had 8 assists and only 1 turnover. Frazier did miss all 7 of her shot attempts. Clements was making her first career start. She was 6 of 13 in the first half, while the other Wildcats were 2 for 22.



Washington, 3-3:

Beat Pepperdine 67-53. Sami Whitcomb with 18 points and 5 assists, including 3 of 5 from three. Frosh Kristi Kingma with 14 points. However Washington did have 26 turnovers. On the plus side, the Huskies had 15 steals.

The Washington at Pepperdine and Bakersfield at UCLA games on Wednesday drew less than 1,000 fans combined. Sad.


Oregon, 3-3.

Lost to Montana 60-52. Oregon has been playing without leading scorer Taylor Lilly this year, out with a stress fracture. Also yet to play has been Guard Rita Kolla, broken foot. Oregon shot only 30%.

November 30, 2008

A review of games through Sunday, November 30

Cal, 6-0:

Beat South Florida 85-55. Devanei Hampton back with 9 points and 6 rebounds in just 10 minutes. Natasha Vital with 22 points on 5 of 6 from three. Lauren Greif with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Former Bear Jessica Lawson had 2 points and 4 fouls in 11 minutes.

Beat Texas Tech 68-54. Ashley Walker had a huge game with 30 points and Lexi Gray-Lawson added 19 points.

Beat Iowa 76-43. Ashley Walker with her 2nd straight game of 30 or more points, with 32 in this game. 16 assists to only 8 turnovers for the Bears.



Arizona State, 3-2:

Beat Hofstra 80-54. Briann January had 19 points, Dymond Simon had 15 points hitting 3 of her 4 three attempts, but had 7 of ASU’s 28 turnovers

Lost to Florida 65-60. Florida is 6-1 but their loss was to….Florida Gulf Coast. A bad loss for the Sun Devils. In fairness Florida did beat Florida State when they were ranked # 21. January 16 points, 4 of 6 from three. Also 9 assists to only 2 turnovers and had 6 steals.


UCLA, 4-1:

Beat Cal Poly 57-48. Nina Earl had 12 points. UCLA was 0 for 5 from three.

Beat Cal State-Northridge 96-53. It was UCLA’s biggest margin of victory in 6 years, and the Bruins had 22 steals. All this thrilled the UCLA crowd of 626. Erica Tukiainen led the balanced scoring with 16 points.



USC, 3-1:

Beat Santa Barbara 62-53. Nadia Parker is really back with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Briana Gilbreath hit for 18 points.



Oregon State, 3-1:

Beat Arkansas 69-56, a darn good win for the Beavers, defeating an SEC team. Four of the five starters scored 12-14 points. Talisa Rhea, who averaged 30 points in the first two games only had 5 points in 32 minutes.

Lost to North Carolina 82-78. Great game for the Beavers against a very highly ranked team. Brittany avis scored 22 points and Rhea had 18. Another sign of improvement, the Beavers had 3 less turnovers than the Tar Heels.


Washington State, 3-2:

Lost to Northern Colorado 86-79. Frosh Jazmine Perkins had 28 points and 8 rebounds. Her point total was the highest for any WSU frosh since they starting playing NCAA Basketball. Heather Molzen and April Cook both scored 18 points. Northern Colorado hit 65% to lead by 20 at half time. Only 8 turnovers for the young Cougars.

Beat USF 83-71. April Cook led the way with 22 points, 4 assists and 0 turnovers.


Arizona, 3-3:

Lost to Texas A & M 54-44 at home. A decent turnout of 1,600 for the Wildcats home game. It was a 4 point game with a minute and a half left. Arizona shot only 24% and had 5 assists to 22 turnovers, but the A & M numbers weren’t much better. Still a good game for Arizona against the # 8 team in the country.

Lost to Middle Tennessee State 77-57. Ify Ibekwe had 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 turnovers. Arizona had 29 turnovers for the game. Reiko Thomas had 19 points for the Wildcats.



Washington, 2-3:

Beat Seattle 82-56. Four players with 10 or 11 points, plus Michelle Augustavo with 15 points on 5 of 7 from three. The young Guards, Kristi Kingma and Sarah Morton combined for 10 assists, although had 8 turnovers between them.

Lost to Clemson 85-67. Sami Whitcomb with 18 points and Augustavo with 15, including 3 three’s.


Oregon, 3-2.

Beat Wyoming in their only game of the week, 51-45. Frosh Amanda Johnson had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Micaela Cocks had 12 points, including 2 three’s.

November 25, 2008

The First 10 Days

Here’s a rundown on Pac 10 teams during their first 10 days of play this season.

Cal, 3-0:

Beat Albany 63-39. Ashley Walker led the way with 23 points.

Beat Nevada 67-53. 27 points and 17 rebounds by Walker. Only 1 for 14 from 3, but only 7 turnovers.

Beat Rutgers 66-52 with Lexi Gray-Lawson leading the way with 25 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and only 1 turnover. Cal was 7 for 16 from three.

Cal is now # 3 in the country.


Arizona State, 2-1:

Beat Cleveland State 76-59. Sybil Dosty had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Briann January had 9 assists.

Beat Tulane 86-53. 15 points for Dymond Simon. Becca Tobin had 8 points and 10 rebounds. January had 6 assists and only 1 turnover, but ASU had 21 total turnovers.

Lost to Oklahoma 70-57. 14 points for Simon but she also had 5 turnovers. However suspect she was guarding Danielle Robinson who had 8 turnovers. That must have been fun to watch. ASU down to 14 turnovers.

ASU is now ranked # 21.


UCLA, 2-1:

Beat Fullerton is Caldwell’s debut, 78-62. After all the complaining about the previous coach, only 871 fans bothered to show for the game. Monquiee Alexander led all scorers with 12 and Chinyere Ibekwe had 14 rebounds. UCLA committed 29 turnovers.

Beat Pepperdine 66-55. 15 points and 15 rebounds for Ibekwe. 14 points for Nina Earl. 23 turnovers and only one three.

Lost at Maryland 88-65. Again 23 turnovers and only one three. Doreen Campbell 25 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.


USC, 2-1:

Lost to Charlotte 62-60: 15 points for Ashley Corral with 3 three’s. 13 points for Camille LeNoir. JJ Hones’ former teammate Aarika Hughes had 11 rebounds. USC had 26 turnovers.

Beat Milwaukee 77-65. 7 three’s and 16 assists with 21 turnovers. 14 points for Brianna Gilbreath and 13 rebounds for Hughes. Another former JJ teammate, Michelle Jenkins had 6 points.

Beat Pepperdine 66-55. Frosh Ashley Corral had 6 three’s on her way to 20 points and was high with 7 rebounds. Nadia Parker scored 8 in her debut after being hit by a car while riding her bike.


Oregon State, 2-0:

Beat Sacramento State 100-45. Sharpshooter Talisa Rhea was 10 for 19 from three and scored 42 points. She also had 5 assists and only one turnover in 30 minutes of play.

Beat Houston 69-47. Rhea with 18 points, 4 three’s. Tiffany Ducker with 13 rebounds.


Washington State, 2-1:

Lost at Texas Tech, 82-69. The Cougars were 10 for 23 from three, and had 15 assists to 16 turnovers while starting 3 frosh. Katie Appleton led with 17 points.

Beat Boise State 85-76. April Cook with 18 points and Appleton with 16 points.

Beat Montana State 77-66. Cook with 20 points, Appleton with 17 points.


Arizona, 3-1:

Lost to Toledo in the last second to start the season at a tournament in Hawaii. Ify Ibekwe lead the way with 23 points and 18 rebounds. The Wildcats hit one three and had 21 turnovers.

Beat Loyola Marymount in 3 overtimes the next day. Amina Njonkou led the way with 19 points and 15 rebounds. Beatrice Bofia had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Only 4 three’s and 28 turnovers, of course in 3 overtimes.

Beat Hawaii 62-50. Njonkou with 16 points, Bofia with 14 points and 17 rebounds. Turnovers still high with 21.

Beat Santa Barbara 54-47. Njonkou with 15 points and 19 rebounds. Bofia only played 6 minutes. Down to 13 turnovers. This was their first home game, 1200 fans.

Now 3-1 and playing Texas A & M tonight.


Washington, 1-2:

Lost to Gonzaga 64-59 before 4,052 in Seattle. 16 points and 11 rebounds for Laura McLellan. 31 turnovers for the Huskies.

Lost to Weber State 77-66. 17 points for McLellan and 11 points, 12 rebounds for Heidi McNeill. Down to 16 turnovers. Only 1 for 15 from three.

Beat Boise State 74-51. 3,365 to see the home game for the Huskies. Washington was 6 for 14 from three. 15 points for McLellan. Outstanding recruit Liz Lay has yet to play as she recovers from a knee injury that occurred in High School.


Oregon, 2-2.

