Results of the week ending Dec 31

Off to the Orange Bowl so an early cutoff this week.

1. Stanford, 9-2. Oh what a night.

Next Games: Jan 2 at Cal, Jan 6, Arizona, Jan 8 ASU


2. UCLA, 11-1, 1-0. Lost to LSU at Pauly 55-53. Darxia Morris scored 16 but needed 16 shots. Jasmine Dixon was held to 5 points. Atonye Nyingifa and Markel Walker were 9 of 13 from the field for a combined 20 points.

Beat Washington at Seattle 60-48 as Rebekah Gardner scored 15 points and 3 other players each scored 9. UCLA was out shot and outrebounded, but did have 12 steals.

Next Games: Jan 2 at Washington State, Jan 8 USC


3. USC 9-3, 1-0 beat Fresno State 82-78. Jackie Gemelos had her career night with 27 points, 11 of 14 from the floor including 5 of 7 from three. Briana Gilbreath scored 15 points with 8 rebounds and Cassie Harberts scored 14 points with 6 rebounds. USC shot 515. Jaleesa Ross scored 29 points for Fresno, 7 of 12 from three.

Beat Washington State 72-57. Gemelos and Briana Gilbreath each scored 15 points and Harberts had 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Trojans shot only 39% but held the Cougars to 29%. Stephanie Gilbreath has not been playing lately.

Next Games: Jan 2 at Washington, Jan 8 at UCLA


4. Cal, 8-3. Beat Illinois 65-61. DeNesha Stallworth scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds. Talia Caldwell had 8 points and 13 rebounds. Lindsey Sherbert hit 3 of 4threes for 19 points.

Next Games: Jan 2, Stanford, Jan 6, ASU, Jan 8 Arizona


5. Arizona, 10-2, 1-0 beat Iona 79-32. Ify Ibekwe had 14 points and Shanita Arnold 9 assists, both barely playing 20 minutes.

Beat Oregon 109-94. Ibekwe with 19 points and 14 rebounds and Arnold with 25 points, 11 of 13 from the floor. Arnold also had 7 assists and Davellyn Whyte had 10assists. The Wildcats shot 65%, I can just see layup after layup.

Next Games: Jan 2, Oregon State, Jan 6 at Stanford, Jan 8 at Cal



6. ASU, 9-2, 1-0. ASU’s home game with Marist was cancelled due to the storms back east.

Came from behind to hold off Oregon State in Tempe 49-46. Kimberly Brandon scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds. Only 6 ASU players scored and 2 of them scored 2 each.

Next Games: Jan 2, Oregon, Jan 6 at Cal, Jan 8 at Stanford


7. Oregon, 9-3, 0-1. Lost at Arizona 109-94at Tucson. Amanda Johnson led with 16 points as 6 players scored in double digits. The Ducks shot only 37%.

Next Games: Jan 2 at ASU, Jan 6 WSU, Jan 8 Washington


8. Oregon State, 7-5, 0-1. Barely lost in Tempe to ASU 49-46. Sage Indenti scored 20 points, 4 of 4 from three. Alyssa Marin added 16 points.

Next Games: Jan 2 at Arizona, Jan 6 Washington, Jan 8 WSU


9. Washington 5-5, 0-1. Lost to UCLA 60-48 although they outrebounded and out shot the Bruins. However the Huskies did have 25 turnovers. Mackenzie Argens had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Kristi Kingma scored 12 points.

Next Games: Jan 2, USC, Jan 6 at Oregon State, Jan 8 at Oregon


10. WSU, 2-11, 0-1. lost to USC 72-57. Ireti Amojo scored 14 points and Hana Potter 10 for the Cougars who shot only 29%.

Next Games: Jan 2, UCLA, Jan 6 at Oregon, Jan 8 at Oregon State

Others:

Colorado, 8-4, beat Colgate 74-52. Brittany Spears led with 21 points.

Next Games: Jan 4 North Dakota, Jan 8 at Texas A&M


Utah, 6-7,

Next Games: Jan 1, Utah State, Jan 5 Air Force, Jan 8 at San Diego State


USF, 3-11. Beat the Academy of Art, coached by Lindsay Yamasaki, 85-57. MaryJo Mullaney scored 16 points and 6 other Dons scored 7-11 points. Nicole DeRosier scored 24 points, 6 of 11 from three and had 9 rebounds for the Academy of Art.

Lost to Mt St Mary’s 79-77 in OT. Kelly Jo Mullaney scored 23 points and Donnisha Taylor had 20 points and 14 rebounds.

Next Games: Jan 8 Santa Clara

Results of the week ending Dec 23

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

1. UCLA, 10-0. Beat East Carolina 81-67. UCLA shot 53% in the win. Five players had 10-16 points as Dixon, 14 points and 10 rebounds and Walker 10 points and 10 rebounds led the way.

Next Games: Dec 28, LSU, Dec 31 at Washington, Jan 2 at Washington State

2. Stanford, 7-2.

Next Games: Dec 28, Xavier, Dec 30, UConn, Jan 2 at Cal


3. USC 7-3,

Next Games: Dec 29 at Fresno State, Dec 31 at Washington State, Jan 2 at Washington


4. Arizona, 8-2, beat North Texas State 88-73. Davellyn Whyte scored 22 points and Ify Ibekwe had 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Wildcats shot 50%.

Next Games: Dec 28, Iona, Dec 31, Oregon, Jan 2, Oregon State


5. ASU, 8-2, beat DePaul 79-66. The Sun Devils outrebounded DePaul by 14 and shot 46% for the game. Tenaya Watson had a career game with 25 points and 4 of 7 from three. Dymond Simon scored 24 points and had 7 assists.

Next Games: Dec 28, Marist, Dec 30, Oregon State, Jan 2, Oregon


6. Cal, 7-3. Lost to Texas Tech 50-44. Rama N’diaye scored 11 points in 17 minutes to lead the Bears.

Next Games: Dec 28 at Illinois, Jan 2, Stanford


7. Oregon, 9-2. Beat Santa Clara 99-71 as Amanda Johnson continued her excellent play with 27 points including 3 of 4 from three. Nia Jackson had 13 points and 7 assists. The Ducks caused 32 Santa Clara turnovers.

Next Games: Dec 31 at Arizona, Jan 2 at ASU


8. Oregon State, 7-4, beat Eastern Washington 64-60. The Beavers made 11 of 20 Threes and outrebounded Eastern Washington by 17. The Beavers did have 27 turnovers. Sage Indendi and Earlysia Marchbanks each scored 16 points. Alyssa Martin added 14 points on 4 of 6 from three.

Next Games: Dec 31 at Arizona State, Jan 2 at Arizona.


9. Washington 5-4, beat Western Michigan 59-40 with Kristi Kingma scoring 25 points.

Lost to Georgia Tech 60-27. Sarah Morton had 11 turnovers at the Point Guard position.

Next Games: Dec 31, UCLA, Jan 2, USC


10. WSU, 2-10, lost to San Diego State 66-57. Carly Noyes and Jazmine Perkins each scored 11 but the Cougars were outrebounded by 18 leading to their loss.

Next Games: Dec 31, USC, Jan 2, UCLA

Others:

Colorado, 7-4,

Next Games: Dec 30, Colgate


Utah, 6-7, beat Southern Oregon 91-36. Michelle Harrison had 8 points and 6 rebounds. Michelle Plouffe had 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Beat New Mexico State 72-62. Iwalani Rodriques had 26 points, with 4 of 6 from three. Rodrigues has 33 threes on the year, hitting at 52%. Michelle Harrison led with 12 rebounds and added 4 points.

Next Games: Jan 1, Utah State


USF, 2-100. Lost at Northern Idaho 74-46. USF shot 26%.

Lost to Stanford 100-45. Mary Jo Mullaney led with 14 points. Almost 3500 in attendance.

Next Games: Dec 29 Academy of Art, Dec 31 St Mary’s

Results of the week ending Dec 19

1. UCLA, 9-0. beat Hawaii 72-44 using its full court press to cause 31 Hawaii turnovers. Nina Earl scored 14 points.

Next Games: Dec 20 East Carolina, Dec 28, LSU, Dec 31 at Washington, Jan 2 at Washington State

2. Stanford, 6-2. See you on the Bus to USF

Next Games: Dec 22 at USF, Dec 28, Xavier, Dec 30, UConn, Jan 2 at Cal


3. USC 7-3, beat Colorado 68-54. Colorado outrebounded USC by 10 but they had 9 more turnovers than USC. Ashley Corral and Brianna Gilbreath both scored 14 points.

Beat San Diego State 74-64 with Ashley Corral scoring 23 points and was just named the Pac 10 Player of the Week. Corral was 3 of 6 from three and added 6 assists. Only 343 bothered to see the game at USC.

Next Games: Dec 29 at Fresno State, Dec 31 at Washington State, Jan 2 at Washington


4. Cal, 7-2. Beat Texas –Arlington 81-56. Afure Jermerigbe scored 17 points including 2 threes. Rachelle Federico was 3 of 6 from three for 9 points.

Next Games: Dec 20 Texas Tech or Old Dominion, Dec 28 at Illinois, Jan 2, Stanford


5. Arizona, 7-2, beat New Mexico State 71-59 with balanced scoring. Soana Lucent led with 15 points, Ify Ibekwe scored 8 points but also had 14 rebounds and Shanita Arnold had 7 assists.

Next Games: Dec 21 North Texas State, Dec 28, Iona, Dec 31, Oregon, Jan 2, Oregon State


6. ASU, 7-2, beat South Dakota State 63-52. Dymond Simon led the way with 15 points, although she did have 6 turnovers. ASU was 6 of 12 from Three.

Next Games: Dec 21 DePaul, Dec 28, Marist, Dec 30, Oregon State, Jan 2, Oregon


7. Oregon, 8-2. Lost to UC Riverside 74-69. Amanda Johnson had 24 points and 9 rebounds. Nia Jackson added 16 points but could only make 3 free throws in 13 attempts.

Beat Denver 82-71 with Amanda Johnson getting her 5th double, double of the season, 24 points and 12 rebounds. Sr Ellyce Ironmonger, who has seen lots of playing time her first three years, made her seasonal debut after recovering from an injury.

Beat St Mary’s 100-71. Amanda Johnson scored 19 points as six Ducks scored in double figures. Nia Jackson had 11 assists and only 1 turnover.

Next Games: Dec 21 at Santa Clara, Dec 31 at Arizona, Jan 2 at ASU


8. Oregon State, 6-4, beat Weber State 62-55. Before I say more get this fact, attendance for the game at Weber State was almost 4,900 fans. Alexis Bostick had 9 points 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 steals for the Beavers. Sage Indendi scored 15 points, 3 of 5 from three.

Lost to Southern Utah 62-61. The Beavers were out rebounded by 19. Alyssa Martin scored 17 points with 3 of 5 from three. Earlysya Marchbanks scored a career high 18points.

Next Games: Dec 21 Eastern Washington, Dec 31 at Arizona State, Jan 2 at Arizona.


9. Washington 4-3,

Next Games: Dec 20 Western Michigan, Dec 23 Georgia Tech, Dec 31, UCLA, Jan 2, USC


10. WSU, 2-9, lost at Wyoming 63-43. Hana Potter had 10 points as the Cougars shot 29%.

Next Games: Dec 21 at San Diego State, Dec 31, USC, Jan 2, UCLA

Others:

Colorado, 7-4, lost to USC 68-54. Brittany Spears couldn’t handle the LA scene, scoring only 5 points and turning the ball over 6 times.

Lost to Dayton 70-50. Brittany Spears bounced back with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

Next Games: Dec 30, Colgate


Utah, 4-7,

Next Games: Dec 20, Southern Oregon, Dec 22 at New Mexico State, Jan 1, Utah State


USF, 2-8. Lost to Cal Poly 80-55.

