Dec. 14, 2004
Gonzaga Women's Basketball Notes - Dec. 14, 2004
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West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Release
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Gonzaga Women's Basketball Statistics
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Game No. 9 - IDAHO Saturday, Dec. 18 - 3 p.m. McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) - Spokane, WA TV - KHQ Channel 6 Radio - KGA 1510 AM (pre-game show 30 minutes prior to tip)
GONZAGA UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS (6-2, 0-0 West Coast)F - 13 Ashley Burke, 6-1, Sr., North Vancouver, BC (11.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.9 apg)F - 30 Ashley Anderson, 6-0, Jr., Enterprise, OR (8.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.4 apg)F - 42 Stephanie Hawk, 6-2, So., Ontario, OR (8.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 0.7 apg)G - 10 Shannon Mathews, 5-6, Sr., Riverside, CA (10.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 5.4 apg)G - 32 Raeanna Jewell, 5-7, Sr., Veradale, WA (7.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.1 apg)HEAD COACH: Kelly Graves (University of New Mexico, 1988)GONZAGA RECORD: 58-67 (5th year); CAREER RECORD: 124-93 (8th year)
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO VANDALS (5-3, 0-0 Big West)F - 4 Emily Faurholt, 5-11, Jr., Kennewick, WA (19.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.7 apg)F - 11 Lauren Frazee, 6-0, Fr., Dana Point, CA (3.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 0.6 apg)G - 3 Leilani Mitchell, 5-5, So., Kennewick, WA (19.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 4.3 apg)G - 13 Karly Felton, 5-11, So., Yakima, WA (3.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.5 apg)G - 23 Heather Thoelke, 6-0, Sr., Kennewick, WA (9.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.6 apg)HEAD COACH: Mike Divilbiss (Winona State University, 1981)UI RECORD: 48-45 (4th year); CAREER RECORD: 358-157 (18th year)
Game No. 10 - PORTLAND STATEMonday, Dec. 20 - 7 p.m.McCarthey Athletic Center (6,000) - Spokane, WARadio - KGA 1510 AM (pre-game show 30 minutes prior to tip)
PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY VIKINGS (0-6, 0-0 Big Sky)F - 13 Delaney Conway, 6-0, Fr., Seattle, WA (9.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.2 apg)F - 20 Heather Arns, 5-9, So., Hillsboro, OR (10.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.0 apg)C - 42 Carly Fromdahl, 6-2, So., Chino, CA (5.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.5 apg)G - 3 Heidi Stuart, 5-9, Sr., Waldport, OR (8.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.5 apg)G - 23 Jameelah Magee, 5-10, Sr., Fresno, CA (7.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.8 apg)HEAD COACH: Charity Elliott (Southwest Missouri State University, 1992)PSU RECORD: 0-6 (1st year); CAREER RECORD: Same
HEAD COACH Kelly Graves: Kelly Graves is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Gonzaga University Bulldogs looking to take the team to back-to-back post-season berths for the first time in the Division I history of the program. Graves has compiled a 58-67 record at Gonzaga but has built the Bulldogs into a West Coast Conference title contender with consecutive second place finishes in the league. In 2003 he was named the WCC Coach of the Year after leading the Bulldogs to a seven game turnaround. Last season the Bulldogs lost in the WCC title game and advanced to the Women's NIT, the first post-season appearance for Gonzaga in ten seasons. Prior to taking over the Bulldogs program Graves built Saint Mary's College into a WCC power with two post-season appearances. His career record is 124-93 including a 51-47 WCC mark.
GONZAGA OPENS LONG HOMESTAND: Gonzaga opens the longest homestand in school history on Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs host the University of Idaho in the first of seven home games over the Holiday season. The Bulldogs have previously had four seasons in which they had six-game homestands, the most recent coming during the 2002-03 season with Gonzaga going 5-1 in those games. The game against Idaho will be broadcast on KHQ-TV with tip-off at 3 p.m. Following the game against the Vandals, Gonzaga hosts Portland State University, the University of Utah, Denver University, Sacramento State University, Santa Clara University and Saint Mary's College before hitting the road again on January 13.
SCOUTING THE VANDALS: Gonzaga hosts Idaho on Saturday afternoon to kickoff a seven-game homestand. The Vandals enter the weekend with a 5-3 record including recent wins over the University of Montana and Portland State University. The Vandals have a pair of 19 point scorers in Leilani Mitchell and Emily Faurholt. Faurholt was a preseason candidate for the women's John R. Wooden Award after leading the NCAA Division I ranks in scoring last season with 25.4 points per game. Idaho leads the all-time series between the schools 14-9 but Gonzaga has won six of the last seven meetings. The last time the schools met on the hardwood was Jan. 8, 2000, Idaho picking up a 73-67 win.
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS: Gonzaga hosts another regional opponent on Monday night when Portland State University comes to town. The Vikings are 0-6 on the season including a pair of losses to West Coast Conference member the University of Portland. Heather Arns the Vikings top scorer with 10.3 points per game. Portland State is only averaging 44.5 points per game as a team while allowing 68.2 points. The all-time series is tied at 5-5 with neither team winning more than two straight in the series. Gonzaga won last year's game 69-61 in Portland.