Beat a bad San Jose State team in San Jose, 69-68. Tall Fern Micaela Cocks had 22 points including 3 three’s. Ellie Manou had 19 points and 12 rebounds.

Beat UOP 76-71. Manou will 23 points and 11 rebounds. Cocks with 25 points including 3 three’s, again. PG Tatianna Thomas had 9 assists but 7 turnovers. 2,100 people for their first home game.

Lost at BYU 67-45. Shot 25% and had 3 assists and 21 turnovers. WOW!! Frosh Amanda Johnson had her second 10 point and 8 rebound game of the season.

Lost at South Dakota State 80-63. 26 turnovers for the Ducks. Cocks with 20 points.

November 9, 2008

New Leadership at UCLA

Nikki Caldwell is the new Coach at UCLA and can really be summed up in these words: 6 years Assistant at Tennessee, 5 Final Fours and two NCAA Championships. Now what can she do on her own, great question, but there is no question that the background is there for success.

Caldwell's first task to make her four big post players productive. The loss of Regina Rogers, who transferred to Washington might hurt, but the talent is there, just waiting for coaching. Several of the UCLA post players are very aggressive, so that doesn’t have to be taught.

Chinyere “Ray Ray” Ibekwe is a 6-4 Sr who patterns her play after Dennis Rodman. And to be fair, her hobbies include modeling. Back to basketball, she had a poor season last year, but as a Soph averaged just short of 8 points and 7 rebounds a game. New coach, SR season, could well mean breakout year. Moniquee Alexander is a 6-6 Jr who started 15 games last year. However she only averaged 12 minutes, 4 points and 3 rebounds a game. Her high game? Against her new coach, last vs Tennessee. Christina Nzekwe is a 6-4 Soph who averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds a game. Candice Brown is 6-3, a Soph, who averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds a game.

These four post players hold the key to a successful season. If they can rebound, score and stay healthy, UCLA, with their good Guards could have a fine season.

The Point Guard is Darxia Morris, a 5-8 Soph who had a huge game against Stanford last season. She averaged 8 points a game, but must improve her assist total, she has a career high of only 5. 5-10 Sr Tierra Henderson will also play the Point, after averaging 8 points per game last year. Henderson is an outstanding defensive player, and will probably also see playing time at the off guard position.

Wings include 5-10 Soph Dorenna Campbell. Doreena averaged 9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 ½ assists in her frosh season. She also shot 43% from three, although only taking 53 shots from beyond the line. 6-1 Soph Nina Earl started half the games last year, averaging almost 9 points per game. If Morris, Campbell and Earl all start, that’ll give the Bruins 3 very good and young, backcourt athletes.

UCLA has three more fine wings in JR Erica Tukiainen, who averaged 4 ½ points per game last season. The recruiting class yielded two outstanding incoming frosh. Atonye Nyingifa is 5-11 but a very strong player who could play any of several positions. She was the # 19 High School player last year. Nyingifa is a strong slasher with a nice shot and a very strong rebounder despite being under 6 foot. Rebekah Gardner is 6-0 and was the # 66 player last season in High School. Any of these three could start, and they give the young UCLA team six solid rising backcourt players.

Morris is not playing yet, recovering from March knee surgery. UCLA edged Love and Basketball 86-80 in their first exhibition game and then beat Team SRP 107-63 on Sunday. Earl with 23 and Gardner with 19 led the scoring.

If the four post players can play good defense, and rebound well, UCLA has a shot at post season.

November 6, 2008

First Week in the Pac 10

Exhibition play has started in the Pac 10 and here are the highlights and lowlights.

Arizona: Their first exhibition game was against their Male practice players, ‘nuff said. Then they played Oklahoma Panhandle and won 85-33. Rieko Thomas hit 16 of 18 FT’s for 20 points, PG Ashley Frazier had 7 assists and only 3 turnovers and also hit 3 of 4 three point shots, Amina Njonkou had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Arizona had only 10 turnovers.

First game is Nov 14 against Toledo.

Arizona State: Beat a Travel team from Houston in their only exhibition. Sybil Dosty had 17 points and 9 rebounds and Lauren Lacey had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Danielle Orsillo returned after missing last season and scored 8 points in 15 minutes, Alex Earl, teammate of JJ Hones in High School, scored 4 points in her debut.

First game is in the WNIT against Cleveland State on Nov 14.

USC: Beat Love and Basketball 79-63 despite 32 turnovers. 32!!! Ashley Corral hit 5 of 10 Three’s and Kari LaPlante had 12 points and 13 rebounds.

First game is Nov 15 against Charlotte.

UCLA: Beat Love and Basketball 86-80. Dorenna Campbell led with 16 points. 3 of their 4 Posts had 4 fouls each . They play another exhibition on Sunday.

First game is Nov 16 against Fullerton.

Cal: Beat Chico State 95-51 without Hampton. They play another exhibition on Sunday. Against Chico, now Sr Gray-Lawson had 17 points. But the big news was Sr Shantrell Sneed scoring 15 points in a big step up game.

First game is Nov14 against Albany.

Oregon: Defeated Northwest Christian University 87-40. And had 2,247 people in attendance. Frosh Amanda Johnson, from Santa Rosa, began her career with a team leading 18 points. Forward Rita Kolla had NINE!! assists. They play an exhibition on Monday.

First game is Nov 15 against San Jose State.

Oregon State: Beat Lewis and Clark 98-36. Brittany Davis was high with 18 points and Talisa Rhea hit 3 of 4 three’s on her way to 17 points. They play another exhibition on Tuesday.

First game is Nov 16 against Sacramento State.

Washington: Beat Love and Basketball 77-73. Heidi McNeil had 16 points and 14 rebounds, Michelle Ausgustavo hit 4 of 8 three’s. On the down side, Washington had 27 turnovers. Liz Lay did not play. They play another exhibition on Monday.

First game is Nov 16 against Gonzaga.

Washington State: Beat Showtime 101-64. The frosh scored 53 points and the team only had 12 turnovers. They have another exhibition Sunday.

October 28, 2008

The Cougars are on the Rise

It’s been a long time since even the most ardent Washington State fan thought that their team might be on the rise, but they can think the impossible now. June Dougherty has a fine first recruiting class with seven frosh will make their debut in November. April Cook from Long Beach Poly is the only Top 100 recruit,
# 84, but the other six might have been in the Top 200 so they will immediately vie for playing time.

Most of the newcomers are wings or guards, but frosh post Jessica Oestreicher at 6-8 will be the Pac 10’s tallest player and immediately challenge 6-4 Sr Ebonee Coates for playing time. Coates averaged 7 points and 7 rebounds per game last year, despite missing the first 7 games with a foot injury and another 6 games during the season with a concussion. She is 5th on the all time WSU shot blocking list. She also recorded several double/doubles, including against Stanford. Oestreicher, the # 71 player per Blue Star, was a very high recruit, but dropped a bit due to injuries. All League in Softball and Volleyball, she will be a strong player for the Cougars.

At the 4 position, 6-3 Heather Molzen returns, having started every game for the Cougars last year, averaging 7 points and 4 rebounds per game.

There are several players who could play either the 4 or 3 positions, and not knowing June’s plan, I’ll just talk about the possible 4 players first. 6-0 Soph Katie Calderwood started 20 games as a frosh averaging 4 points and 4 ½ rebounds per game, playing more wing, she took 97 three point shot attempts. Frosh Rosie Tarnowski is a touted 6-1 frosh. She played on the Fencor Travel team, DelleDone’s team. Rosie was named Player of the Year in Philly, the first woman ever given that honor. And like a number of Cougars, a 4 point student in High School. Another frosh is 6-1 Lexie Petterson a local from Spokane.

A newcomer who transferred from Idaho is 6-0 Jr Katie Madison. She has to sit out this year, but may well be the best newcomer. She led the WAC Conference in scoring while a frosh at Idaho. As a Frosh she averaged 19 points and 9 rebounds and as a Soph 14 points and 7 rebounds.

Washington State has three possible Point Guards. Kezia Kelly started last season as a frosh, in fact played the entire season as a 17 year old. Kelly is originally from England and moved to New Zealand while in High School. She averaged 5 points and 2 ½ assists per game. 5-8 frosh April Cook was the # 84 player in the country and # 16 Point Guard. April also was a several time league 100m dash champion. The 3rd candidate is another frosh, Danielle LeNoir, from famed Narbonne High School in Los Angeles.

The Wing Positions will have lots of competition also. Katie Appleton is a 5-8 Sr who started almost every game last season. Appleton led the Cougars in scoring with 12 points per game and was 2nd in the conference with a 40% three point percentage. Salena Dickerson transferred from Gonzaga two years ago and last season averaged 4 points per game for WSU. Twice Dickerson, whose brother was a star at Arizona, scored 40 points in a High School game.