Next Games: Dec 20 at Northern Idaho, Dec 22 Stanford, Dec 29 Academy of Art, Dec 31 St Mary’s

Results of the week ending Dec 12

Some Stats through Saturday:

Nneka leads the Pac 10 in scored, 18.3
Nneka is tied for 4th in rebounding, 9.3
Sarah Boothe leads in FG %, 60.7 over Nneka 60.0
Kayla Peterson is 3rd in assists, 5.4
Kayla is 2nd in FT %, 85%
Jos Tinkle is 4th in three point %, 37.
Kayla leads in Assist to Turnover ration, 3.38 almost double 2nd place.

1. Stanford, 6-0.

Next Games: Dec 16 at DePaul, Dec 19 at Tennessee, Dec 22 at USF.


2. UCLA, 8-0. UCLA had 24 steals using their full court press to defeat St Mary’s 75-59. UCLA took 24 more shots than St Mary’s and took care of the ball with 18 assists and only 12 turnovers. Rebekah Gardner led the way with 16 points. Louella Tomlison of St Mary’s blocked 8 Bruin shots. Jasmine Dixon returned to action after missing several games with concussion like symptoms.

Next Games: Dec 19 at Hawaii, Dec 20 East Carolina.


3. USC 4-3,

Next Games: Dec 18 Colorado, Dec 19 Dayton or San Diego State, Dec 29 at Fresno State.


4. Cal, 6-2. Beat Long Beach State 82-56 as DeNesha Stallworth had 27 points and Talia Caldwell added 17 points and 11 rebounds. Cal showed good passing in this game with 19 assists and only 11 turnovers.

Dec 19 UT Arlington, Dec 20 Texas Tech or Old Dominion


5. Arizona, 6-2, beat New Mexico 84-60 in Albuquerque. Cal lost there earlier this season. Ify Ibekwe did not play, there were 7300 Lobo fans and still the Wildcats won by 24. Quite a win. Davellyn Whyte scored 24 points with 5 of 10 from three and also had 6 assists. Brooke Jackson scored 17 points, 5 of 8 from three. The Wildcats were 12 of 26 from t and had 20 assists on 30 baskets. Soana Lucent had 18 points and Erica Barnes added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Next games: Dec 19 New Mexico State, Dec 21 North Texas State.


6. ASU, 6-2, beat Colorado State 72-56. Dymond Simon led the way with 14 points as no one played over 26 minutes. ASU had 19 assists and 10 steals.

Next Games: Dec 16 at South Dakota State, Dec 21 DePaul


7. Oregon, 6-1.

Next Games: Dec 14 UC Riverside, Dec 17, Denver, Dec 19 at St Mary’s, Dec 21 at Santa Clara.


8. Oregon State, 5-3,

Next Games: Dec 14 at Weber State, Dec 17 at Southern Utah, Dec 21 Eastern Washington.


9. Washington 4-3, beat Cal State Northridge 73-55. Regina Rogers is still out. Kristi Kingma scored 21 points. Sarah Morton scored 13 points. Northridge is 0-10.

Lost to UC Riverside 59-54, and still without Regina Rogers. Kristi Kigma had 16 points but the Huskies could shot only 30%.

Next Games: Dec 20 Western Michigan, Dec 23 Georgia Tech


10. WSU, 2-8, lost to South Dakota State 72-61. Carly Noyes had 8 points and 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocked shots. Not much else to talk about.

Lost to Gonzaga 93-75. Former June Daugherty recruit, when she was at Washington, Katelan Redmon scored 26 for Gonzaga. Carly Noyes and Ireti Amojo each scored 12 points.

Next Games: Dec 18 at Wyoming, Dec 21 at San Diego State

Others:

Colorado, 6-2, beat Colorado State 73-49. Brittany Spears scored 20 points and had 9 rebounds. Chucky Jeffery scored 21 points and had 13 rebounds. Correction on a previous story, Chucky is 5-10, not 5-6.  However she is averaging 10 rebounds per game.

Next Games: Dec 18 at USC, Dec 19 at USC (tournament).


Utah, 4-7, lost to Idaho State in OT 71-68. Iwalani Rodriques had 27 points, 7 of 10 from three. She made her first 6 threes, combined with her previous game of 7 for 7, she made 13 straight threes, one short of the NCAA record. Michelle Harrison had 4 points and 2 rebounds.

Lost to Mississippi State 61-52. Rodriques was again the bright spot with 18 points and 4 of 7 from three. Michelle Harrison was scoreless and had 4 rebounds.

Next Games: Dec 20, Southern Oregon, Dec 22 at New Mexico State


USF, 2-7. Lost to Utah State 77-71. Mary Jo Mullaney had 22 points and Katy Keating 17 points. USF shot 47%.

Lost to Pacific 76-54. Donnisha Taylor had 12 points for the Dons.

Next Games: Dec 15 at Cal Poly, Dec 20 at Northern Idaho, Dec 22 Sta

Results of the week ending Dec 6

1. Stanford, 5-0. Dead week was last week, Finals are now.

Next Games: Dec 12, Fresno State, Dec 16 at DePaul, Dec 19 at Tennessee


2. UCLA, 7-0 beat Loyola Marymount 67-43. Jasmine Dixon did not play with concussion symptoms. Markel Walker and Darxia Morris each had 15 points. Walker also had 8 assists as the Bruins had a great 23 assists on 28 baskets.

Beat Montana State 54-44 again without top player Dixon. Rebekah Gardner scored 14 points.

Next Games: Dec 12 at St Mary’s, Dec 19 at Hawaii


3. USC 4-3, lost a heartbreaker at # 4 Xavier 69-66. Brianna Gilbreath had a great game with 26 points, 4 of 7 from three and 12 rebounds. Ashley Corral had 13 points, 3 of 9 from three and 7 assists and only one turnover. Xavier was 1 for 17 from three.

Beat North Carolina State 84-75 at North Carolina State. Brianna Gilbreath again led the way with 23 points, 3 of 4 from three. Jackie Gemelos scored 18 points, hitting both threes. Ashley Corral scored 17 points, 3 of 6 from three. The Trojans shot 53% and 60% from three.

Next Games: Dec 18 Colorado, Dec 19 Dayton or San Diego State


4. Cal, 5-2. Lost at # 7 Texas A&M 74-58. Layshia Clarendon scored 19 points but was 7 of 24 from the floor and had 6 turnovers. The Bears had 25 turnovers total.

Next Games: Dec 11 Long Beach State, Dec 19 UT Arlington


5. Arizona, 5-2, lost at Nevada 79-75. Ify Ibekwe scored 29 points and added 9 rebounds. Nevada shot 59% to win despite the Wildcats having 11 steals. Davellyn Whyte scored 16 points.

Next games: Dec 7 at New Mexico, Dec 19 New Mexico State


6. ASU, 5-2, beat Cal Poly 59-48 as Kim Brandon had career beat game with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Tenaya Watson had 9 steals, one short of the school record. The Sun Devils committed 25 turnovers.

Beat New Mexico 55-40. Dymond Simon led with 18 points and Brandon had 11 rebounds. The Sun Devils held New Mexico, who beat Cal at New Mexico earlier, to 29% shooting and the Sun Devils had 14 steals.

Next Games: Dec 11 Colorado State, Dec 16 at South Dakota State


7. Oregon, 6-1. Beat Boise State 80-64 as Oregon continues winning with their weak schedule. Amanda Johnson led the way with 15 points and 12 rebounds as 11 players scored for the Ducks.

Next Games: Dec 14 UC Riverside.


8. Oregon State, 5-3, Beat Cal State Bakersfield 68-59. El Sara Greer scored a career high 25 points and pulled in 11 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. Alyssa Martin added 21 points. Martin has been the Pac 10’s highest scoring Frosh thus far. Sage Indendi added 8 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Lost to Pepperdine 57-54. El Sara Greer had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Alyssa Martin had 18 points with 4 of 9 from three.

Next Games: Dec 14 at Weber State, Dec 17 at Southern Utah


9. Washington 4-2, beat Utah 58-55. Marjorie Heard hit a three with less than 3 seconds for the win for the Huskies. Sarah Morton had 20 points and 5 assists. Morton was 12 of 16 from the Free Throw line. Kristi Kingma scored 13 points.

Next Games: Dec 8 at Cal State Northridge, Dec 12 UC Riverside.


10. WSU, 1-6, beat Nevada 67-54. Nevada beat Arizona this week so a great win for the Cougars. Sage Romberg had 9 points and 11 rebounds. Five players scored between 8 and 11 points.

Next Games: Dec 7, South Dakota State, Dec 11 at Gonzaga

Others:

Colorado, 5-2, beat Texas State 67-35 as Chucky Jeffery had 23 points and 10 rebounds.

Lost to Illinois 63-59. Jeffery had 17 points and Brittany Spears had 15.

Next Games: Dec 8 Colorado State, Dec 18 at USC


Utah, 4-5, lost to Washington 58-55. Michelle Plouffe had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Michelle Harrison 2 points and 3 rebounds.

Lost to Arkansas 65-54. Iwalani Rodrigues had 18 points. Micchelle was scoreless.

Beat Westminister 78-36 as Rodriques had 31 points on an incredible 7 for 7 from three. Janita Badon had 19 points, 4 of 6 from three and 10 assists. Michelle just scored 2 points but had 10 rebounds and 4 assists.

Next Games: Dec 8 Idaho State, Dec 11 at Mississippi State, Dec 20, Southern Oregon


USF, 2-5. Lost at Sacramento State 106-88. Savannah Erskine scored 12 points with 9assists and 6 steals. USF took an amazing 98 shots but shot only 35%.

Lost to UCSB 71-38.

Next Games: Dec 8 at Utah State Dec 11 Pacific, Dec 15 at Cal Poly

Results of the week ending Nov 28

1. Stanford, 5-0.

Next Games: Dec 12, Fresno State


2. UCLA, 5-0 beat Temple 71-61. Markel Walker had 15 points and 9 rebounds while Darxia Morris had 15 points including 3 of 4 from three. UCLA made 5 of their 9 three point attempts.

Next Games: Dec 3 at Loyola Marymount, Dec 5 Montana State, Dec 12 at St Mary’s


3. USC 4-2, Beat # 18 Georgia at home 72-63. Ashley Corral scored 15 points and Jackie Gemelos scored 14. Three other Trojans scored 9 points each.

Lost to Princeton 60-59 in a game where USC shot only 35% and were even in rebounds. The Trojans were also just 9 for 18 in Free Throws. Ashley Corral scored 21 points, Cassie Harberts scored 12 and had 8 rebounds and Christina Marinacci had 11 points and 8 rebounds.

Beat Quinnipiac 78-59 as they outrebounded their rival by 22. Still the Trojans again shot only 35% and a woeful 3 of 21 from three. But they were aggressive, hitting 25 of 35 from the free throw line. Briana Gilbreath had 18 points and 14 rebounds while Christina Marinacci scored 11 points and had 18 rebounds. Ashley Corral had 16 points and 5 assists.

Next Games: Dec at Xavier, Dec 5 at North Carolina State, Dec 18 Colorado.


4. Cal, 5-1. Beat Yale 64-41. Talia Caldwell scored 17 points and had 16 rebounds. DeNesha Stallworth added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Cal had 29 turnovers.

Beat Cal Sate Fullerton 74-62. Layshia Clarendon had 20 points on 8 of 13 shooting, although also 8 turnovers. DeNesha Stallworth had 19 points and 8 rebounds, Talia Caldwell scored 17 points.

Beat Portland State 82-49. Stallworth had 25 points, Clarendon 15, with 7 assists and only 2 turnovers and Caldwell added 13 points. Lindsay Sherbert scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds. 6-5 Post Rama did not play this past weekend as her knee flared up. Cal is playing with a roster of 8 as Gennifer Brandon is still out.

Next Games: Dec 4 at Texas A&M, Dec 11 Long Beach State


5. Arizona, 5-1, beat Arkansas Pine Bluff 93-54. Ify Ibekwe had 12 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 blocked shots. Brooke Jackson with 4 threes in 7 attempts for 13 points. 30 assists to 20 turnovers for the Wildcats.

Lost to highly ranked Texas A&M 87-78. The Wildcats were led by five different players scoring between 11 and 16 points. They shot 46% and were even in rebounds with Texas A&M although did have 7 more turnovers.