BURKE NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior Ashley Burke was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week after helping the Bulldogs pick up road wins over the University of Montana and Boise State University. Burke averaged 13.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the two games including a season-high 20 points against Boise State on Sunday. Burke continues to climb the Gonzaga career scoring and rebounding charts as her 1,256 points rank seventh and her 560 rebounds rank 11th at Gonzaga. With two rebounds this week Burke will pass Kelli Howell for 10th place on the Gonzaga career list.
MATHEWS CRACKS WCC ASSIST LIST: A week after becoming the Bulldogs career assists leader against Arizona State University, senior point guard Shannon Mathews starter her assault on the West Coast Conference record book. Mathews increased her career assist total to 446 passing former Loyola Marymount University guard Marlee Webb for 10th place on the WCC list. Mathews is now six assists behind Aimee McDaniel (Pepperdine University) for 9th on the career list. Former Saint Mary's College point guard Anja Bordt is the WCC career leader with 654 career assists.
BULLDOGS 12TH IN NATION IN BLOCKS: Gonzaga continues rank among the national leaders in block shots as the Bulldogs are tied with the University of Wisconsin for 12th in blocks per game. Gonzaga is averaging 5.9 blocks per game as a team including a streak of 12 straight games with at least one block dating back to last year. Sophomore Stephanie Hawk is the team leader with 13 blocks for the season while 11 of GU's 13 players have at least one block this season. Texas Tech University is the national leader with 9.8 blocks per game.
BULLDOGS BALANCED SCORING: One of Gonzaga's strengths this season has been its balanced scoring as only two players are currently averaging over 10 points per game. In the Bulldogs eight games this season they have had six different leading scorers with Ashley Anderson and Ashley Burke each scoring a season-high 20 points in different games. For the year Raeanna Jewell, Anne Bailey, Shannon Mathews, Stephanie Hawk, Anderson and Burke have each led the team in scoring for a game. Mathews has led the team in scoring on three occasions to lead all players and rank second on the team with 10.8 points per game. Burke is the team's leading scorer with 11.1 points per game.
ANOTHER STRONG DEFENSIVE EFFORT: Gonzaga continues play outstanding team defense to open the season as the Bulldogs once again held a pair of opponents to under 35 percent shooting for a game. On Friday night Gonzaga won an ugly game by holding Montana to 33 percent shooting for the night. The Bulldogs were also held in check in that game with a 34 percent shooting night. On Sunday the defense again showed up as the Boise State could manage only 28 percent shooting for the game. Gonzaga continues to lead the WCC in field goal percentage defense with opponents shooting only 35 percent.
BAILEY COMES UP BIG: Anne Bailey came off the bench on Sunday afternoon to score 10 points including the gamewinner with two-seconds remaining as GU knocked off Boise State 61-59. Bailey moved to a role coming off the bench on Friday night and was held scoreless in Montana. On Sunday she rebounded with the 10 points going 4-for-8 from the floor. The game was the first win for Gonzaga at the buzzer since Dec. 20, 2000 when current assistant coach Triana Allen hit a baseline jumper to beat Montana 74-73. Gonzaga has sent two games into overtime in recent years with last second shots the most recent coming in last year's WCC semifinal when Ashley Burke hit a game-tying lay-up to send the game to overtime. Gonzaga would go on to defeat Pepperdine 66-64 to advance to the WCC Championship game against Loyola Marymount.
STARTING LINE-UP SHAKE UP: Head coach Kelly Graves shook up his starting line-up on Friday night to end a streak of 29-straight games in which Ashley Anderson, Anne Bailey, Ashley Burke, Raeanna Jewell and Shannon Mathews had started together. Based on an illness Jewell was forced to come off the bench on Friday night against Montana while Bailey was replaced in the starting line-up by Stephanie Hawk. Over that 29-game stretch Gonzaga was 21-8 including a 4-2 mark to open this season. Prior tot he Montana game the last time this group did not start together was Dec. 6, 2003 when the Bulldogs lost at Weber State University. Jewell was replaced in the starting line-up by Juliann Laney who was making her first start since Feb. 28, 2002 when she started against Pepperdine in the WCC Tournament. Hawk was making the first start of her career averaging 6 points and 5 rebounds over the weekend.
BULLDOGS IN THE RPI: Despite winning both weekend games on the road Gonzaga dropped from 54th to 59th in the latest RPI rankings. This weeks opponents will also hurt the Bulldogs RPI with Idaho ranking 167 and Portland State ranking 328, last among NCAA Division I schools. The WCC currently ranks 14th among 32 Division I conferences.
GRAVES CLOSES ON GU MARK: Gonzaga head coach Kelly Graves is quietly approaching a Bulldogs record as he now has 58 career wins as the Bulldogs head coach. Graves is currently third on the GU career wins list standing five wins behind Julie Holt and seven wins behind Mike Peterson for career coaching victories at Gonzaga. Graves is one of two GU coaches to take the Bulldogs to post-season play at the NCAA Division I level with last year's NIT berth. Holt guided the Bulldogs to their first NIT appearance in 1994 while Peterson is still the only Gonzaga coach to lead the Bulldogs to a WCC title, GU winning the regular-season crown in 1988.