More on Wings with Jasmine Perkins, a 5-10 frosh from Berkeley, who scored 28 points in the NorCal Championship game for her Division last year. Alexa Price is a 5-8 Jr who appeared in all 30 Cougar games last year and averaged 5 points a game but also hit 34 Three pointers. 5-9 Soph Jasmine Williams started 23 games last year as a frosh and averaged 6 points and 3 rebounds per game. Both Williams’ brother and cousin play for the Washington Sate Football team. Frosh Katie Grad was an All State player in Washington.

There should be lots of excitement for Cougar fans, but the real excitement may be the making of new fans in the Palouse. Already for 2009, June has a top 5 in the conference class for next season.

Lots of young players, only 3 Srs and a single Jr. Goods times are happening.

October 24, 2008

Washington Needs Time to Develop

Any story about the University of Washington Women’s Basketball program has to begin, sadly, with who isn’t at Washington. Washington lost three fine players due to a somewhat normal process, graduation and an injury. Gone are Point Guard Emily Florence and Post Andrea Plouffe who both graduated. Guard Dominique Banks retired rather than return for a final season. However the real disappointment for Husky fans was the lost of four prize frosh who decided to transfer rather than continue in Seattle.

Leading scorer Katelan Redmon, whose sister is an outstanding 2010 prospect, transferred to home town Gonzaga. Center and Tall Fern Jess McCormack transferred to UConn. Center Kali Bennett transferred to Arizona State. Finally Candice Nicholas transferred out even before the 2007-08 season started. Only two are left from this outstanding Frosh class, and both of them battled injuries last season.

2008-09 hopes to be more than a new year for 2nd Year Coach Tia Jackson, as they strive for continuity and success. To that end Jackson, a former Stanford Assistant, has the # 18 recruit, the dynamic Liz Lay. Liz is recovering from knee problems suffered in February, but when she is ready she’ll present problems for all Pac 10 defenses. Other top frosh include Guard Kristi Kingma, an outstanding shooter, and # 44 last year and Mollie Williams, a 6-2 Forward, named # 64 in the country by Collegiate Girls BB Report.

Washington finished 6th in the Conference last year with a 13-18 overall record. I don’t see too much improvement for them, but as they build it will be interesting. The Huskies have seven returning players, five new frosh and three transfers. Regina Rogers transferred from UCLA and must sit out the year. The other two transfers are JC players who can play immediately.

The Huskies have 5 potential post players to play the 4/5 positions. Returnees are 6-2 Jr Laura McLellan (from San Jose), a true post player, and F/C’s 6-3 Sr Heidi McNeill, redshirt frosh, 6-3 Mackenzie Argens, 6-1 Frosh Liz Lay and 6-2 Frosh Mollie Williams.

McLellan averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes last year while starting 7 games. She did shoot 59% from the floor. McNeill averaged 3 points and 2 rebounds in 18 minutes. Losing Bennett and McCormick really hurts here. Argens was hurt and only played in 4 games.

The two Frosh, Lay and Williams could both start. Lay would be an undersized 5, so expect her, if healthy, to start at the 4, and McLellan at the 5. Lay is a battler. She is extremely aggressive and talented. You’ll love to watch her play. If Williams lives up to her Collegiate Girls BB ranking, she’ll see lots of minutes. Regina Rogers will help tremendously in 2009-10 after sitting out this season under the transfer rule.

It appears 5-6 Frosh Nicole Romero will be the Point Guard. Jackson has called the Australian “one of the purest point guards one will ever see”. She was named the top player on her country’s 21U team. The back up could be 5-8 Soph Sarah Morton or 5-8 Jr and JC transfer Christina Rozier. Morton averaged just 8 minutes a game last season.

At the Wings will be Sami Whitcomb, the top returning scorer for the Huskies. Sami, a 5-10 Jr, averaged 11 points per game and hit 62 three’s at an average of 34%. The other starter could be 6-0 Sr Michelle Augustavo who only averaged 6 points per game, but made 46 three’s at a rate of 31%. Michelle took 183 shots last year, 150 of them were from behind the arc.

5-10 Frosh Kristi Kingma will play right away, probably the 3rd wing. She is an outstanding offensive player with a nice three, but even better pull up jumper. She is very quick, called explosive by Coach Jackson.

Sara Moisman is a 5-10 Jr who averaged 4.5 points per game while starting 9 games last season. One of Sara’s Travel Coaches was Glenn Nelson of HoopGrulz.

Washington now has to rebuild after losing so many talented players. Lay, Kingma, Williams and Romero could be great starts for the Huskies.

October 3, 2008

The Ducks look to move up in the Standings

Oregon has been down for awhile and 2008-09 doesn’t look good for them. They lost 2 Srs including a solid player in Chapadelaine. Then Nurse left the team suddenly after last season along with one of their European imports. Adding to their losses, Soph Guard Nia Jackson tore her ACL and is lost for the season.

The Ducks have 12 players including 5 foreign, 3 frosh and a JC transfer. None of the newcomers are highly rated, nevertheless they do have promise.

In the Post position are two solid players and they are only in their 2nd year. 6-4 Ellyce Ironmonger, now there’s a name for a banger in the paint, and 6-5 Nicole Canepa return for the Ducks. Ironmonger averaged 6.5 points and 5 rebounds per game while starting about half the games. Canepa, from San Francisco, averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds per game as she started about half the games. She was also Honorable Mention all PAC 10 Frosh last season. There were a few games when both started, so something we might see again this season.

Ellie Manou is a 6-3 frosh who played a lot at the 4 position despite battling injuries last season. She averaged 7 points and 5.5 rebounds. Another 4 is frosh Amanda Johnson, 6-2, from Santa Rosa. Johnson averaged 24 points and 10 rebounds a game as a High School Sr. She scored over 2,000 points in her High School career.

Oregon lists 4 players on their roster as F/G so I’ll assume one of them will play the 3. JC transfer Lindsey Stafford is a 5-10 Jr who has had rebound success at the High School and JC level despite being 5-10. Stafford averaged 17 points and 9.5 rebounds per game last year, and as a High School Sr averaged 22 points and 15 rebounds. Being 5-10 will be hard for her in the PAC 10 at the 3, although a number of teams will be playing with 3 Guards.

The other 3’s are Rita Kollo a 6-0 5th year Sr. Kolla played two years of JC, a year at Oklahoma State and then sat out last year under the transfer rule. She scored 21 points per game in JC as a Soph and 10 points per game on Hungary’s U21 team in 2007. She brings some talent, but will be in her first and last season. Victoria Kenyon is a 6-2 Soph from Australia. Kenyon redshirted her first season at Oregon, and last year scored 3.6 points and 2.5 rebounds a game. She started 12 of the Ducks’games last season. Tatianna Thomas is a 5-11 Soph who saw little time last season, but was rated as the 40th best Guard as a Sr in High School. Incoming 6-0 Frosh Jasmin Holiday rounds out this group, although Holliday is listed only as a Forward on the Ducks roster. Holiday averaged 14 points and a solid 11 rebounds a game last year as a High School Sr.

Oregon returns two good Guards, 5-8 Jr Micaela Cocks and 5-6 Jr Taylor Lilley. Also they have added 5-6 Frosh Darriel Gaynor. Lilley is Oregon’s best player, having averaged 13 points per game last season and was named 3rd team All PAC 10. She’s also an excellent Three Point shooter, hitting 74 last season, 35% and is already 6th on the all time Duck list in Three Pointers made. Cocks averaged almost 7 points per game. Frosh Gaynor is the only true Point Guard on the team, She averaged 11 points and 6 assists per game last year in High School.

Little or not so little known facts: Lilley is the choice of most as the best dancer. Gaynor was a Travel teammate of Stanford’s Lindy LaRocque and has a sister playing for the Houston Comets. Cocks, of course, was a Tall Fern with Jillian in the Olympics.

The big question for Oregon: Who plays the Point? Gaynor, a frosh, is the only one with experience and that’s High School level. Or Lilley or Cocks?

Oregon has a pretty good non conference schedule, so they’ll come into league play prepared. Women’s Basketball is still pretty exciting in Oregon, they average 2,600 at home. But do they have the players to make a run to the top 5 in the league?

September 22, 2008

Oregon State looks for respect

Oregon State has had a tough time in Women’s Basketball. LaVonda Wagner is beginning her 4th season with the Beavers trying to turn the program around. With a below average, for the PAC 10, recruiting class and the loss through graduation of leading scorer Ashley Allen, this season does not appear to be what Wagner had hoped her 4th year would be. On the other hand, Oregon State under Wagner has usually been quite competitive and able to score points.

At Center will be the twosome of 6-2 Sr Tiffany Ducker and 6-4 Soph Alex Mitchell. They offer good scoring and rebounding but really need to step up their defense. Ducker (who really should be playing for the Ducks) averaged 8 points and 7 rebounds per game, Mitchell, 4 points and 4 rebounds. They played together at times last season.