Beat Bradley 82-59. Ibekwe had 21 points and 8 rebounds and Soana Lucent had 19 points. Frosh Erica Barnes had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Wildcats shot 49% and had 17 assists to 14 turnovers.

Next games: Dec 2 at Nevada, Dec 7 at New Mexico, Dec 19 New Mexico State


6. ASU, 3-2 beat Providence 63-56. Becca Tobin led with 11 points and 8 rebounds. ASU had only 8 assists for the game as everyone played, as usual.

Lost to # 14 Florida State 65-55. Janee Fulcher scored 13 points. The Sun Devils were 3 of 30 from three.

Next Games: Dec 3, Cal Poly, Dec 4, Lamar or New Mexico, Dec 11 Colorado State


7. Oregon, 5-1. Oregon was down 16 in the first half but came back to beat Portland 83-79. Amanda Johnson had 20 points and 12 rebounds while Nia Jackson added 18 points.

Beat Idaho 74-48 with Amanda Johnson scoring 20 points and gathering 9 rebounds. Jackson had 10 points and 7 assists.

Lost to Cal State Bakersfield 82-78 for their first loss. It should be noted that Oregon has the easiest non conference schedule in the Pac 10. Johnson had 29 points and 14 rebounds and Nia Jackson scored 23 points.

Beat Sac State 110-60 Johnson had 13 points and 8 rebounds and Jackson had 18 points and 7 assists. Kristi Fallin scored 26 points hitting 6 of 8 from three. The Bench scored 65 points.

Next Games: Dec 3 at Boise State, Dec 14 UC Riverside.


8. Oregon State, 4-2, beat UNLV 57-45 as Alyssa Martin continued her great play with 4 threes and 23 points. Of interest, Lenita Sanford who once tried to play at Cal had 8 points and 9 rebounds in 30 minutes for UNLV. Coach Scott Rueck was called for two Technicals.

Lost to Rutgers 65-52 as Martin had 13 points. The Beavers shot only 30% but outrebounded Rutgers by 7.

Next Games: Nov 30 Cal State Bakersfield, Dec 3, Pepperdine, Dec 14 at Weber State


9. Washington 3-2, lost to Kent State 59-58 despite 30 points from Kristi Kingma. Kingma was 10 for 20 including 4 of 6 from three. Mackenzie Argens had 10 points and 9 rebounds.

Beat San Jose State 49-27. 27?? San Jose shot 27% and had 31 turnovers. Kigma had 14points and Regina Rogers was not able to play again.

Next Games: Dec 1 at Utah, Dec 8 at Cal State Northridge, Dec 12 UC Riverside.


10. WSU, 1-6, lost to Nebraska 87-79 in a game that was very close until the end. Nebraska was ranked # 26 going into the game. Carly Noyes had 19 points while Roseta Adzusu had 9 assists. The Cougars played by far their best game of the season and had 23 assists to 17 turnovers

Lost to ranked North Carolina 93-55 as the Cougars shot 27% and were 7 of 37 from three. Of course being behind leads to many three point attempts. Carly Noyes scored 11 points.

Beat Long Beach State 87-63 for their first win. Sage Romberg led with 13 points as WSU had 26 assists to only 15 turnovers.

Lost to Gonzaga 67-65 in a real heartbreaker. Romberg had 11 points and 8 rebounds and Jazmine Perkins scored 14 points. The game was tied with 12 seconds left.

Next Games: Dec 5, Nevada, Dec 7, South Dakota State, Dec 11 at Gonzaga

Others:

Colorado, 5-1, beat Evansville 55-53 with Brittany Speaks scoring 19 points and also had 10 rebounds. Chucky Jones added 17 points but had 10 turnovers.

Beat Loyola of Chicago 65-34 as Jones had 10 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

Next Games: Dec 1, Texas State, Dec 4, Illinois, Dec 8 Colorado State, Dec 18 at USC


Utah, 3-3, lost to Penn State 70-58 as Michelle Harrison had 8 points.

Beat Hartford 51-45 as Harrison again scored 8 points.

Lost to Wisconsin Green Bay 6-40 with Harrison being shut out.

Next Games: Dec 1 Washington, Dec 4 Arkansas, Dec 6 Westminster, Dec 8 Idaho State, Dec 11 at Mississippi State


USF, 2-3. Lost at New Mexico 73-38, shooting only 22%.

Beat Rhode Island 87-76 shooting 52%. Katy Keating scored 19 points and Kelly Jo Mullaney 18 points.

Next Games: Dec 1 at Sac State, Dec 5 UCSB, Dec 8 Pacific, Dec 15 at Cal Poly

Results of the week ending Nov 21

1. Stanford, 3-0.

Next Games: Nov 26, South Carolina, Nov 28, Texas


2. UCLA, 4-0, beat Notre Dame at South Bend, 86-83 in double Overtime. A huge win for the Bruins and for the Pac 10. Jasmine Dixon had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Markel Walker had 16 points and Darxia Morris had 17 points. Atonye Nyingifa had 11 points and 8 rebounds. Doreena Campbell had 7 assists but 9 turnovers.

Beat UC Davis 65-49 for their best start in 14 years at 4-0. UCLA shot 54%, and held Davis to 37%. However the Bruins made only one three and had 29 turnovers. Four scored in double figures for the Bruins. Morris had 14 and Dixon 13. The Bruins had a big rebounding margin.

Next Games: Nov 28, Temple


3. USC, 2-1, Lost at Duke 75-50, trailing by 18 at the half. Briana Gilbreath scored 12 points, 3 of 6 from three, and Christina Marinacci had 10 rebounds. USC had only 8 assists and shot just 31%. Duke is very good of course, but a disappointing performance by the team picked by most to be 3rd in the Pac 10.

Beat Long Beach State 82-60. Jackie Gemelos had 14 points and 6 assists; Cassie Harberts 14 points and 8 rebounds and Ashley Corral hit 3 threes and scored 13 points. USC was 12 for 28 from three.

Next Games: Nov 23 Georgia, Nov 26 Princeton in Nashville, Nov 28, TBD in Nashville


4. Cal, 2-1. Lost at New Mexico in double Overtime 63-54. Cal shot 27% was 1 for 21 from three and outrebounded by 14. DeNesha Stallworth had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Next Games: Nov 23, Yale, Nov 27, Cal State Fullerton, Nov 28, Tulare or Portland State.


5. ASU, 2-1. Lost at Tennessee 80-64. Dymond Simon with 13 points, the only Sun Devil in double figures but she took 16 shots to get there.

Next Games: Nov 26 Providence, in the Bahamas, Nov 27, Alabama or Florida State, in the Bahamas.


6. Arizona, 3-0, beat Northern Arizona 71-49. Candice Warthen had 12 points and 13 rebounds, quite a rebound total for a 5-5 guard. Soana Lucent scored 15 points and had 9 rebounds. The Wildcats out rebounded Northern Arizona 64-28, but they did have 24 turnovers and made only 2 threes.

Beat Mississippi 72-70 at Mississippi. Ole Miss was picked for 10th in the SEC but still a good win for the Wildcats who start 3-0 for the first time in 9 years. Played before 272 people. Geesh. Ify Ibewke had a great game, 24 points and 17 rebounds. Soana Lucent and Davellyn Whyte each added 17 points. Shanita Arnold had 9 assists.

Next games: Nov 22 Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Nov 26, Texas A&M in Cancun, Nov 27, Bradley, in Cancun.


7. Oregon, 2-0. Beat Long Beach State 88-76 in Long Beach. Nia Jackson had 21 points and 8 assists while hitting all 3 from three. Frosh Deanna Weaver had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Next Games: Nov 22 at U of Portland, Nov 26, Idaho, Nov 27, Sac State or Cal State Bakersfield.


8. Oregon State, 3-1, played 3 games in a Hawaii tournament. Best Eastern Michigan 59-44 holding Eastern Michigan to 30% shooting. Sage Indendi scored 14 points, including 4 of 6 from three and El Sara Greer had 13 rebounds. The Beavers hit 11 of 24 from three.

Beat Cal State Northridge 49-32, again with great defense as Northridge shot only
26%. Greer and Angela Misa each had 11 rebounds while Alexis Bostick scored 10 points.

Lost in the Championship game to Hawaii 54-49. Indendi scored 11 points with 3 threes.

Next Games: Nov 26, UNLV, Nov 27, Rutgers or Pacific


9. Washington 1-1 lost to BYU 80-55, playing without Point Guard Sarah Morton and Center Regina Rogers. Both are expected back. Mackenzie Argens had 17 rebounds in only 24 minutes.

Next Games: Nov 23 Kent State at a tournament in Alaska, Dec 1 at Utah


10. WSU, 0-3, lost at Portland 91-80. Poor defense here as Portland made 12 Threes at 48%, and shot 48.4 % overall. Rosetta Adzasu scored 20 points and had 7 assists. Hana Potter had 17 points and 7 rebounds.

Next Games: Nov 22, Nebraska, Nov 26, North Carolina in Hawaii, Nov 27 and 28 also in Hawaii

Others:

Colorado, 2-1, lost to Denver 70-69. Brittany Spears scored 24 points, including 5 of 6 from three and added 10 rebounds.

Beat Santa Clara 71-57 as four Colorado players scored in double figures.

Beat Tennessee Martin 79-67 with Chucky Jeffery scoring 25 points and Brittany Spears 20. Spears added 12 rebounds.

Next Games: Nov 26, Evansville, Nov 27, Eastern Washington or Loyola of Chicago.


Utah, 2-1, beat Weber State 62-56. Michelle Harrison scored 9, Michelle Plouffe scored 12 and had 8 rebounds and Taryn Wicijowski scored 14 points and had 11 rebounds.

Lost at home to Stanford 62-53 as Michelle Harrison scored 14 with 4 threes.

Next Games: Nov 25, Penn State in Cancun, Nov 27, Wisc Green Bay in Cancun.


USF, 1-2. Jennifer Azzi’s first win, 71-59 over San Jose State. Azzi started several different players and one, Katy Keating, responded with 20 points, 6 of 7 from three. Donnisha Johnson also had 20. And in a turnaround, 17 assists to 13 turnovers.

Lost at Cal State Fullerton 69-66. Five players scored between 9 and 11 points.

Next Games: Nov 26 and 27 New Mexico, Rhode Island and Oklahoma State.

Week two results

1. Stanford, 1-0. Beat Rutgers 63-50.

Next Games: Nov 19 at Utah, Nov 21 at Gonzaga


2. UCLA, 2-0, beat Vanguard 79-43. Jasmine Dixon had 23 points and 16 rebounds. Rebekah Gardner scored 19 points and had 13 rebounds. Atonye Nyingifa made her return after missing last season with a knee injury to score 6 points and gather 5 rebounds in 15 minutes. The three Bruin Frosh were held scoreless in a combined 22 minutes. UCLA was 0 for 6 from three.

Beat San Diego State 55-48. Jasmine Dixon had 15 points and 11 rebounds while Doreena Campbell added 12 points and 6 assists. The Bruins did not make a three. Arizona transfer Courtney Clements scored 19 for San Diego State.

Beat UCSB 66-52. Jasmine Dixon scored 12 points and had 5 assists. UCLA had 4 players score 10-12 points. The Bruins had 22 assists and 14 turnovers, and only made one three.

Next Games: Nov 18 at Norte Dame, Nov 21 UC Davis


3. USC, 1-0, beat Biola in an exhibition 93-66. Kari LaPlante scored 19 points to lead the way. Christina Marinacci added 17 points and Frosh Cassie Harberts debuted with 14 points. Stephanie Gilbreath who has missed the past 3 years did not play. Michelle Jenkins is out for another 2 months or so recovering from her knee injury of last season and Frosh Thaddesia Southall is redshirting with her injury problem from last year. However Jackie Gemelos scored 12 points. Ashley Corral had 9 assists.

In their first game USC beat Gonzaga 79-73. Briana Gilbreath scored 21 points and Christina Marinacci scored 16 points. They both had 10 rebounds. USC shot 53 % for the game, however they did have 25 turnovers and only 12 assists. Cassie Harbarts made her debut with 16 points. Stephanie Gilbreath made her first appearance and played 5 minutes. She had missed her first 3 years with knee injuries.