BULLDOGS ANNOUNCE RADIO PACKAGE: The Bulldogs will have a minimum of 11 games broadcast on the radio during the 2005 season. Starting with the Bulldogs opener against Utah Valley State on Nov. 20, Gonzaga will have 10 regular-season games and all post-season games broadcast on the Bulldogs radio network - KGA 1510 AM in the Spokane area.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: In addition to basketball on the radio Gonzaga will also have several games broadcast on television starting with the Bulldogs Dec. 18 game against Northwest foe - the University of Idaho. The game against the Vandals will be broadcast on Spokane station KHQ marking the second time women's basketball has been broadcast on the Bulldogs television network. Gonzaga will also appear on Fox Sports Net as part of the West Coast Conference package. That game for Gonzaga will be on January 15 at Pepperdine. The game will be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on FSN West with a tape delayed broadcast at 9 p.m. on FSN Northwest. The championship game of the West Coast Conference tournament will also be broadcast on FSN with a time still to be determined. Gonzaga will also have six games broadcast on GU-TV which is available on local Spokane cable station 15. The broadcasts include the Bulldogs season opener against Utah Valley State and the final five home games against West Coast Conference foes.
WCC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO FORM: The 2005 West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament will have a new look this year as the league has returned to its previous format of all eight teams playing on the first day in a seeded bracket. The first day of the tournament will be on Thursday, March 3 with the winners advancing to Saturday's semifinals. The championship game will be played on Sunday afternoon with the winner earning the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid. The last two seasons the WCC has held a weighted league tournament with the top two regular-season teams receiving byes into the semifinals. Gonzaga has benefitted from the previous format the last two seasons finishing second both years and starting tournament play in the semifinals. Last year the Bulldogs advanced to the WCC title game losing to Loyola Marymount 61-58.
BULLDOGS START NEW 3-STREAK: In the Bulldogs final home game in the Martin Centre, Gonzaga witnessed its consecutive game streak with a 3-pointer made come to an end against the University of San Francisco. That 0-for-6 performance against the Lady Dons ended a 222 game streak in which the Bulldogs had made at least one 3-pointer in a game. The streak started after the Bulldogs went 0-for-10 against the University of San Diego on Feb. 17, 1996. Gonzaga rebounded from that performance to knock down seven 3-pointers in each of its next two games to start a new streak which stands at 14 games. The Bulldogs record for 3-pointers made in a game is 14 against UC Riverside on Dec. 31, 2001. Gonzaga has recorded 16 games with 10 or more 3-pointers made since the 3-point basket was incorporated into the college game.
SCHRAMM TO REDSHIRT: Gonzaga freshman post player Sarah Schramm will redshirt the 2004-05 season after suffering a stress fracture in her hand during a recent Bulldogs practice. Schramm scored four points during the Bulldogs exhibition win over Lewis-Clark State and did not play against Utah Valley State.
PRESEASON FAVORITES: With five starters returning and back-to-back second place finishes in the WCC, the Gonzaga Bulldogs were selected as league favorites in a preseason poll of WCC coaches. Gonzaga received seven of eight first place votes and held a six-vote advantage over predicted runner-up Pepperdine University. The two league favorites will meet on Jan. 15 in Malibu, Calif., in a game that will be televised on Fox Sports Net.
BURKE, MATHEWS AMONG TOP WCC PLAYERS: Seniors Ashley Burke and Shannon Mathews have been selected as two of the top five returning players in the West Coast Conference. Both players were first-team All-WCC selections last season with Burke leading the conference in field goal percentage (.529) and ranking fourth in scoring (14.8 ppg). Mathews was the top point guard in the league last season with her 4.7 assists per game leading the WCC and her 2.17 steals per game ranking third. Joining Burke and Mathews among the top returning WCC players are Jennifer Lacy of Pepperdine, Ashlee Orndorff of Portland and Toni Russell of San Francisco.
NEW HOME FOR BULLDOGS BASKETBALL: Gonzaga basketball will have a new home this season as the Bulldogs open play in the new 6,000 seat McCarthey Athletic Center. The $25 million project was completed in October of 2004 and will serve as the home for men's and women's basketball. The Bulldogs played their first regular-season game in the new building on Nov. 20, picking up a 87-41 victory over Utah Valley State College. Gonzaga also knocked off Lewis-Clark State College by 60 points in the building during their only exhibition game of the season.
BULLDOGS SIGN THREE NEW PLAYERS: Gonzaga head coach Kelly Graves announced the signing of three new players that will join the Bulldogs team for the 2005-06 season. Signing national letters of intent with the Bulldogs were guard Jami Bjorklund, forward Maria Hassett and forward Simone Santos. Bjorklund is 5-11senior off-guard from Spokane's University High. Hassett is a 6-2 forward at Aloha High School in Beaverton, Ore., where she plays for former Gonzaga standout Ivy Safranski. Santos is a 6-2 junior college sophomore from Brazil that currently plays at Western Nebraska Community College.