At the 4 position could be 6-1 JR Stacey Nichols who started most of her games here. A bit of a mismatch as she is not a strong rebounder or scorer, averaging 2 points and 3 rebounds per game. And like last year it is likely Oregon State will play a 3 Guard line-up. Other candidates are JC transfer, 6-3 Anita Burdick, 6-3 Soph Brittany Eskridge or 6-1 frosh Kristen Tilleman.

Burdick averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds as a JC Soph and lesser numbers as a frosh, but in High School she was All State in Nevada. Burdick holds her High School records with 46 points and 26 rebounds in a single game. Eskridge played only 5 minutes per game as a Frosh. Tilleman was the Gatorade Player of the year the past two seasons, over Tinkle, so that speaks highly of her. Tilleman was also the State Triple Jump Champ for 2 years and a past Gatorade soccer Player of the Year.

The starting Point Guard will be returning 3rd team All League Mercedes Fox-Griffin. She’s a 5-7 SR who averaged 4.8 Assists per game last year, 2nd in the league and 6.4 the year before to lead the league. Mercedes averaged 8 points per game, without hitting a single three pointer. She’ll give strong leadership to a team that has only 3 Seniors.

The other two Guards in the Three Guard Line-up will be 5-10 Sr Brittney Davis and All Frosh 5-11 Soph Talisa Rhea. Davis averaged 13 points per game although hit only 22 three’s at a 32 % rate. Rhea on the other hand averaged 10 points per game, finishing 3rd in Three Points made, 67, and 5th in Three Point percentage, 37 %.

Only one other experienced back up Guard returns, 5-8 Jr Julie Futch who averaged almost 3 points per game. However two good Frosh will give the Beavers backcourt depth. Kassandra McAlister redshirted last year for family reasons. She’s from Mitty High School and was an outstanding scorer there. She teamed with Oklahoma’s Danielle Robinson to form one of the Nations best backcourts in High School two years ago. 5-7 Frosh Brittany Kennedy will back up Fox-Griffin at the Point Guard position.

Arkansas and North Carolina are the toughest of the Beavers pre-season foes, otherwise a light schedule. However once the Conference season starts Oregon State will be in tough company, fighting to finish at the top of the PAC 10’s second division.

Stanford connections are Fox-Griffin who played in High School with Candice Wiggins, and Stacy Nichols, a High School teammate of JJ Hones.

September 17, 2008

PAC 10 preview of the new season

This is our first column on the 2008-09 season, and we’ll begin with the Arizona Wildcats. Lots of change in Tucson, where long time coach Joan B has been replaced by Niya Butts who had been the Assistant Head Coach at Kentucky. She was at Kentucky for 5 years, and an Assistant elsewhere for 3 more years. She graduated from Tennessee, where she played for 4 years, All Academic SEC for 3 of those years and has a Masters Degree. Butts has brought in a new staff, including former Arizona player Sue Darling who has more than 20 years of experience, including having been Head Coach at the Air Force Academy.

As for the Arizona team, well out with the old in with the new, as they are truly starting over. They only have 5 scholarship players returning this year. Their roster includes a walk-on, 5 new frosh and 2 JC transfers. They will be building this year and next, and they will have 6 scholarships to give for this year’s recruiting class. It’ll take time, and it won’t be pretty, but they certainly brought in a neat blend of coaches to try to work their way to the top half of the PAC 10.

Arizona actually had a decent recruiting class, but no one who projects to be a top PAC 10 performer.

At the Post will be Beatrice Bofia, who I believe will be the PAC 10’s tallest player, at 6-7. However in a reserve role last season she only averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds per game. She played two years of JC ball but had similar stats. Bofia will be backed up, or replaced by their top recruit, 6-5 Malia Nahinu, the # 89 recruit in the country. Nahinu averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds last year at a Hayward, CA High School.

At the 4 position will be the Wildcats best player from a year ago, Amina Njonkou. She’s a 6-1 Sr who last season averaged 13 points and 7 rebounds per game and earned Honorable Mention All PAC 10. She’s a tough and skillful player. At the other forward will be Ify Ibekwe, 6-1, who was All PAC 10 frosh a year ago. Ify had a fine frosh year averaging 10 points and 8 rebounds per game. Depending on how the two Centers play, Ify would be a bit out of position. It would not be surprising if Ify and Amina both play the Post positions.

The only back up post/Forward is 6-1 Sr Sarah Hays who averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds last season. So a 3 Guard line up is also possible for the Wildcats.

At the 2 Guard will be Soph Tasha Dickey. She averaged 7 points per game while taking over the starting spot early in the season. Dickey will be challenged by frosh Jhakia McDonald, who was ranked approximately # 150 last season. Of interest to Stanford fans is the fact that her godbrother is former Card great Joss Childress.

At the Point will probably be incoming frosh, and CIF 2A Player of the Year, Amani Butler. Butler was # 103 in the Hoop Gurlz rankings last year. An interesting point on Butler, she turns 21 mid November. The back up may be JC transfer Ashley Frazier.

Three other players could well get playing time. 6-0 frosh Courtney Clements averaged 18 per game in a strong SoCal High School league. Frosh Reiko Thomas averaged 16 point per game at famed Narbonne High School in LA. Also JC transfer Ipek Turkyilmaz could help in the backcourt.

The pre-season schedule is not tough, Middle Tennessee State and Texas A&M being the highlights. However the PAC 10 season will be really hard for the first year staff, as Arizona may go into each game as the underdog.

In another story, we’ll review recruiting for each team. The Letter of Intent period is November 12-19.

April 24, 2008

Changes in the Pac 10

While Tara remains the Dean of Pac 10 Coaches, we have added two new faces to the programs of Arizona and UCLA. Turnover among the Head Coaches has been so great the past few years that only Tara, Charli Turner Thorne and Bev Smith at Oregon have held their positions more than four years.

Let’s look at the seven relatively new Coaches and the Oregon situation.

Niya Butts is the new Head Coach at Arizona, coming from the University of Kentucky where she was the Associate Head Coach. Niya is a graduate of the University of Tennessee where she played for Pat Summitt. She started coaching at Tennessee Tech, and in her two years there also received her Master Degree in Education. She then moved to Michigan State as an Assistant for one season, then on to Kentucky for the past five seasons, the last one as the Associate Head Coach. While at Tennessee as a player, she was Academic All SEC.

Several players were suspended this past season at Arizona, but they have either graduated or, with the recent announcement, won’t be back next season. No rumors of players wanting out of the November Letters of Intent either. So signs are that Niya is being accepted by many of the new and continuing players. Maybe Arizona will look to High School Srs who were not signed or a JC player as ASU just signed. In any case the young Coach will bring a new outlook to a rather stagnant program.

At UCLA, former Tennessee Assistant Nikki Caldwell was signed to a 5 year contract to be the Head Coach. Nikki played for Tennessee and graduated in 1994 with a degree in Public Relations. At a glance one might think Nikki jumped into coaching, but not so. Upon graduating she became the TV color analyst for Tennessee and then SEC games. She also hosted a local TV show, Shop at Home. She returned to Tennessee as a Graduate Assistant Coach for the 1999 season, then to Virginia as an Assistant for three seasons. Nikki then returned to Tennessee and was an Assistant there for the past six seasons.

Two newcomers to the Pac 10 and the West, let alone the West Coast, Butts and Caldwell represent hope to two programs that have missed the NCAA’s more often than not in the past few seasons.

Tia Jackson spent a year coaching for Tara, five years for UCLA and two years for Duke, before becoming the Head Coach at Washington. Her first season was 13-18, but 8-10 in the conference and 10-5 at home. This with a young team. However since the start of last season four of the frosh have left along with another who will graduate and move on.

June Daugherty just finished her first season at Washington State with a 5-25 record. However June has been a Head Coach for 19 seasons, including 11 at Washington. Her career record is 314-213. And she was once an Assistant to Tara. There was only one Senior last season for Washington State and they had their best recruiting class in years. Given the situation of this program for some time, it looks to be on its way up.

LaVonda Wagner has now coached three years at Oregon State. She came to Oregon State after a long time career as an Assistant Coach, including the previous years at Duke. Last season the Beavers were 12-18 and 4-14 in league play.

Joanne Boyle has been at Cal for three years and last year had her team in the Top 10 for much of the season. Cal finished 27-7, and Boyle has a record at Cal of 68-28 for her three years. She came to Cal from Richmond where in three seasons she won 70% of her games. She was a four year letter winner at Duke and has a Masters Degree. Boyle coached as an Assistant at Duke for nine seasons before becoming the Head Coach at Richmond.