Next Games; Nov 15 at Duke, Nov 21 Long Beach State, Nov 23 Georgia


4. Cal, 2-0. The Bears beat Rutgers in a big first game 66-57. DeNesha Stallworth had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Layshia Clarendon scored 16 points, on 6 of 10 shooting including 2 threes. Eliza Pierre had 6 assists.

Beat St Mary’s 89-63. Stallworth had 23 points and 10 rebounds. Frosh Lindsay Sherbert scored 20 points hitting 4 of 5 threes. Layshia Clarendon had 9 assists and no turnovers. Cal made 11 of 22 threes.

Next Games: Nov 20 at New Mexico


5. ASU, 2-0. The Sun Devils beat Northern Arizona 81-46 with 3600 Sun Devil fans in attendance. Dymond Simon led the way with 18 points. Kali Bennett and Becca Tobin both 6-5 players, started. Joy Burke, another 6-5 played also played and their combined stats were 56 minutes, 22 points and 28 rebounds. Bennett also had 5 assists. The Sun Devils made only one three.

Beat UC Riverside at Riverside 58-47. Dymond Simon led with 14 points and Kali Bennett had 11 rebounds. ASU shot only 31%, had 7 assists to 21 turnovers and didn’t make a three.

Next Games: Nov 21 at Tennessee.


6. Arizona, 1-0. The Wildcats won at Wichita State 81-72 in OT. A fine win for the Wildcats. Frosh Erica Barnes, Sara James former teammate, scored 16 points and gathered in 14 rebounds. Ify Ibekwe fouled out in only 22 minutes scoring only 4 points. Davellyn Whyte and Arkansas transfer Shanita Arnold each scored 16 points. Arnold added 7 assists and 4 steals. Brooke Jackson hit 3 of 6 threes and scored 15 points.

Next games: Nov 15, Northern Arizona, Nov 18 at Mississippi, Nov 22 Arkansas-Pine Bluff.


7. WSU, 0-2, lost to St Mary’s at St Mary’s 73-69. Now St Mary’s is a pretty good team, and Oregon State transfer Jasmine Smith scored 24, but not a good loss. The Cougars shot only 33%. Frosh Sage Romberg scored 19 in her debut but had 7 turnovers. Jazmine Perkins scored 17 but on 5 of 17. JC transfer Rosetta Adzasu scored 13 points and had 6 assists. St Mary’s was 30 of 36 from the foul line.

The Cougars lost at UC Davis 77-38 in a huge disappointment for Washington State. The Cougars shot 25%, went 0-19 from three, and had 28 turnovers.

Next Games: Nov 18 at Portland, Nov 22, Nebraska.


8. Oregon, 1-0. The Ducks beat Western Oregon 110-70. Amanda Johnson had 18 points and 11 rebounds as 6 Ducks scored in double figures. Frosh Deanna Weaver scored 16 points. The Ducks did have 26 turnovers, and made only 3 threes.

Next Games: Nov 19 at Long Beach State, Nov 22 at U of Portland


9. Washington 1-0 beat Portland State at home 51-50. Regina Rogers and Kristi Kingma each had 18 points. Kigma hit 4 of 8 threes. Mollie Williams had 13 rebounds.

Next Games: Nov 20 at BYU, Nov 23 Kent State at a tournament in Alaska.


10. Oregon State, 1-0, beat Long Beach State in an amazing game 71-39. With only 2returning players, a weak recruiting class, and a couple of walk ons, the Oregon State staff deserves the Player of the Week award. Frosh Alyssa Martin scored 24 on 9 of 12 shooting including 5 of 7 from three. Oregon State caused 27 Long Beach turnovers with 20 steals. Angela Misa had 12 rebounds and 6 steals.

Next Games: Nov 19, 20 21 at a Tournament in Hawaii. The first game is against Eastern Michigan


Others:

Colorado, 1-0. The Buffaloes beat Regis 76-38. Forward Brittany Spears scored 20 points and Guard Chucky Jones scored 13 points and had 12 rebounds and 6 assists.

Next Games: Nov 16 at Denver, Nov 19 Santa Clara, Nov 21 Tennessee-Martin


Utah, 1-0, beat SMU 44-43 in their opener as Frosh Michelle Pouffe had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Michelle Harrison did not score in her 23 minutes. The Utes had 5 assists and 17 turnovers.

Next Games: Nov 16 at Weber State, Nov 19, Stanford.


USF, 0-1 lost to UC Davis 69-45 before this gung ho reporter. Jennifer has a long ways to go as the Dons scored only 14 on the first half and were outrebounded by
24.

Next Games: Nov 15, San Jose State, Nov 18 at Cal State Fullerton

Predictions and the first week’s results.

All the games this week were exhibitions but like our game against Vanguard it’s always great to see your team after 6 months and root them to victory.

My Pac 10 Predictions, at least the first go round, I’ll do it again at Christmas time.

1. Stanford, of course. The Cardinal have at 4.4 seconds the fastest Point Guard in the nation.

2. UCLA opens with an exhibition tonight against Vanguard.

3. USC does not have any exhibitions scheduled.

4. Cal beat Vanguard in an exhibition 79-41. DeNesha Stallworth scored 17 points and had 8 rebounds and Rama N’diaye returned after missing last season to score 11 points and grab 11 rebounds. Cal had 22 assists on 32 baskets, a change for the positive from last season.

5. ASU beat Fort Lewis 89-56 in an exhibition. Two players who missed last season with injuries, Dymond Simon and Markisha Patterson each scored 11 points. Kali Bennett led the scoring with 14 points and had 11 rebounds. 11 Sun Devils played between 16 and 21 minutes.

6. Arizona beat Grand Canyon in an exhibition 90-46. Brooke Jackson had 18 points and was 3 of 4 from three. Ify Ibekwe had 14 points, 2 of 2 from three and 11rebounds. JC transfer Candice Warthen had 13 points. The Wildcats were 9 of 18 from three.

Arizona also beat Western State of Colorado in an exhibition 109-62. Davellyn Whyte had 28 points, 5 of 10 from three. Arkansas transfer Shanita Arnold scored 22 points, 3 of 4 from three. Frosh Erica Barnes had 15 points and Ify Ibekwe scored 12points and had 12 rebounds. The Wildcats were 10 of 20 from three.

7. WSU barely beat Lewis and Clark in an exhibition 64-63. Frosh Sage Romberg scored the winning basket with 9 seconds left then blocked a shot as timed expired. Romberg scored 13 points in her debut.

8. Oregon beat Willamette in an exhibition game 121-41. The good news, in addition to the 121 points, were 35 steals resulting in 55 turnovers for Willamette. The bad, Oregon was only 8 of 35 from three and shot 37% overall. JC transfer Ashley Buis had 18 points and made 4 of the 8 threes.

In the 2nd exhibition game for the Ducks they beat Westmont 93-68 with Amanda Johnson scoring 24 points and adding 15 rebounds. Ashley Buis had 11 points hitting 3 of 4 from three. The Ducks had only 17 assists to 22 turnovers.

9. Washington beat Western Washington in an exhibition, 63-46. Mollie Williams had 14 points and 16 rebounds in only 19 minutes. The Huskies only made 2 threes. Regina Rogers had 7 turnovers in 14 minutes.

10. Oregon State didn’t play as they have no exhibitions scheduled.

Others:

Colorado beat Western State in an exhibition 93-62 led by Chucky Jeffrey’s 23 points and 10 assists. Brittany Spears had 17 points and 11 rebounds while Frosh Shae Kelly scored 22 points.

Utah beat Warner Pacific in an exhibition 112-56. Michelle Harrison scored 13 points in 20 minutes. Frosh Michelle Plouffe scored 19 points. Taryn Wicijowski had 15 points and 9 rebounds.

USF with Jennifer Azzi making her Coaching debut beating Sonoma State 61-34 with Ashley Boggs scoring 18 points.

The Basketball Season Begins

Wednesday, November 3rd is the first Pac 10 Women’s Basketball game. 8 of the 10 teams will open with an exhibition game or two before starting the official non conference games. Here are the starting dates by school:

Arizona: Nov 4 and 7 exhibition games, Nov 12 the first non conference game is at Wichita State.

ASU: Nov 7 exhibition then start Nov 12 against Northern Arizona

Cal: Nov 4 exhibition against Vanguard then Nov 12 against Rutgers

Oregon: Nov 3 and Nov 7 exhibition games, Nov 13, Western Oregon

Oregon State: No exhibition games, Nov 13 Long Beach State

UCLA: Nov 8 vs Vanguard then Nov 12 at San Diego State

USC: No exhibitions, they start with Gonzaga on Nov 12.

Washington: Nov 3 exhibition then start with Portland State on Nov 14

Washington State: Nov 7 Exhibition, then Nov 12 at St Mary’s

I mentioned Vanguard as we play them Nov 6th and the Vanguard Coach is the Samuelson’s Travel Coach and was Jeanette’s Travel Coach.


Strength of Schedule: I thought it would be interesting to see who is playing tough non conference games, then found that the rankings weren’t out as I wrote this. So I used Charlie Crème’s last April preview of this season where he listed his top 64 teams for 2010-2011. My ranking scale is as follows:

If a team is ranked in the Top 10, the Pac 10 team playing them gets 10 points then:
11-20 = 8 points
21-30 = 6 points
31-40 = 4 points
41-50 = 2 points
51-64 = 1 point

Probably I could be more finite, like more for a top 5 team than a team ranked 6-10, but here it is:

1. Stanford, 52
2. USC, 44
3. ASU, 33
4. UCLA, 20
5. Cal, 16
6. Washington State, 12
7. Arizona, 10
8. Washington, 6
9. Oregon State, 5
10. Oregon, 0


Three Point Shooting: What teams might be the best? Always a hard one before the first game but it could be Stanford. Here’s a run down of last year’s top 3 point shooting teams by 3 pointers made, with some comments on how that may or may not carry forward to this season.

1. Oregon: 284 at 35%. Top 2 with 171 graduated
2. Stanford: 237 at 34% 3-4 with 74 graduated
3. USC: 192 at 34% 2-3-4 with 85 graduated
4. WSU: 162 at 26%
5. Arizona: 152 at 31%
5. Cal: 151 at 27% Top shooter by far graduated
7. UCLA: 126 at 34% Top shooter graduated
8. Washington: 101 at 32% Top shooter graduated
9. Oregon State: 90 at 27% All gone
10. ASU: 88 at 29% Top shooter graduated

Stanford returns more who made 3’s than any team in the conference.

Cal hopes for the NCAA this year

Last season Cal won the WNIT with six straight wins at the end of the season. They finished with a 24-13 record, 11-7 in Pac play.

LOSSES:

Alexis Gray-Lawson is one of the greatest players in Cal history. She averaged 18 points and 5 rebounds per game, and made more threes (61) than the next three on the Cal team.

Natasha Vital averaged 6.5 points per game while averaging 24 minutes per game.

Lauren Greif saw her playing time reduced last season and averaged only 2.4 points per game. And she now works for Stanford.

Brenna Heater left mid year.

ADDITIONS:

Avigiel Cohen is a 6-0 Frosh Guard from Israel who played on their 19U team in
2009. However she hurt her knee for the 2nd time recently and is now out for the season.

Afure Jemerigbe is a 6-0 Guard. She was a McDonalds All American.

Mikayla Lyles is a 5-8 Shooting Guard who was named the 4th best shooter in the nation last year.

Lindsay Sherbert is a 6-0 Wing who also was a McDonalds All American.

NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

Not a very strong schedule, highlighted by Rutgers, Texas A&M (projected as a Top 10 team) and Illinois.

BY POSITION:

POSTS:
DeNesha Stallworth is a 6-3 Soph who ideally would be the Center but with the injury to Forward Gennifer Brandon, Stallworth may start the season at Forward. Last season Stallworth averaged 13 points, 6 rebounds in 30 minutes per game. All 2nd on the team. She’s a strong inside player with excellent post moves. Stallworth started every game this past season, most at the Forward position. She was a McDonalds All American and just turned 18 in May, having skipped a grade.