Mark Trakh was the Head Coach for 11 seasons at Pepperdine before becoming the Head Coach at USC where he has been in charge for the past 4 seasons. His record at USC is 73-49, a 60% and his overall record at both USC and Pepperdine is 272-172, a 61% winning percentage for 15 seasons.

Bev Smith is a former Oregon All American and in the Oregon Hall of Fame. She became the head Coach at Oregon for the 2001-2002 season and will enter her 8th season next year. Oregon was 14-17 last season and the AD at Oregon has publicly said improvement is needed.

March 6, 2008

The Pac 10 Tournament

The Pac 10 Tournament begins Friday at 6PM with # 7 Oregon playing # 10 Washington State. Should be a romp in the park for Oregon.

At 8:15, # 8 Oregon State plays # 9 Arizona. I think Arizona will prevail in this one.

Four games on Saturday with the first at 11:00, matching # 3 Arizona State against # 6 Washington. Both teams have been playing well lately, the Huskies with their huge win over Cal and Charli’s Angels winning both of their LA games. I believe it will be a close game, and an ASU win.

At 1:15 # 2 Cal takes on # 7 Oregon, if Oregon wins on Friday. Cal will stay focused and win by 12.

After goodies for the Fast Break Club, Stanford, the # 1 seed, meets the winner of a close Arizona-Oregon State contest. This game starts at 5:00. I believe it will be Arizona, but no matter, Stanford should win.

At 7:15 the final Saturday game will match the # 4 seed USC Trojans against the # 5 seed UCLA Bruins. OK, I’ll be rooting for USC so why not just predict them as the winner? OK done.

Sunday at Noon, the winner of the ASU-Washington game takes on the winner of the
Cal – Oregon (I predict) game. This game is almost too close to call, except I’m here predicting, so I’ll take Hampton and Walker over Lacey and Dosty and a very close Cal win.

At 2:30 Stanford, if the Card beats the OSC-Arizona winner, they take on the winner of the USC-UCLA game. Stanford over USC it says here.

The Final, which I believe will be Game three this season of Stanford –Cal basketball, starts at 7:30. No jinxing allowed, I’ll pass on a prediction, but I’ll be loud at the game.

Both the Final and Sunday’s 2:30 game are on FSBA. Which on Sunday are two different Channels because of the Sharks game.

Jillian Harmon might return this weekend, how about a Standing O when she takes the floor.

A final fantastic remark, congrats to Candice, Pac 10 Player of the Year, Kayla, Pac 10 Frosh of the Year and Tara, Pac 10 Coach of the Year.

March 2, 2008

The Pac 10: Stanford is the Champion

1. Stanford (27-3, 16-2) Won the Pac 10 Championship outright, Candice breaks the all time Pac 10 scoring record, not a bad weekend at all. Candice Wiggins broke Lisa Leslie’s Pac 10 scoring record as she had 46 points this weekend. She wrapped up what surely will be Player of the Year honors and for good measure had 6 assists against WSU. Jayne Appel had 7 assists in the win at Washington, where JJ Hones added 4 three’s. Stanford had 21 three’s in the two games.


2. Cal (24-5, 15-3) Lost to Washington to lose their share of the Pac 10 title. They now have the # 2 seed in the Pac 10 Tournament. Lauren Greif had 4 three’s against Washington, and Alexis Gray-Lawson had 17 points, 29 for the weekend. Ashley Walker had 21 points and 17 points and Devanei Hampton had 25 points and 14 rebounds in the two games.

3. Arizona State (20-9, 14-4) Swept the LA schools in LA to make the Dance and be the # 3 seed in the Pac 10 tournament. Lauren Lacy was the big scorer for the weekend with 25 points. Briann January scored 17 in the win at UCLA.


4. USC (17-12, 10-8) Playing without Nadia Parker, and for the NCAA’s, lost twice to the Arizona schools. Camille LaNoir scored 35 points in the two games, while Morghan Medlock had 16 points and 19 rebounds in the two games.


4. UCLA (15-14, 10-8) Beat Arizona and lost to ASU. Lindsey Pluimer led the Bruins again with 29 points in the two games.


6. Washington (13-17, 8-10) Upset Cal to cap a pretty good record despite their youth, injuries and turmoil.
Sami Whitcomb made 5 of 9 three’s for 24 points in the upset of Cal. Emily Florence, the 5’5” guard had 17 rebounds, 8 assists and only 2 turnovers in the two games.


7. Oregon (13-16, 7-11) Ellie Manou had 18 points and Tamika Nurse had 16 points to lead the Ducks over the Beavers


8. Oregon State (11-18, 4-14) Alex Mitchell had her first double, double with 10 points and 14 rebounds in the loss to Oregon. Tiffany Ducker had 17 points in that game.


8. Arizona (10-19, 4-14) Beat USC for a big road win, then lost to UCLA. Ashley Whisonant scored 28 in the two games. Ify Ibekwe added 28 points and 20 rebounds and Amina Njonkou had 27 points and 16 rebounds for the weekend.


10. WSU (5-24, 2-16) Lost twice to Cal and Stanford. Katie Appleton had 29 points in the two games.

A note, the 4 games in LA drew and average of about 800 fans. Sad.

February 26, 2008

Pac 10 Review, The Final Week

1. Stanford (25-3, 14-2) Candice 4 for 19 and we beat Cal. That sums up a team win. JJ Hones 4 for 6 from three point land for 16 points, Jayne Appel with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Kayla Peterson with 10 and 10 and Candice scored the final 2 baskets for Stanford and ended with 13 points and 5 steals.

Friday @ Washington, Sunday @ Washington State


1. Cal (23-4, 14-2) Lost their first “Must Win” game in years, but what a game and what a crowd. 10,525, the most ever for a Pac 10 Women’s game. Hampton and Walker had double doubles. Hampton with 19 points and 10 rebounds and Walker with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Coming up, a big weekend for both Stanford and Cal in the state of Washington.

Friday @ Washington State, Sunday at Washington


3. Arizona State (18-9, 12-4) Lauren Lacy was the Pac 10 Player of the Week as she scored 37 points in the two wins over the Washington schools. She also had 11 rebounds in the win over Washington. 6th year player Jill Noe has had a rough year scoring, but had 9 assists vs Washington.

Thursday @ UCLA, Saturday @ USC. 11AM PT, TV


4. USC (17-10, 10-6) After beating Oregon the Trojans defy all odds and lose a one point game to Oregon State. I know in Corvallis, but this should be an NCAA team. There I said it out loud. Nadia Parker’s 37 points led the way for the week. USC now has some must win games if they want to Dance.

Thursday, Arizona, Saturday, ASU, 11Am PT TV


5. UCLA (14-13, 9-7) Edged Oregon State but lost to Oregon in the Northwest. Lindsey Pluimer, as usual, led the way with 32 points in the two games.

Thursday, ASU, Saturday, Arizona


6. Washington (12-16, 7-9) Split with the Arizona schools. Kali Bennett had 17 points in the loss to ASU. Katelan Redmon had 23 points for the week.

Friday, Stanford, Sunday, Cal


7. Oregon (12-16, 6-11) Split with the SoCal schools. Kaela Chapdelaine should have been Player of the Week for just the UCLA game as she scored 25 points, hitting 6 of 6 three point attempts. If that wasn’t enough, she had 6 rebounds, 6 assists and only one turnover. Well, she gets my Player of the Week award.

Saturday, Oregon State



8. Oregon State (11-17, 4-13) Lost to UCLA but rose up to beat USC by one. Mercedes Fox-Griffin scored 11 points and had 6 assists and only one turnover in their win over USC. Against UCLA she scored 12.

Saturday @ Oregon



9. Arizona (9-18, 3-13) Lost a pair to the Washington schools. Ashley Whisonant had 33 points for the week, and against Washington State she tried gamely with 8 assists, but 5 turnovers.

Thursday @ USC, Saturday @ UCLA




10. WSU (5-22, 2-14) Had an up and down weekend, scoring only 30 in the loss to ASU then coming back to hit 13 three’s while handling Arizona. Alexa Price hit 4 of 5 three’s for 16 points against Arizona

Friday, Cal, Sunday, Stanford

February 17, 2008

The Pac 10, The Showdown

With just 2 weeks to go it appears the Pac 10 Championship will be settled at Haas Pavilion when Stanford visits Cal. After that both Bay Area teams visit the Washington schools, where of course, anything can happen and has in the past. But for this week, all eyes are on Berkeley.

1. Cal (23-3, 14-1) Beat both Arizona schools to maintain their game lead over Stanford. Against ASU Cal had 22 turnovers then came back against Arizona to record only 10. Vital had an amazing 12 assists against Arizona. In the 2 games Hampton had 39 points and 22 rebounds while Walker also had 39 points and added 20 rebounds.