Talia Caldwell is another 6-3 Soph who averaged 5 points and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes per game while starting 27 of the 37 games at Center. Caldwell shot 61% from the floor, one of the top shooting percentages in Cal history.

Rama N’diaye is a 6-5, 5th year Sr who missed last season with a knee injury and most of the previous season with the same knee problem. As a Soph when Hampton missed the first 12 games, Rama averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds in her place.

POWER FORWARDS:

Gennifer Brandon is a 6-2 Soph nursing a stress reaction in her leg. She may miss some early season time, but probably, and hopefully, not much. Last season she averaged 7 points and led the Bears with 8.5 rebounds per game. Brandon only started a few games but played 22 minutes a game. She was a McDonalds All American.

Stallworth will also play here.

WINGS:

Layshia Clarendon is a 5-9 Soph, who averaged 9 points, 3rd on the team, and 4.5 rebounds per game last season. Clarendon was also 2nd on the team in assists and will also play Point Guard. Layshia scored 29 points with 6 assists in a WNIT game and had an assist to turnover ration of a great 2.1:1 in the 6 game WNIT run the Bears enjoyed.

Lindsay Sherbert is a 6-0 Frosh who was ranked as the # 6 wing in High School. Sherbert was a McDonalds All American and averaged 27 points per game in High School. She can light it up from all over the court and is a good rebounder.

Afure Jemerigbe is a 6-0 Frosh, the # 2 Guard in High School last season. Also a McDonalds All American. Afure is very quick and with Pierre will really be a defensive star.

Rachelle Federico is a 5-11 Sr who hasn’t played much but is a decent three point shooter when she plays more than her average of 10 minutes per game, which will be needed this season.

Mikayla Lyles is a 5-8 Frosh who can be an excellent three point shooter. She won’t create many shots but Cal figures to be strong inside offensively so if they kick out well Lyles can be a perimeter scorer this season. HoopGurlz named Lyles the # 4shooter last season.


POINT GUARDS:

Eliza Pierre is a 5-7 Soph who started more than half the games last year sharing the position with the Sr Vital. Pierre only averaged 2 points per game but led the team in steals by a lot and also had a plus assist to turnover ratio. She was a terrible shooter last year, excelling with her quickness. However we saw her hit two straight threes at Kezar and word is she has improved in this area.

Clarendon is the back up here.

FORECAST:

A very young team with 2 Srs and no Jrs. So the youth factor must be overcome. However they have talent with 4 McDonalds All Americans. They went into the WNIT with a record of 18-13 so they must improve by about 4 wins to achieve the NCAA.

The Bruins are reaching for Gold

UCLA and Stanford were the only Pac 10 teams in the NCAA last season, as the Bruins finished 2nd in the Pac 10, 2nd in the Pac 10 tournament then beat North Carolina State in the NCAA tournament and lost to highly ranked Nebraska. Their record was 25-9 and 15-3 in conference play.

LOSSES:

Erica Tukianen was the top scorer among those who graduated, but 5th on the team. Erica averaged 8 points in 24 minutes per game. However she had more threes, 49 at 43% than the next two best on the Bruin team.

Moniquee Alexander averaged 3 points and 3 and a half rebounds in 11 minutes per game.

ADDITIONS:

Corinne Costa is a 6-4 Center from the East Bay.

Rhema Gardner is a 6-1 Forward who was all Southern Section CIF last year.

Thea Lemberger is a 5-6 Point Guard.

Atonye Nyingifa missed last season with a knee injury. She was a starter as a Frosh and was the # 19 player in the country out of High School. She will have 3 years left to play.

NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

San Diego State, LSU and Notre Dame represent the only potential top 25 teams. The Bruins do play at St Mary’s on Dec 12th. The Bruins should have a fine pre-season record, but not a strong Strength of Schedule.

BY POSITION:

POSTS:

Will UCLA play often with a Center? There personal indicates more of a two forward, 2 wing and a Point Guard type of team, which they played more often than not last season.

Christina Nzekwe is a 6-4 Sr who averaged 2 and a half points and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes per game.

Corinne Costa is a 6-4 Frosh from the East Bay who was the # 32 Post last year in High School.

POWER FORWARDS:

UCLA has three short for the post players yet they are very strong rebounders. They will play here and make up what I believe will be the Bruin front court.

Jasmine Dixon is a 6-0 Jr who was both the leading scorer and the leading rebounder for the Bruins last season. Dixon averaged 15 point and 8 rebounds a game in only 26 minutes per game. At that Dixon was second on the team in minutes per game. She shot 55% from the floor and with her rebounding ability is a very strong post player. One of the top players in the Pac 10. A McDonalds High School All American.

Markel Walker is a 6-1 Soph who averaged 11 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Great player around the hoop despite her lack of height. Walker shot 48% from the floor and was one of the top Frosh in the Pac 10 last season. Also a High School McDonalds All American.

Atonye Nyingifa is a 5-11 post/wing player who missed all of last season with a knee injury. Atonye was one of the top Frosh in the Pac 10 two years ago when she averaged 6 points and 5 rebounds per game.

A note on the type of play for Dixon, Walker and Nyingifa, they are classic 4’s who made a total of 7 threes in their last seasons of play.

Nina Earl is a 6-1 Sr who averaged 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 13 minutes of play last season. Earl averaged 7.5 points per game her first two seasons at UCLA.

Rhema Gardner is a 6-1 Frosh who’s sister Rebekah is also on the team. Gardner was the # 22 wing in High School so could play several positions for the Bruins.

WINGS:

Dorenna Campbell is a 5-10 Sr who can play the Point in addition to the 2 Guard position. Campbell started every game last season and averaged 10 points per game and was the leader in minutes played. She was 2nd on the team and the top returning three point shooter, making 26 at 41%. For her career Campbell has made 75 threes at 41%, a nice shooting percentage. I mention her three point shooting as she will be the main three point treat for the Bruins. Campbell also had a plus assist to turnover ratio.

Rebekah Gardner is a 6-1 Jr who averaged 7 points in 20 minutes per game last season. The older Gardner sister started 7 games for the Bruins.

POINT GUARDS:

Darxia Morris started most of the games at the Point last season. Morris is a 5-8 Sr. She averaged 8.6 points per game and had a 1.2 :1 assist to turnover ratio. Morris also made 20 threes at 33% improving from not even attempting many threes her first two seasons.

Mariah Williams is a 5-3 Soph who averaged just 2 points a game but did start 6 games for the Bruins.

Thea Lemberger is a 5-6 Frosh who was the # 35 Point Guard last year in High School but highly thought of by several scouts.

FORECAST:

This year and the future are very bright for the Nikki Caldwell led Bruins. While they lack a solid post, they have very good rebounding and post scoring ability. Their weakness will be three point shooting and defending skilled 6-3, 6-4 Centers. However they will also create many defensive opportunities with their very quick and aggressive defense. The Bruins could well be a Sweet 16 or better team.

Michelle becomes a Ute

Michelle Harrison graduated from Stanford and enrolled in the Masters program at the University of Utah. She’ll be playing for the Utah Utes this season while she gets her Masters degree in Education, Culture and Society.
Utah will be playing its last season in the Mountain West Conference and with Colorado will be joining the Pac 12 for next season.

Last year Utah was 23-12, and 10-6 in the conference. They advanced to the Finals of the Mountain West tournament and played two games, losing their second to Cal in the WNIT. The Utes played three Pac 10 teams, losing to Cal and Stanford and beating Oregon.

LOSSES:

Kalee Whipple averaged 16 points and 7 rebounds while playing 37 minutes per game. She made 64 three’s more than the next two players combined, although at only 31%.

Halie Sawyer averaged 7 points and 8 rebounds and 32 minutes per game. She led the team in blocks, twice as many as the next player.

ADDITIONS:

Michelle Harrison, and we all know her.

Ciera Dunbar has missed most of her past two seasons, her Jr and Sr year in High School, so hard to count on her, but she does have promise.

Allison Gida is a 5-11 frosh guard who was all state in Oregon averaging 18 points, 9rebounds, 6 steals and 4 assists per game.

Brittany Knighton was all state in Oregon as a Soph, but then had a knee injury as a Jr, and recovered as a Sr. Still averaged 13 points and 6 rebounds as a Sr while playing for the fabled Oregon City program.

Amy Krommenhoek is a 3 time all state player in Utah, hitting 2 threes per game last season. Her sister was an All American at Utah in the 90’s.

6-4 Michelle Plouffe is a Canadian who average 14 points and 9 rebounds this past year on the Canadian U18 National team. Her twin plays at Marquette and you may remember her sister, Andrea at Washington.

A good recruiting class, plus Michelle.

Anthony Levrets moves from Assistant to Interim Head Coach for this season as long time Head Coach Elaine Elliot takes a leave of absence.


NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

I would guess that San Diego State is the toughest team in their Conference, so when Utah joins the Pac 12 they will be moving up. The Utes play Stanford, Penn State, Arkansas and Mississippi State in the pre-season.

BY POSITION:

POSTS:

Utah doesn’t list a Center on the roster but Coach Levrets calls 6-3 Soph Taryn Wicijowski “a beast around the basket”. Last season Taryn averaged 15 points and 6 rebounds a game shooting a great 58% from the floor. She was the Mountain West Frosh of the Year. Also she was the team Capitan for the Canadian 19U National team after her Sr year in High School. You may remember her last season at Stanford when she scored 15 points.

Frosh Andrea Plouffe at 6-4 gives the Utes two Canadian post players.

POWER FORWARDS:

Well we would all think Michelle starts here, so we’ll pencil her in as a 4. Still she needs to roam some and hit threes. It’ll be interesting to see how she is positioned.

Diana Rolniak is a 6-4 Soph who very athletic and was second on the team in blocks. As a Frosh last season she averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds in 10 minutes a game. Was the # 83 player in the country out of High School

WINGS:

Rachel Messer is a 5-9 Soph who averaged 3.5 points in 20 minutes per game. She also had an assist to turnover ratio of almost 2:1. Messer was 2nd on the team in threes, shooting 36%.

Iwalani Rodriques is a 5-9 3rd year Soph who averaged 3.5 points in 18 minutes per game as a Frosh. Big things are expect of her from three and on drives to the rim.

Allison Gida a 5-11 Frosh should step up and get minutes. As should 6-0 Frosh Brittany Knighton.

Rita Sitvi is a 5-9 Soph who didn’t get much time last year but will be in the mix for playing time this season.
POINT GUARDS:

Janita Badon is a 5-7 Jr who started every game last season at the Point. Badon averaged 9 points and 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game with a positive assist to turnover ratio. She led the team in steals with 79 and was 3rd in threes but at a good 37%. Loved the Oregon game where she scored 29 points.

Hennasea Tokumura is a 5-4 5th year player. She played only 2 games the past two seasons, but if healthy she could be a valuable back up as she was her Frosh and Soph seasons.

FORECAST:

Utah is picked for 4th in the pre season Mountain West poll. A young team with 2 Srs and a Jr in their top 10. They should do fine in their league but struggle with some their pre season games, still they could win 20 if all are healthy.

Trojans goal is injury free

If USC is healthy, this will be a very strong team. Last year they were 19-12 and 12-6 in Pac 10 play. They missed the NCAAs as they were 3-5 in their tough non league games, and while better that the majority of Pac 10 teams in this regards, that hurt them in league play, as the Pac 10 was not deemed a strong league. The Trojans, like the Bruins, don’t do WNITs.

LOSSES:

Well USC let go the two main coaches who ran the program from April to September of last season, and seemed to run the team during games. Hard to figure, so I won’t dwell on it.

Four players graduated, Aarika Hughes, Heather Oliver, Hailey Dunham and Daniella Roark.

Hughes was the 4th leading scorer, averaging 7 points and 5 rebounds in 26 minutes. She started all but one game. Oliver averaged 7 points and was 2nd on the team with 43 threes at 38%. Oliver averaged 19 minutes a game. Dunham averaged 5 points and 5 rebounds in 24 minutes per game. Dunham started most games. Roark played almost all the games and was 4th on the team with 16 threes at 38%. Roark averaged 2points per game.

ADDITIONS:
The biggest name and best addition is Sr Stephanie Gilbreath who has missed the past 3 seasons with ACL injuries. Stephanie was a McDonald’s All American and will start her college playing career close to a degree and 21 ½ years of age. All indications are that she is healthy.

Cassie Harberts is an incoming frosh and was ranked the # 11 player and # 2 Power Forward. She averaged 25 points per game as a Sr.

Desiree Bradley is a frosh and ranked the # 35 player and the # 8 Small Forward in the country.

Thaddesia Southall is a frosh and was the # 99 recruit and # 20 Power Forward in the Country.

Len'nique Brown is another frosh and was the # 54 Point Guard in the country.

Lauren White is the 5th frosh in this excellent class and was the # 61 Center in the Country.

A really outstanding group of newcomers being added to an already strong Trojan team.


NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

Gonzaga, Duke, Georgia, Xavier, San Diego State, Fresno State. A solid schedule. If USC can go 5-1 against these teams the Pac 10 RPI increases quite a bit. 4-2 also probably helps quite a bit.

BY POSITION:

POSTS:

Kari LaPlante is a 6-5 Sr who averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds a game last season. LePlante was both all defensive and all academic all Pac 10 honorable mention. She has really improved on Defense and averaged 26 minutes a game for the Trojans.

Michelle Jenkins is a 6-3 3rd year Soph who played only 3 games last season as a knee injury ended her year. She played almost all the games as a Frosh 2 years ago as the back up Post player.

Lauren White is a 6-4 Frosh who was the # 61 Center in the country last year.

POWER FORWARDS:

Cassie Harberts is a 6-2 Frosh and was the # 11 player and # 2 Power Forward last year. She is a relentless player, every rebound belongs to her, and she is going to be a scoring treat to 15’ but especially on the offensive boards.

Stephanie Gilbreath is finally able to play in her Sr year after missing three years with knee injuries. Stephanie is a 6-1 more power than finesse player, so I suspect she will debut at this position. That and the great wing depth USC has. She was as high as the # 11 player out of High School.

Thaddesia Southall is a 6-4 Frosh and was the # 99 player and # 20 Power Foward out of High School.

WINGS:

Brianna Gilbreath, Stephanie’s sister, is a 6-1 Jr. Last season Brianna averaged 13points and 6 rebounds per game, 2nd on the team in scoring and first in rebounding. She was all Pac 10 and the co Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year. Like her sister she was a McDonald’s All American in High School.

Jackie Gemelos is a 5th year player who played for the first time this past season after 4 ACL’s. A tremendously inspirational story for this one time top 1-2 recruit in the country. Gemelos averaged 39 points and 9 assists per game as a High School Sr. Last season she played 11 games and averaged 7.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

Christina Marinacci is a 6-1 Soph who last season averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes per game. Marinacci was a McDonalds All American and scored 43 points to lead her team to a CIF title as a High School Sr.

Desiree Bradley is a 6-1 Frosh who was the # 35 player and # 8 wing in High School this past season. Desiree is said to be a good 3 point shooter, something UCSC sorely needs.

POINT GUARDS:

Ashley Corral is a 5-9 Jr who was USC’s leading scoring last season at 15 points per game. Corral also averaged 5 assists per game and was All Pac 10. A McDonald’s All American in High School. She made 85 three points, the only returning player with more than 8. She hit 36% of her three point attempts. On top of all that she averaged 4.5 rebounds per game.

Vicky Tagalicod is a 5-9 2nd year Frosh who missed last season with a knee injury.

Len’Nique Brown is a 5-5 Frosh Guard who was ranked as the # 54 Point Guard last season in High School.

FORECAST:

If healthy, the same words used now for the 5th year in a row, USC will be very formidable. They have in essence 9 new players of their 13 scholarship players as 5are Frosh and 4 played a total of 11 games due to knee injuries. A great deal of meshing must occur and that will test 2nd year Coach Michael Cooper. In Corral they have one of the League’s best and then that big “IF”, if healthy and Stephanie Gilbreath and Jackie Gemelos can play near their former form, the Trojans will be very good.

Players needed at Oregon State

Last year the Beavers were 11-20 with a win in the Pac 10 tournament. However that was helped immensely by their very weak non conference schedule where they went
9-4. In Pac 10 play the Beavers were 2-16.

LOSSES:

Oh boy, well the losses are well documented but here goes. Last year Oregon State had 14 players.

Lost to graduation: 3
Choose not to return: 9

No use detailing all this, their coach and AD and the lack of oversight and caring cost them 9 players. Oregon State will have a very hard time winning a game this season due to the unspeakable situation that has existed in Corvallis. So we speak of it no more.

ADDITIONS:

Starting with the new Head Coach, Scott Rueck. Rueck came from Division III George Fox University just south of Portland where he won 77% of his games over 14 seasons. He has been the DIII Western Regional Coach of the year the past 3 years and was the National Coach of the year this past season when George Fox won the DIII National Championship.

Mark Campbell was an Assistant and St Mary’s for the Men’s team, and was the first Assistant hired. Campbell also coached men at Pepperdine. You know that saying behind every great Man there is a great Woman, well Campbell is married to one of the greatest Oregon High School players ever, Ashley Campbell (formally Smith). Ashley was an All American at Oregon City High School, Lindsey Yamasaki’s High School, and became at All American at Vanderbilt.

Eric Ely is one of two Assistants thus far, as the Beavers were left without a Staff. Ely has been a Women’s Basketball Assistant for 12 seasons with two stints at Oral Roberts and another at Missouri.

Oregon State has four scholarship players who are new on campus to go with the two who returned. I’ll review them below.

The Beavers plan to add 4-6 walkons, from their try outs. Four have been added thus far. While they will have to play, it would be hard to expect much from them except desire.

NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

Well it’s not the worst in the league. Highlights are Long Beach State, Hawaii and Pepperdine. However the big one could be Rutgers in Las Vegas, but that one is iffy in the Lady Rebel Round Up. The other seven would be gimmes for the other Pac 10 teams.

BY POSITION:

POSTS:

El Sara Greer is a 6-2 Sr who averaged 4.4 points and 6.6 rebounds while playing 26 minutes per game. Greer is a strong rebounder but hasn’t been too much of a scorer in the past.

POWER FORWARDS:

Angela Misa is a 6-1 Soph who only played 4 minutes a game last year, playing in all but 4 games. Ironically Misa was the first player I heard about leaving but she ended up staying.

WINGS:

Anna Marchbanks is a 5-11 Jr and a JC transfer, who averaged 20 points and 9 rebounds this past season at her JC.

Alyssa Martin is a 6-0 recruit from the Portland area. Martin was first team all Portland Metro and honorable mention All State. Martin averaged 15 points and shot 41% from three in High School last season.

Classye James is a 5-8 recruit from Mitty High School. She averaged 7 points for Mitty, and is a strong defensive player who had 3 steals a game last year.

Jenna Dixon is one of the four Walkons. She played High School in Portland and was 2nd team all Metro area two years ago.

Katie Schrock was honorable mention All State last season at Corvallis High School.

POINT GUARDS:

Alexis Bostic is a Frosh recruit from Oakland, at 5-9.

Sage Idendi actually was an All American at George Fox with Coach Rueck two years ago and transferred to Oregon State but did not play last year. Idendi averaged
12.8 points, 3.6 assists and shot 36% from 3 at George Fox. She is one of the four walkons. Idendi is a 5-8 Soph.

FORECAST:

One returning starter and she was a role player and one other who barely played return. This was not a good recruiting class, but the four recruits will certainly get a chance to prove themselves. It will be a very long season.

The Ducks will Run and Gun

Oregon was 18-16 last season and 7-11 in Pac 10 play. The Ducks were 14-6 at home, partly due to a weak non conference schedule, and played before an average of 2,250 fans. However in Coach Paul Westhead’s first season it was the best Duck record since 2005. Hopes are high for the team that will move into their new arena about Christmas Time.

LOSSES:

Not only did the Ducks lose their top two scorers in Taylor Lilley and Micaela Cocks, but together they scored just under 1,100 points, 40% of all the Duck points this past season. Lilley averaged almost 18 points per game and Cocks just over 14 per game. Lilley also averaged 2 steals and 3 assists per game. Lilley made an amazing 124 threes drilling them at 40%. Also graduated is Lindsey Stafford who averaged 2.5 points per game. Allyah Green, a frosh who didn’t play last season, is no longer on the team.

ADDITIONS:

Ashley Buis is a 5-11 JR, JC transfer from the Midwest. Last season, as a JC player, she averaged 14 points per game which included 69 threes.

Danielle Love is a 6-1 Frosh from the Seattle area. She was HoopGurlz # 61 Forward. As a Sr in High School Love averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Chynna Miley is a 6-2 Frosh from Georgia. Miley once had 14 blocks in a game.

Ariel Thomas is a 5-7 Frosh Guard from Sacramento. She was HoopGurlz # 31 Point Guard. Thomas averaged 26 points and 4.6 assists in her Sr year of High School. Played Travel ball with Stanford’s Sara James.

Deanna Weaver is a 5-11 Frosh Guard or Forward from local Wilcox High School. Averaged 18 points per game in High School and also played Travel ball with Sara James. Was HoopGurlz # 23 Wing.

NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

When the top opponent is St Mary’s, who may not be in the Top 100, all we can say is so weak.

BY POSITION:

POSTS:

Nicole Canepa is a 6-5 Sr from San Francisco. Last season Canepa averaged 9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, 4th and 3rd on the team respectively. She started only one game, but did play 20 minutes per game. Oregon doesn’t always play with a true Center, and that may or may not be true this season. The loss of Lilley and Cocks may change that a bit. Canepa had a high game of 38 points last season. Favorite athlete in another sport, Buster Posey.

Ellyce Ironmonger is a 6-4 Sr and the back up Center. She played only 20 games last season and only 4.5 minutes per game. As a frosh she started 17 games.

POWER FORWARDS:

Amanda Johnson is a 6-2 Jr who last season was the 3rd leading scorer, 12.7 and leading rebounder, 8.5. She played the post on defense maybe 20 minutes per game. Johnson also hit 42 threes on the year. She is rugged inside and skilled outside.

6-2 Frosh Chynna Miley would be the back up Power Forward, although chances are three Wings would play for Oregon.

WINGS:

Victoria Kenyon is a 6-2 5th year Sr who averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds per game, starting all the Oregon games. Kenyon also made 37 threes at a team high 43%.

Jasmin Holliday is a 6-0 Jr who played every game and averaged 6 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes per game.

5-11 Jr and JC transfer Ashley Buis should see a lot of action as a three point shooter, helping to replace Lilley and Cocks. If she can hit threes, and the Ducks are counting on her, she will see quite a bit of playing time.

Deanna Weaver is a 5-11 Frosh who brings some quickness to the Wing position.

5-11 Sr Tatianna Thomas and 5-10 Sr Kristi Fallin both averaged about 6 minutes per game for the Ducks last year.

POINT GUARDS:

Nia Jackson returns to run the Point. The 5-7 4th year Jr was 4th on the team in scoring, 10.5, and first in assists, 3.7 per game. Jackson added a lot of quickness this past season and that was only a year after tearing her ACL. She could be one the Pac 10’s better players this season.

5-7 Frosh Ariel Thomas will be the back up here.

FORECAST:

Huge losses in Lilley and Cocks and a pretty average recruiting year for Oregon. This is Westhead’s second year so his unique system is now firmly in place. The question is does Oregon have the skill to make threes and force turnovers? Something to consider, they could be undefeated entering conference play, and that will give the Duck players all the confidence in the world.

The Huskies need more Bite

Last year the Washington Huskies had 13 wins with 18 losses and went 7-11 in the Pac 10. However two plusses, they were 8-5 at home and had an average attendance of over 2,500 for those home games, 2nd in the Pac 10. The fans are there, and if a key player, Liz Lay, comes back from her injuries it could mean a winning season.