Saturday, Stanford, 1PM TV

2. Stanford (24-3, 13-2) Kept pace with Cal by also beating both Arizona schools. Candice Wiggins had 42 points for the two games. Ros Gold-Onwude had 17 points against ASU going 5 for 6 from three. Jayne Appel had a fine weekend with 29 points, 20 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 blocks and 6 steals.

Saturday @ Cal, 1PM TV

3. Arizona State (16-9, 10-4) Lost both games on their trip to the Bay Area. Dosty led the way for the 2 games with 20 points and 17 rebounds. Jill Noe had 16 points against Cal and Dymond Simon had 13 points against Stanford.

Thursday, Washington State, Sunday, Washington, 11:30 PST, TV


4. USC (16-9, 9-5) Beat UCLA before 8,000 fans at UCLA. Nadia Parker had 18 points and 10 rebounds while Camille LeNoir had 7 assists without turnover.

Thursday @ Oregon, Saturday @ Oregon State


5. UCLA (13-12, 8-6) Scored 36 points in their home loss to USC. “Nuff said.

Thursday @ Oregon State, Saturday @ Oregon, 2 PM TV

6. Washington (11-15,6-8)Won both games against the Oregon schools. Both games were very close and resulted in a huge weekend for Tia and the Huskies. Washington was so balanced, with so many contributors, that only Whitcomb with 21 and Plouffe with 20 points scored 20 in the two games.

Thursday @ Arizona, Sunday @ ASU, 11:30 PST, TV

7. Oregon (11-15, 5-10) Split a pair this week, losing to Washington by 1 and beating Washington State by 3. Oregon had 12 three’s in their win over WSU. Taylor Lilley scored 31 for the two games, Nicole Canepa 21 points.

Thursday, USC, Saturday, UCLA, 2PM, TV

8. Arizona (9-16, 3-11) Lost a pair in the Bay Area. Ibekwe had 16 points and 8 rebounds against Stanford. Njoukou had 24 points and 18 rebounds in the 2 games.

Thursday, Washington, Saturday, WSU


9 Oregon State (10-16, 3-12) Lost a pair to the Washington schools. Ashley Allen scored 25 in the loss to Washington State.

Thursday, UCLA, Saturday, USC

10. WSU (4-21, 1-13) Won their 1st conference game defeating Oregon State. Elbonee Coates is a top candidate for Player of the Week after scoring 27 points and pulling down 27 rebounds in the two games. Jasmine Williams had a big weekend also with 28 points in the two games.

Thursday @ ASU, Saturday @ Arizona

February 12, 2008

The Pac 10: Senior Day on The Farm

The Pac 10, Senior Day on The Farm

Hard to believe but that day we never wanted is here. Saturday is Senior Day at Stanford, the last home regular season game for Cissy Pierce and the greatest Stanford Women’s Player ever, Candice Wiggins. Yes we’ll see Candice at Cal, and at the Pac 10 and at Maples in the NCAA’s, but we will celebrate Cissy and Candice this Saturday against ASU.



1. Cal (21-3, 12-1) Won their first game in Eugene in 15 years to cap another winning weekend for Cal. Vital had 17 in the win at Oregon State, and Gray-Lawson had 16 against Oregon. Hampton had 23 points and 15 rebounds while Walker had 21 points and 20 rebounds for the week.

Thursday, ASU, Saturday, Arizona, 1PM, TV


2. Stanford (22-3, 11-2) Kept pace with Cal, one game behind, with their sweep in Oregon. Candice with 50 points and 12 rebounds in the two league games. The 2 game totals for Appel, 26 points, 19 rebounds, NINE blocked shots, and for Pederson, 38 points,17 rebounds. And not to be forgotten, Stanford beat Santa Clara on Tuesday with JJ Hones scoring 20 points on 5 of 6 three’s.

Thursday, Arizona, Saturday, ASU, 1PM, TV

2. Arizona State (16-7, 10-2) Played only one game this week and beat Arizona in a very close game in Tempe. January with 16 points and 6 assists, but an uncharacteristic 5 turnovers.

Thursday @ Cal, Saturday @ Stanford 1PM, TV


4. USC (15-9, 8-5) Swept the Washington schools at home. Nadia Parker had a big weekend with 37 points and 17 rebounds. Dunham had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists to go with 6 turnovers against Washington and Jelks made 3 of 4 three’s against Washington. Heather Oliver had 21 points and 8 rebounds against WSU. Neither Hughes nor LaPlante played last weekend and both are doubtful for UCLA.

Sunday @ UCLA


4. UCLA (13-11, 8-5) Beat the Washington schools twice, behind Pac 10 Player of the Week Lindsey Pluimer. Lindsey had 38 points and 13 rebounds for the week, but her honor was surely due to passing famed Stanford Women’s Volleyball Assistant Coach Denise Corlett to move into 10th place on the UCLA all time rebounding list.

Sunday, USC

6. Washington (9-15, 4-8) Lost twice in LA, although played a very tough game against UCLA. Katelan Redmon scored 16 against USC. Sami Whitcomb scored 27 with 5 three’s against UCLA to almost pull off an upset.

Friday, Oregon, Sunday, Oregon State


7. Oregon (10-14, 4-9) Blown out twice at home to Stanford and Cal. The Ducks shot only 20% against Cal. Canepa scored 12 against Stanford, but that 20% shooting left no highlights against Cal.

Friday @ Washington, Sunday @ Washington State

8. Arizona (9-14, 3-9) Lost to ASU in Tempe but it was close and Arizona played the Sun Devils tough. Ashley Whisonant led the Wildcats with 16 points, 6 assists although 6 turnovers.

Thursday @ Stanford, Saturday @ Cal, 1:00, TV

9 Oregon State (10-14, 3-10) Lost twice to the Bay Area schools but played tough both games. Mitchell had 13 against Cal, and Allen had 17 against Stanford.

Friday @ Washington State, Sunday @ Washington

10. WSU (3-20, 0-12) Katie Appleton had 18 points and 8 rebounds against UCLA, then only played 8 minutes against USC as WSU lost 2 in LA.

Friday, Oregon State, Sunday, Oregon

February 5, 2008

Pac 10 review, the action moves to Oregon

Two of the three leaders, Cal and Stanford head to Oregon for two games. ASU should come to the Bay Area next week at 10-2, and still in the race. So a bit of a lull before the storm, assuming Cal and Stanford keep there wits about them. OK, enough with the clichés


1. Cal (19-3, 10-1) Cal came so close to disaster against USC, or they came up big to win an extremely close game. Your call. But whatever your thoughts, two big wins for the Bears. Hampton was outstanding again, 29 points and 25 rebounds in the two games. Walker also big with 29 points and 17 rebounds. In the win over UCLA, Vital had 16 points.
Thursday @ Oregon State, Saturday @ Oregon, 1:00, TV


2. Stanford (19-3, 9-2) Player Of the Week Candice Wiggins had 48 points. Kayla Pederson scored 28 points, a career high, with 10 rebounds against USC. In her two games this past week, Jayne Appel scored 27 points, had 24 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 blocked shots.
Tuesday @ Santa Clara, Thursday @ Oregon, Saturday @ Oregon State


2. Arizona State (15-7, 9-2) Like Cal, nearly the victim of a major upset, this to Oregon, or they got tough at the end of the game. Against Oregon State, ASU’s four post players scored 46 points on 19 of 25 shooting. Against Oregon those same four scored 24 points on 10 of 24 shooting.
Friday, Arizona


4. USC (13-9, 6-5) Lost twice in their trip to the Bay Area, although it was close against Cal. But the Stanford game was not close at all. LaNoir, who was scoreless against Stanford, hit for 21 against Cal, but took 25 shots.

Friday, Washington, Sunday, Washington State


4. UCLA (11-11, 6-5) Lost a pair like USC while in the Bay Area. Lindsey Pluimer continues to be a rock with 30 points and 12 rebounds in the two games. With an 11-11 record and only 8-10 games left before the Tournament selections, UCLA will be hard pressed to make the NCAA’s. They are now at a crossroads, and really have to step it up.

Friday, Washington State, Sunday, Washington, 1:30 TV


6. Washington (9-13, 4-6) Routed Washington State. 10 of 22 three’s, Redmon with 20 points.
Friday @ USC, Sunday @ UCLA, 1:30 TV


7. Oregon (10-12, 4-7) Lost two in the desert, although almost pulled off a huge upset in Tempe. Taylor Lilley had 22 points against Arizona, Nurse 15 against ASU, but missed the winning shot at the end.
Thursday , Stanford, Saturday, Cal, 1:00 TV


8. Oregon State (10-12, 3-8) They too lost a pair in the desert. Frosh Talisa Rhea continues to play well with 29 points in the two games.

Thursday, Cal, Saturday, Stanford

9. Arizona (9-13, 3-8) Two big wins for the Wildcats. Beating Oregon was huge for their program, and then kept it up to beat Oregon State. Ify Ibekwe was no longer Ify as she had her best week in college with 30 points and 19 rebounds in the two games. Ashley Whisonant had 39 points, the 2nd best two game total in the Pac 10.