LOSSES:

Washington lost 4 Srs from a year ago. Sami Whitcomb was the leading scorer last season at 13 per game. She also pulled down almost 6 rebounds per game, which led the Huskies. Sami was also the leading three point shooter in both number made, 46, and percentage, 36%.

Center Laura McLellan scored 7 points and had 4 rebounds in 19 minutes per game.

Christina Rozier and Sara Mosiman each scored about 4 points per game. Mosiman missed half the season with injuries.

The Huskies also turned over their staff as all three Assistant Coaches and two support people have left the team.

ADDITIONS:

Let’s start with the three new Assistant Coaches. Greg Nared is one of the new Coaches. His experience is working with high profile athletes for Nike and working with Travel Teams for Nike. He also coached High School basketball in the Portland area. He has two daughters, one who just transferred from Maryland but I don’t know to where and the other is an outstanding 2014, (entering her frosh year) at a Portland High School.

Kyle Locke is the second of three new assistants. Locke was an assistant coach for Coppin State for the past nine years. Locke also worked for FILA, another Travel shoe company.

The 3rd new member is Kari Duperron who previously worked with Head Coach Tia Jackson at UCLA. Kari was an assistant the past two years at UNLV under Kathy Olivier.

Mercedes Wetmore is a 5-7 Frosh guard who was ranked as the # 28 Guard by HoopGurlz.

Marjorie Heard is a 6-1 Frosh forward, rated about the # 50 forward by HoopGurlz.

Ashley Moore is a 5-10 Frosh guard rated as the # 55 guard by HoopGurlz. Moore is from Vallejo and played for the Bay Area Lady Warriors.


Kassia Fortier is a 5-8 Frosh guard who was not rated in High School. Her father is a Husky Assistant for the Men’s basketball team.

Amanda Johnson is a 5-5 Soph who redshirted as a Frosh due to an injury. She was not rated in High School.

NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

At Utah, a weak team except for Michelle Harrison, at home vs Georgia Tech, at BYU. The other 7 games, one short by the way, are against weak teams.

BY POSITION:

CENTER:

Well facts should be stated so I’ll say this: the Huskies need Regina Rogers to play more than 17 minutes per game. Rogers is a 6-3, 4th year Jr who averaged 8 points and 4 rebounds in those 17 minutes. If she is able to play 25-28 minutes the Huskies could be a different team.

Mackenzie Argens is another 6-3, 4th year Jr who scored 6 points and had 4 rebounds while averaging 22 minutes playing Power Forward and starting every game.

POWER FORWARD:

Liz Lay returns after sitting out last season with a knee injury. Lay is a 6-1, 3rd year Soph, who hopes to come back strong from her second knee injury. That knee bothered her as a Frosh so Pac 10 fans really haven’t seen a healthy Liz Lay. She was a top 20 recruit, and the MVP of the great End of Trail Travel Tournament in the Portland area. I saw her healthy and she can be a great player. She did act in a student play in the spring.

Mollie Williams is a 6-2 JR who will back up Lay. Williams averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds as a back up while playing every game this past season.

WINGS:

Kristi Kigma is a 5-10 Jr who was the 2nd leading scorer on the team and the top returning scorer. Kigma averaged 9.4 points per game, starting 24 games and had the only positive assist to turnover ratio on the team. Like Lay and Rogers she was highly rated out of High School and has lived up to her billing. She was 2nd on the team in three point shooting, making 33 at 32 %. This will be a key for the Huskies as no one returning made more than 11.

Charmine Barlow is a 5-10 Jr and Jeneva Anderson a 6-0 Soph. Both played a bit last season, but scored only 25 points between them. Frosh Ashley Moore will be an option on the wing.

POINT GUARDS:

Sarah Morton will be the Point, I presume. She averaged 2.5 assists per game and no one else returning averaged even one. Morton is a 5-8 Sr who was a top 100 player out of High School. Morton averaged 6 points per game last season.

Mercedes Wetmore, a Frosh, will possibly be the back up.

FORECAST:

This is a team with no depth, two poor recruiting classes in a row, and will place a great deal of hope on Lay being healthy for the first time in 2 years and Rogers able to play 10 more minutes a game than she has in the past. It could be a very long season in Seatt

Washington State hopes for a reversal of fortunes

Last season was very disappointing for the Cougars. They were 8-22 overall and 3-15 in Pac 10 play. Even worse maybe, they won only 4 home games. The positive spin is they went 2-4 over their last 6 games including a win at USC and a win at home over Oregon. Several players have transferred out, several injured players have returned, and they have a decent recruiting class.

LOSSES:

Both the starter and back ups at Point Guard transferred out. Kiki Moore was 2nd on the team in scoring, 12 points, and 1st in steals, 3, and first in assists, 3.5 per game. Camille LeNoir averaged 3 points per game, had had a positive assist to turnover ratio, the only one on the team. But they transferred for a reason and maybe it will help not hurt the Cougars.

ADDITIONS:

Rosetta Adzasu is a 5-5 Point Guard who played at Central Arizona JC as a frosh and is transferring from Yakima JC where she played last season. She played High School basketball in Oregon.

Hana Potter is a 6-2 frosh Post from Minnesota where she was the # 43 Post in the country per HoopGurlz.

Brandi Thomas is a 6-1 frosh Forward who Coach June Daugherty calls “the best athlete from the State of Washington in a long time. Thomas had games of 12 blocked shots and 23 rebounds. She was not ranked.

Sage Romberg is a 6-1 Forward who was the # 73 Player in the US per All Star Girls Report and # 87 per HoopGurlz.

Two players return from injuries. Katie Grad is a 5-8 3rd year Soph Guard and Jessica Oestreicher is a 6-8 3rd year Soph Center.

NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

Washington State has one of the tougher schedules in the Pac 10. Nebraska, North Carolina, Gonzaga (maybe twice as they are in a tournament with them). Also they might play Mississippi, same tournament and will play San Diego State and South Dakota State.

BY POSITION:

Center:

Carly Noyes started 25 of the 30 games last year as a Frosh. Noyes is 6-5 and averaged 6.6 points and 5 rebounds per game. She set the Washington State record fro blocks in a season with 57, 2 per game.

Jessica Oestreicher is a 6-8 Soph who missed last season with a knee injury. She missed some of her frosh year and also all her Jr year in High School with a knee injury. When she played her Frosh year, she averaged 8 minutes a game. However she was a top 100 player per several sites out of High School. Jessica is also agile enough to be an all league player in High School in Softball.

Hana Potter is a 6-2 Frosh who could also play Forward. She was born in the State of Washington although went to High School in Minnesota.

Power Forwards:

Rosie Tarnowski is a 6-1 Jr who started almost every game last season averaging 4.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.

Katie Madison is a 6-0 Sr who also played some Center due to lack of depth there and averaged 6 points and 5 rebounds per game.

6-1 Jr Lexie Peterson played 12 minutes a game last year scoring 1.4 point per game.

6-1 Frosh Brandi Thomas may also play here.

Wings:

5-10 Jr Jazmine Perkins averaged 11 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals per game. She’ll be one starter. She has a load of potential, All League potential, but has lacked offensive consistency and focus thus far. I believe she is the key to this team, if she matures, she could be very good.

April Cook is a 5-8 Jr who averaged 14 points per game to lead the team. But here’s a key stat, Cook and Perkins averaged only 3 assists per game between them last season. That must improve by two fold for the Cougars to have a decent season.

Three point shooting was very weak last season, both Cook and Perkins made about 45 each, but neither shot 30% this must improve. But there’s no lack of effort from these two, they are both fine defensive players.

Sage Romberg, is a 6-1 Frosh who could play the 4 also. She is their # 1 recruit and should play quite a bit. She averaged 11 rebounds per game as a Sr and scored over 2,000 points in her High School career.

Katie Grad is a 5-8 3rd year Soph. Grad missed her frosh season with an injury. Last season she was the only Cougar to shot better than 30% on her threes, while making more than 10. OK she made 12, still they need the three point skill. She played every game and averaged 4 points per game.

Ireti Amojo is a 5-10 2nd year frosh who played one game, 19 minutes last year before a season ending injury. She scored 7 points and hit a three.

Point Guards:

Rosetta Adzusu the 5-5 JC transfer should be the starter. April Cook will also play here.

FORECAST:

A tough pre season schedule for a team that only won 8 games last season then the tough top half of the Pac 10 means that an improved WSU team still might only win 12 or so games. Still I think they will be the most improved team in the Pac 10.

Colorado just a year or two away

I’m not sure as I write this when Colorado will join the Pac 10 for Basketball, but I thought it would be interesting to know a little about the Buffalos. Actually it appears not until 2012, will Colorado join, as Utah appears set for next year.

Colorado was 13-17 last season, 10-4 non conference and a woeful 3-13 in the very tough Big 12. They lost three of their top five and 5 of their top 8 scorers so will be relying on newcomers this season.

Their non conference schedule is pretty weak as it was last season, with Illinois and USC the only major opponents. Of course the Big 12 Conference will be very strong again this season. The Big 12 doesn’t play divisions, but an unbalanced schedule. This season Colorado will play Texas A & M, Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State just once. The Buffalos play Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska and Iowa State twice each.

The Coach is Linda Lappe, now in her second season. Lappe was the youngest BCS Head Coach last year at 29. She coached Denver’s Metro State to a 50-36 in her three seasons as their Head Coach.

Colorado’s 12 person roster includes 4 Frosh, 4 Sophs, 2 Jrs and 2 Srs.

Top Returnees:

Brittany Spears, no not that Brittany, is 6-1 Sr Forward who averaged almost 18 points and 8 rebounds per game. She has been their go to player from the moment she arrived in Boulder.

Chucky Jeffrey, no not that Chucky, is a 5-10 Soph Guard. She averaged 9 points and 5 rebounds a game.

Meagan Malcolm-Peck is a 6-2 Soph Forward who was 6th in minutes played last season and averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds per game. Her twin sister Brenna is also on the team.

Four Players, including Brenna Malcolm-Peck averaged between .7 and 1.3 points per game. One is 6-7 Soph Melissa Macfarlane. All Star Girls Report had Melissa as the # 20 Center and # 70 overall player out of High School, so the potential to contribute is there.

Colorado adds four Frosh this season. Rachel Hargis is a 6-4 Center from Texas, named the # 43 Center out of High School by HoopGurlz. Shae Kelley is a 6-0 Forward from Denver, named by HoopGurlz as the # 58 Forward. The Wilson twins, Ashley and Brittany come to Boulder from Long Beach Poly. Brittany was the # 32 Guard and Ashley the # 58 Guard per HoopGurlz. Long Beach Poly was the team Sara James and Oakridge beat for the State Championship.

Summing up the Buffalos of Colorado, they don’t seem to have to players to compete with many of the Pac 10 teams. It’ll be interesting to follow their recruiting to see if that picks up.

Preview of the Arizona Wildcats

Last season the Wildcats were 14-17 and 6-12 in the conference. But their last 7 games resulted in 6 losses, to Cal, USC, UCLA, ASU and Stanford, twice. A tough way to end but they clearly showed they are a team on the rise. Now whether that rise can get them into the first division remains to be seen, but they seem to be the best team to challenge going from the bottom half of the top half of the conference.

LOSSES:

Only 8 players played more than 8 games however all except one of them return. And they have a decent recruiting class.

Ashley Frazier started every game and while she only scored 3.4 points per game she did play 29 minutes per game and was the only Wildcat was a plus of assists to turnovers.

Jennifer Kioa had transferred from Foothill after some of us watched her at Kezar the previous summer. However she only played 8 games last season before leaving.

ADDITIONS:

Shanita Arnold is a Jr 5-5 Point Guard who transferred from Arkansas last year and sat out the season. She was the # 24 player in the country per Mike White, now Blue Star, and started all 32 games as a Soph at Arkansas. She averaged just under 6points and just over 2 rebounds and 2 assists per game in her second and final season at Arkansas.

Erica Barnes is a 6-2 Frosh Forward who played travel ball with our Sara James. She was rated the # 36 Forward last year by HoopGurlz. Although she had to sit out her Sr High School season after transferring from Sacramento to Richmond. She’s a strong rebounder, and scored about 16 points per game as a High School Soph and Jr.