Friday @ ASU


10. WSU (3-18, 0-10) Lost huge in June’s return to Seattle. The bright spot, 4,129 people who cared enough to see the return. One of them was not the recent AD.

Friday @ UCLA, Sunday @ USC

January 27, 2008

The Pac 10, Half Way Home

Stanford’s huge win at home against Cal has tightened up the Pac 10 race, and a big weekend in the Bay Area is coming up, once again. USC and UCLA visit Cal with Stanford trailing Cal by 2 games in the Pac 10 race and trailing Stanford by 1 game.

1. Cal (17-3, 8-1) Despite a 20 point loss to Stanford, Cal remains atop the Pac 10 race, in the leader’s position and waiting to bounce back against the SoCal schools.

Thursday, UCLA, Saturday, USC


2. Stanford (17-3, 7-2) Basking in the spotlight after beating Cal by 20, it’s time to meet their SoCal rivals who each beat the Cardinal in LA. My pick for Player of the Week, Candice Wiggins scored 28 points against Cal. Jayne Appel had 9 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists, and JJ Hones had a career high 4 three pointers.

Thursday, USC, Saturday, UCLA


2. Arizona State (13-7, 7-2) ASU remains just a game back of Cal and tied with Stanford. The Sun Devils had a close win in Seattle and an easy win in Pullman. For the second straight week they will play second division teams so should stay close to Cal in the Pac 10 race. Lauren Lacey led ASU with 31 points and 12 rebounds in their two wins.

Thursday Oregon State, Saturday Oregon

4. USC (13-7, 6-3) Beat both the Oregon schools to stay in the Pac 10 race and in the process unleashed Frosh Kari LaPlante. Kari scored 23 points in the 2 games. Bryn Cameron made 3 three’s against Oregon State and none against Oregon. The Trojans made only one three pointer against Oregon in their 4 point 46-42 win. Nadia Parker had 9 points and 10 rebounds against Oregon State, but only played 10 minutes against Oregon.

Thursday @ Stanford, Saturday @ Cal


4. UCLA (11-9, 6-3) The Bruins trailed Oregon and Oregon State by 14 and 15 points in their games this weekend and still pulled out very close victories in LA. Lindsey Pluimer again was the UCLA leader with 37 points in the two games. Darxia Morris is back playing for UCLA and had 10 points against Oregon State. A note, after their attendance of 8,000+ last week against USC, the Bruins drew 800 against Oregon State.

Thursday @ Cal, Saturday @ Stanford

6. Oregon (10-10, 4-5) Lost two close games in LA. Kaela Chapdelaine continued her fine play with 23 points and 22 rebounds for the 5-10 player in the two games. Taylor Lilley scored 13 in each game and had 3 three’s in each game to boot.

Thursday @ Arizona, Saturday @ ASU

7. Oregon State (10-10, 3-6) Lost a pair in LA, losing a large lead in one of the games. Brittany Davis had 30 points in the two games. Talisa Rhea had 25 for the weekend, hitting 5 of 6 three’s against UCLA.

Thursday @ ASU, Saturday @ Arizona

8. Washington (8-13, 3-6) Split with the Arizona schools in Seattle. Andrea Plouffe scored 31 points in the two games and Frosh Jess McCormack returned from an injury to score 15 and grab 8 rebounds against Arizona.

Sunday, Washington State, TV


9. Arizona (7-13, 1-8) Won their first league game of the season in Pullman against WSU. Amina Njonkou was the top scorer in the league for the week with 40 points and also grabbed 13 rebounds. Ashley Whisonant continued her fine scoring with 35 points in the two games.

Thursday, Oregon, Saturday, Oregon State

10. WSU (3-17, 0-9) Lost a pair to remain winless in league play. Consistent Katie Appleton led the Cougars again with 37 points in the two games.

Sunday @ Washington, TV

A note on the Post Season. Stanford hosts a Regional, which will once again bring 8 teams to Stanford. There will be 4 games, Saturday, March 22, in two pods. Then the following Monday there will be 2 games with the winners advancing to the Sweet 16Keep your calendar clear for this fantastic weekend of basketball.

January 20, 2008

Pac 10, Week 4

It’ll be the showdown at Maples Saturday afternoon as the top two teams in the Pac 10collide. Two games drew 8500 people this week, UCLA at USC and Stanford at ASU. I know big promotions and all that, but great for Women’s Basketball on the West Coast.

1. Cal (17-2, 8-0) A big, big week for Cal as they won two on the road, again. But the big win was beating ASU in Tempe. Devanie Hampton had a huge night against ASU with 28 points and 9 rebounds. Grey-Lawson and Vital had big three point nights as Cal defeated Arizona. The twosome went 8 for 10 from three. Ashley Walker had a solid 23 points and 13 rebounds for the two games.

Saturday at Stanford

2. Stanford (16-3, 6-2) Stanford remained in the chase with a huge come from behind win in Tempe, after defeating the Arizona Wildcats. In the two games, Candice with 37 points; Jayne with 32 points and 19 rebounds on 16 for 23 shooting. JJ had 11 Assists and Zero, Nada (again) Turnovers. Kayla returned home for 34 points and 17 rebounds. But a big hats off to the blue color work of rebounding and defense to Jeanette and Jillian. And those two Free Throws by Jeanette.

Saturday, Cal

3. Arizona State (11-7, 5-2) Lost two at home for the first time in 5 years. Briann January had an outstanding week with 36 points, 8 assists and only 3 turnovers. ASU played tough though, very hard on Defense. But the situation for them is now a hard road back with 4 tough road games to go in the State of California.

Thursday @ Washington, Saturday @ Washington State

4. USC (11-7, 4-3) It got very rough at the end of the USC-UCLA game but when the smoke and bodies were cleared USC had a big win. Heather Oliver led the Trojans with 15 points and Nadia Parker had 13 point and 10 rebounds.

Thursday, Oregon, Saturday, Oregon

4. UCLA (9-9, 4-3) Lost a tough one at the end to USC. Lindsey Pluimer led the Bruins with 15 points.

Thursday, Oregon, Saturday, Oregon State

4. Oregon (10-8, 4-3) The Ducks swept the Washington schools. Against Oregon State, Nicole Canepa had 12 points and Taylor Lilley led the Ducks against Washington with 20 points, hitting 4 three’s.

Thursday @ UCLA, Saturday @ USC

7. Oregon State (10-8, 3-4) Two huge wins for the Beavers at home against the Washington schools. Brittany Davis scored 35 points in the two games. My pick for Player of the Week, Talisa Rhea, had 18 points in the win over Washington, and followed that up by hitting a school record 8 three’s and 24 points against Washington State. In the two games Rhea hit 12 three’s.

Thursday @ USC, Saturday @ UCLA

8. Washington (7-12, 2-5) Visited the Oregon schools and came up empty. Losing two close games, by a total of 6 points, is a heartbreaker for the young Huskies. The big news was USD transfer Michelle Augustavo who scored 18 points against Oregon hitting 6 of 10 three point attempts. Michelle hit 9 three pointers on the weekend.

Thursday, ASU, Saturday, Arizona


9. Arizona (6-12, 0-7) lost twice this past week. Amina Njonkou and Ashley Whisonant continue to play well with 23 and 27 points for the two games, respectively.

Thursday @ Washington State, Saturday @ Washington

9. WSU (3-15, 0-7) They are just overwhelmed right now. A fine recruiting class, so wait for next year.

Thursday, Arizona, Saturday, ASU

January 15, 2008

Pac 10 Review, Week 3

The cream is rising to the top, as Cal, ASU and Stanford are now the top three teams, all ranked 26 or higher. This week the league looks to Arizona, where Cal plays ASU on Thursday and Stanford plays ASU on Sunday, on TV. An early must win for Stanford.


1. Cal (15-2, 6-0) Cal didn’t play well this week, but still handled Oregon and Oregon State to remain undefeated in league play. Ashley Walker was the leader for Cal with 42 points and 15 rebounds for the weekend. Ashley is the Pac 10 Player of the Week. Hampton had a poor game against Oregon, but a fine game against Oregon State.

Thursday @ ASU, Sat @ Arizona


2. Arizona State (11-5, 5-0) The Sun Devils beat down state rival Arizona to remain unbeaten in league play. Briann January was 7 for 7 from the floor, 3 for 3 from three and Jill Noe had 7 Assists to lead ASU. It’s a huge weekend for ASU with both Stanford and Cal coming to Tempe.

Thursday, Cal, Sunday, Stanford (TV)

3. Stanford (14-3, 4-2) Stanford easily defeated the Oregon Schools. One day it was Jayne, 12 for 13 and 25 points against ASU, the next game it was Candice with 20 against Oregon. Jillian Harmon’s 15 points and 9 rebounds were huge for Stanford against Oregon.