Taylor Dalrymple is a 6-1 Jr who played JC ball the past two years and was the # 34 Power Forward out of High School. Last year at JC she averaged 6+ points and 6+ rebounds per game.

Candice Warthen is a 5-3 Frosh who averaged 25 points, 7 rebounds and 7 steals at her High School, Warren County in Georgia. HoopGurlz named her the # 27 Point Guard in the country.

NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

The Wildcats play at Mississippi, at New Mexico and at home against New Mexico State and in a tournament against Texas A & M. The other seven games are pretty easy, or should be.

BY POSITION:

POSTS:

This category does fit Arizona as they don’t have a Center, only 6-3 Sr Amanda Pierson is listed as a Forward/Center. They have been playing a 3 guard lineup and given their personal I suspect that to continue. They have recruited a top 100 6-5 player for the next class however. Pierson played all but one game last year, but only 11 minutes per game. She averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds.

POWER FORWARDS:

Ify Ibekwe is probably one of the five best players in the conference. The 6-2 Sr averaged 14 points and over 11 rebounds per game this past season. She is an outstanding player and the offense will be geared to feature Ify.

Soana Lucet is a 6-1 Sr who started every game with Ify last season. They will be the post players, the 4 and 4.2 as it were. Lucet averaged 13 points and almost 7 rebounds a game.

Erica Barnes is a 6-2 Frosh who is a strong rebounder and a decent scorer. She will be eased into the rotation, and will benefit from two good players ahead of her.

Taylor Dalrymple is a 6-1 Jr, a JC transfer, and the # 34 Power Forward out of High School 3 years ago. She had originally committed to South Carolina out of High School.

WINGS:

Davellyn Whyte is a 5-11 Soph who was the Pac 10 Frosh of the Year last season. Whyte led the team in scoring, almost 16 points per game, and made 67 threes, 35%. Like Ibekwe and Lucet, Whyte played about 33 minutes per game.

Brooke Jackson is a 5-8 Jr who averaged 8 points per game. Jackson is the only three point shooter other than Whyte who made more than 10 threes and is returning. Jackson hit 44 threes, 33%

Reiko Thomas played more the 2 last year but the 5-8 Jr may play both the Point and the Off Guard this year. Thomas averaged 7 points per game and had a 1:1 assist to turnover ratio, the best of the returnees.

Tasha Dickey is a 5-10 Jr who play 8 minutes per game last season.

POINT GUARDS:

Shanita Arnold is a 5-5 Jr who was a starting Point Guard at Arkansas two years ago.

5-5 Jr Candice Warthen will be in the mix here. The JC transfer from Georgia scored 25 points a game at her JC but was a touted High School Point Guard.

FORECAST:

This is a team that will be tough at home. They should have a winning pre-season and a good chance of winning most of their northwest road games. It will be tough to finish top five in the Pac 10, but this is the best Wildcat team since Pokie.

New Format for the Pac 10 Tournament

It has already been announced that the location will change with the Semifinal and Final Games moving to the Staples Center and being held with the Men’s Semifinal and Final games. However a new twist has come up where the # 1 and # 2 seeds get byes for the first TWO days. In the past it was one Day. Thus if say Stanford and UCLA finish 1-2, they will each get two days of byes and play only one game, if they lose, or two days if they reach the Final. If they are indeed 1-2 they would not play at the Galen Center at all.

All so very interesting. I wonder what this means when Colorado and Utah join the now Pac 10. It will be hard to continue with this format.

This could help the # 3 and # 4 teams in league play, they get an extra game and that could be the difference between an NCAA berth or not. Here is the format:
The Pac-10 Tournament takes place March 9-12 in Los Angeles and will begin at the Galen Center on the campus of USC before the semifinals and finals are played at the Staples Center.

The tournament will have a different seeding beginning this season:

Wednesday, March 9 (First Round, Galen Center)
Game 1: Seed #3 vs. Seed #10, 12 p.m. PT
Game 2: Seed #4 vs. Seed #9, 2:15 p.m. PT
Game 3: Seed #5 vs. Seed #8, 5 p.m. PT
Game 4: Seed #6 vs. Seed #7, 7:15 p.m. PT

Thursday, March 10 (Quarterfinals, Galen Center)
Game 5: Winner 3/10 vs. Winner 6/7, 3 p.m. PT
Game 6: Winner 5/8 vs. Winner 4/9, 5:15 p.m. PT

Friday, March 11 (Semifinals, Staples Center)
Game 7: Seed #1 vs. Game 6 winner, 12 p.m. PT
Game 8: Seed #2 vs. Game 5 winner, 2:30 p.m. PT

Saturday, March 12 (Championship, Staples Center)
Game 9: Championship Game, 11:30 a.m. PT

Arizona State Preview

I think I’ll do previews of all 11 teams, including Stanford, this year, including Utah and Colorado to get us used to what may be the Pac 12 next season. ASU has both their schedule and roster out, so it’s a good place to start. I know it’s early but 11 previews and 1-2 other stories and suddenly we are playing our first exhibition game.

Last year was very disappointing for Charlie Turner Thorne’s Sun Devils, 18-14 and no NCAA after 9 straight trips. They were 9-9 in the conference and 9-5 non conference.

LOSSES:
Top scorer Danielle Orsillo graduated after scoring 14 points per game. She was their top three point shooter, although the team as a whole didn’t make many more than Jeanette Pohlen. Orsillo also led the team in steals.

Kayli Murphy also graduated. Murphy was the 4th leading scorer, 7 points per game and 2nd leading rebounder, 6 per game.

Sabrina McKinney had another year left I believe. McKinney started 8 games last season but averaged just 2 points per game.

ADDITIONS:
Dymond Simon returns for her final season after missing the entire 2009-2010 season with a knee injury. Two years ago Simon averaged 14 points and over 3 assists per game.

Olivia Major is a JC transfer from Central Arizona JC where she averaged 20 points and made 142 threes. That’s an incredible number of threes, shooting 39% from beyond the arc. She was a JC All American and led her team to the national (non CA JC’s) Championship.

Markisha Patterson was another who missed last season with a knee injury after transferring in also from Central Arizona JC. Patterson averaged 6 points per game in both her JC years.

Olivia Simmons is a frosh from Australia. She actually played for the Cal Sparks, an elite East Bay Travel team a year ago.

Adrianne Thomas is the lone American HS recruit. Thomas was ranked as the # 140 Guard by HoopGurlz.

NON CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

Tennessee at Knoxville on Nov 21st is the only top 20 team they will face. Other good teams include Florida State, a maybe in a tournament, depends on the first game, New Mexico, DePaul and Marist at home. The other six games are against weak teams.

BY POSITION:

POSTS:

Becca Tobin is a 6-5 Sr who averaged almost 10 points and 6 rebounds a game last season, while starting all but 4 games. With ASU and their hockey style rotation you really need to point out minutes per game, so Becca averaged 24 minutes per game. She is big and strong and a load on defense.

Kali Bennett is a 6-5 Jr who transferred from Washington and averaged 5 points and 5 rebounds in 14 minutes. Another big and strong post.

Joy Burke is also 6-5, a soph, who averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds in 6 minutes per game. Burke was bothered by an injury early in the season.

So three good solid, although not spectacular post players, but at 6-5 each, they will be imposing to all but a few teams.

POWER FORWARDS:

Kimberly Brandon is a 6-2 Jr who played very well late in the season. Her sister is at Cal. Brandon averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes. She is quick and moves extremely well for a 6-2 player.

Janae Fulcher is a 6-3 Soph in eligibility who averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds in 14minutes.

WINGS:

To be consistent I’ll call by position One Post, One Power Forward, 2 Wings and a Point Guard. Seems to me most teams play that way now.

Tenaya Watson, 5-9 Sr. played mostly the Point last year but I presume that will be Dymond Simon this season. Watson averaged 8 points per game last season in 22 minutes per game.

Alex Earl, 5-10 Sr 4 points and 17 minutes per game and the 2nd best 3 point shooter to Orsillo. A High School teammate of JJ Hones.

Olivia Major, 5-7 Jr. The JC transfer was a tremendous three point shooter in JC ball, and this is something ASU needs badly.

Deja Mann, 5-7 Soph, averaged 2.4 points and 13 minutes per game.

POINT GUARD:

Dymond Simon, 5-5 Sr, 14 points per game 2 years ago and returning from a knee injury. Maybe Simon is a 2 with Watson the Point, we shall see. In any case Watson will probably back up Simon here. Simon was 6th in the Pac 10 in three point % 2 years ago.

FORECAST:

If Simon is 100% this will be a good team, maybe back to Top 25. With an average at best non conference schedule, they could start the Pac 10, 9-2, 10-1.

Oregon State hires a Head Coach

Oregon State announced the hiring of Scott Rueck as their new Head Coach today. Rueck comes from George Fox University, a Division 3 school in the Portland , Oregon area.

Rueck graduated and also has a Masters from Oregon State. He started as an assistant at George Fox under Sherri Murrell the former Washington State and current Portland State Coach. He has been the Head Coach at George Fox for the past 14 seasons, with a .766 winning percentage over that time. In those 14 seasons George Fox has won 7 league championships, gone to six D13Sweet Sixteen’s and three Elite Eights. He was the D 3 National Coach of the Year two seasons ago and has been the western D 3 Coach of the Year three straight seasons. Last season George Fox was 28-3 overall and 16-0 in league play.

Rueck is 40 and his wife played at George Fox, his sister also played at George Fox and his father was a High School coach.

What happens next? Well he has one assistant and I’d guess she may not be staying, so he can easily hire his own staff. Interestingly his wife Kerry was an Assistant with Rueck at George Fox, retiring several years ago. I would imagine he has been thinking about possible assistants for some time, and might be close to hiring 1-2 of the three possible soon. In my mind he needs someone with California coaching experience for recruiting purposes. Another assistant should have strong knowledge of the northwest high school and travel scene. The Coach at Southridge High School in Beaverton, JJ Hones’ high school, would be a possible choice.

Of course he really needs players, he starts with 6, so he needs to find 4-6 more who can contribute right away. Last season Oregon State went 2-16 in Pac 10 play and 9-4 playing a very weak non conference schedule. Since the schedule is probably pretty much set (hmm or ignored by the previous staff), I suspect the non conference part will be very weak. This will give time for all the players to get used to college play and get some experience.

Keep in mind that Oregon restarted their baseball team 2 years ago after being dormant for almost 20 years. In their second season, the Ducks had a very good baseball team. Of course they had 2 years to plan for their first season, but the blueprint is there for re-starting a program.

Two of last year’s 13 players return. Three graduated and eight transferred or will not play basketball at Oregon State. Now some could change their minds, and if they haven’t signed with other schools or started at another school, they might decide to participate in this fresh start. Seems a bit doubtful, as three of those eight announced their intentions just in the past week of not playing at Oregon State, but playing elsewhere.

Returning are 6-2 post El Sara Greer who started every game and averaged 4.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. She was 5th in scoring and 2nd in rebounds on the team. Also 5-7 guard Brittany Kennedy who averaged 2.7 points in 22 minutes per games is returning. Kennedy was 2nd on the team is assists and had the only positive assist to turnover ratio on the team.

Incoming recruits include guard Classye James from Mitty High School who was rated the # 20 player in Northern California, and not rated by HoopGurlz. Alyssa Martin is a 6-0 guard is who rated as the # 72 guard in the US by HoopGurlz. Both were signed during the Fall signing period. Wagner also signed 5-9 guard Alexis Bostick from Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School in April. Bostick is not rated.

This week it was announced that JC player 5-11 Anna Marchbanks had signed with the Beavers. She was All State as a high school Sr in Oregon, but didn’t qualify academically for college. After two years at two different JCs she may be a contributor. She was at a good JC, a team mate signed with Washington State. Marchbanks averaged 20 points and 9 rebounds this past JC season.

A long way to go for the new Beavers. And this incoming frosh class is poor by Pac 10 standards. Still they are finally on the right path.