Thursday @ Arizona, Sunday @ ASU (TV)

3. UCLA (9-8, 4-2) The Bruins traveled to Washington and left with two wins. Lindsey Pluimer had 31 points for the weekend; Nina Earl had 18 against WSU.

Saturday @ USC

5. USC (10-7, 3-3) After beating WSU up north, USC fell apart, scoring only 45 points in their loss to Washington. Nadia Parker and Heather Oliver both had 27points on the weekend. USC lost to Washington despite the return of Camille Lenoir, who missed the WSU game. Against Washington, USC attempted 34 three’s making only 7 and shooting 26% overall.

Saturday, UCLA

6. Oregon (8-8, 2-3) The Ducks lost to both Stanford and Cal. Against Cal, Taylor Lilley, their leading scorer on the year, scored 15, including 3 of 4 from three. Against Stanford Lilley couldn’t get a shot off.

Thursday, WSU, Saturday, Washington

6. Washington (7-10, 2-3) After losing to UCLA, the Huskies trounced USC in Tia Jackson’s first big conference win. Frosh Katelan Redmon was 13 for 22 from the floor and 28 points for the weekend. Sami Whitcomb had 17 against UCLA and followed that up with 12 rebounds against USC. Sami is 5-10.

Thursday, @ Oregon State, Saturday @ Oregon


8. Oregon State (8-8, 1-4) Lost to the Bay Area schools. The Pac 10’s leading scorer, Ashley Allen, had 20 points in the two games, 22 below her average. Talisa Rhea scored 26 points in the two games.

Thursday, Washington, Saturday, WSU

9. Arizona (6-10, 0-5). The Wildcats lost to ASU but put up a fight. Amina Njonkou scored 25 and Ashley Whisonant 20 against ASU.

Thursday, Stanford, Saturday, Cal

9. WSU (3-13, 0-5) The Cougars lost two games to the LA schools

Thursday@ Oregon, Saturday @ Oregon State

January 10, 2008

The Pac 10, Week 2

Wow, the league turned topsy turvy in just one week. With Stanford losing two in SoCal and Cal winning both, the Bears join ASU in the # 1 spot in the Pac 10.

1. Cal (13-2, 4-0) While Stanford lost two in the Southland, Cal swept the two LA schools. Devanei Hampton was the Pac 10 Player of the Week, with 37 points and 21 rebounds in the two games. Ashley Walker also had a big weekend, 28 points and 23 rebounds. Cal beat USC by 5 with 25 turnovers, then beat UCLA in overtime and only had 10 turnovers.

Thursday, Oregon; Saturday, Oregon State


2. Arizona State (10-5, 4-0) ASU traveled to Oregon and swept the Beavers and Ducks.
ASU beat Oregon by 13, but only beat Oregon State by 9 as the Beavers outrebounded the Sun Devils by 11. Lauren Lacey lead the scoring on the weekend with 36, followed by Dymond Simon with 31 points.

Saturday at Arizona

3. Oregon (8-6, 2-1) Now it gets tough as the Ducks come to the Bay Area. They lost to ASU and beat Arizona by only 6. Taylor Lilley scored 32 points in the two games.

Thursday @ Cal, Saturday @ Stanford

4. Stanford (12-3, 2-2). The disaster in the Southland for the Cards. ‘Nuff said other than Candice led the Card with 46 points and 14 rebounds. Jayne Appel had 39 points and 19 rebounds. In the one point loss Jayne led the two USC Centers to ONE rebound in 26 minutes.

Thursday, Oregon State, Saturday, Oregon

4. USC (9-6, 2-2). A close loss to Cal and a close win over Stanford. A fine week for SC. Camille LeNoir scored 21 against Stanford on 5 of 7 from three point land.

Thursday @ WSU, Sunday @ Washington

4. UCLA (7-8, 2-2). An Overtime loss to Cal after a nice win over Stanford. Darxia Morris, my pick for Player of the Week, scored 34 points in the two games. Sadly she couldn’t finish the Cal game with a knee injury. The extent of her injury is not yet known but she will not play this weekend. Lindsey Pluimer had 29 points and 15 rebounds in the two games.

Thursday @ Washington, Saturday @ WSU

7. Oregon State (7-6, 2-1). The Beavers loss to ASU and beat Arizona in the now infamous double overtime win as the Wildcats worked their way down to 2 players finishing the game. Ashley Allen again led the Beavers with 52 points on the weekend. Brittany Davis was close behind with 41. Tiffany Drucker had 16 rebounds in the Arizona game.

Thursday @ Stanford, Saturday @ Cal

8. Washington (6-9, 1-2) The Huskies beat cross state rival WSU is a close game. Jess McCormack had 16 points and 9 rebounds, while sparkplug Emily Florence had 13 points and 9 rebounds.

Thursday, UCLA, Sunday, USC

9. Washington State (3-11, 0-3), a close loss this past week to Washington. Katie Appleton had 16 points on 4 of 5 from 3.

Thursday, USC, Saturday, UCLA

10. Arizona (6-9, 0-4). Playing with 6 players and finishing with 2 is tough as the Wildcats lost two in Oregon. Ashley Whisonat scored 51 points in a highlight effort, draining 7 three’s in 13 attempts in the two games.

Saturday, ASU

January 2, 2008

Pac 10, Week One

Conference play opened this past weekend with few surprises. Maybe ASU hanging on the win two close games is a bit of a surprise, and that they were so close a bit of a surprise.

1. Stanford (12-1, 2-0) # 2 Stanford stands atop the standings with ASU and Cal at 2-0. They certainly had an easy time with the Washington Schools. Frosh Jeanette Pohlen led the team in scoring with 34 points in the two games. Fellow Frosh Kayla Pederson had 30 points and 20 rebounds. Candice had 26 points.

The Trip to SoCal will be telling for the Cardinal, as they will have a huge # 2 in the Country target on them.

Friday @ UCLA, Sunday @ USC

1. Cal (11-2, 2-0), Cal is now top 10 in the US, maybe their first top 10 ranking ever as they stand at # 10. Like Stanford they had an easy time with the Washington schools. They welcomed back 2006-07 Player of the Year Devanei Hampton, who had 25 points and 13 rebounds in 37 minutes in the two games. Ashley Walker had 25 points and 18 rebounds. Lauren Greif had maybe her best weekend with 6 of 9 three pointers and 25 points. Alexis Gray-Lawson was 5 for 9 from three, and was the leading scorer with 31 points,

Friday @ USC, Sunday @ USC, 12:30 on FSBA


1. ASU (8-5, 2-0), after a very disappointing pre-season, the Sun Devils won very close games against USC and UCLA at home. They did it with great post play from their new transfers. Lauren Lacey had 35 points and 18 rebounds while Sybil Dosty had 34 points and 18 boards in the two games.

Thursday @ Oregon, Saturday at Oregon State


4. Oregon (7-5, 1-0). The Ducks opened with Civil War rival Oregon State and prevailed by 4. Taylor Lilley led Oregon with 21 points.

Thursday, ASU, Saturday, Arizona


5. UCLA (7-6, 1-1). The Brubabes (OK that’s what they used to call the frosh men’s teams in the day), opened with a split in the desert. The Bruins beat Arizona but lost a 3 point game to ASU. Lindsey Pluimer had 22 points and 13 rebounds in the two games. But the weekend star was Frosh Nina Earl with a breakout 23 point game and 31 points with 13 rebounds for the two games.

Friday, Stanford, Sunday at 12:30 on FSBA, Cal


5. USC (8-5, 1-1). SC led ASU by 11 at the half and lost a close game to the Sun Devils, after beating Arizona. The Trojans were led by Nadia Parker’s 22 against ASU and 30 points with 15 rebounds for the weekend. Morgan Medlock had her career game against Arizona with 18 points and 13 rebounds. She only scored 4 against ASU. In the up and down realm of USC Basketball, they hit 13 three’s against Arizona, a school record, but only 3 against ASU.

Friday, Cal, Sunday, Stanford


7. Oregon State (6-5, 0-1). The Beavers lost their only game this week to arch rival Oregon. Brittany Davis led them with 23 points.

Thursday, Arizona, Saturday, ASU


8. Arizona (6-7, 0-2). The Wildcats lost to the two SoCal schools. Amina Njonkou continues to be their go to player with 34 points and 24 rebounds for the week.

Thursday, Oregon State, Saturday, Oregon


8. Washington (5-9, 0-2). The Huskies were not competitive against the Bay Area schools. Kali Bennett’s 11 points and 11 boards against Stanford was the highlight.

Friday @ WSU


8. WSU (3-10, 0-2). Two 50+ point losses for the Cougs. Alexa Price did hit 7 three’s in the two games.

Friday, Washington