Jan. 25, 2005
Gonzaga Women's Basketball Notes - Jan. 25, 2005
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Gonzaga Women's Basketball Statistics
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West Coast Conference Weekly Release
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Game No. 20 - PORTLAND Saturday, Jan. 29 - 2 p.m. Chiles Center (5,000) - Portland, OR
GONZAGA UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS (17-2, 6-0 West Coast)F - 13 Ashley Burke, 6-1, Sr., North Vancouver, BC (12.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.2 apg)F - 42 Stephanie Hawk, 6-2, So., Ontario, OR (8.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.0 apg)G - 10 Shannon Mathews, 5-6, Sr., Riverside, CA (11.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 6.0 apg)G - 11 Juliann Laney, 5-11, Jr., Sprague, WA (1.6 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 0.9 apg)G - 32 Raeanna Jewell, 5-7, Sr., Veradale, WA (8.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.4 apg)HEAD COACH: Kelly Graves (University of New Mexico, 1988)GONZAGA RECORD: 69-67 (5th year); CAREER RECORD: 135-93 (8th year)
UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND PILOTS (6-13, 1-5 West Coast)F - 22 Jamie Medley, 5-11, Sr., Gaston, OR (10.8 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.3 apg)F - 32 Amy Botto, 6-1, Sr., Moraga, CA (11.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 0.9 apg)G - 11 Meagan Bermingham, 6-1, Fr., Melbourne, Australia (9.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.7 apg)G - 14 Whitney Grant, 5-6, Jr., Medford, OR (9.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.5 apg)G - 45 Brooke Fernandez, 5-7, Fr., Castle Rock, WA (4.2 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 1.4 apg)HEAD COACH: Jim Sollars (Seattle Pacific, 1966)UP RECORD: 270-265 (19th year); CAREER RECORD: 448-347 (29th year)
BULLDOGS FACE NORTHWEST RIVAL PORTLAND: Gonzaga will look to continue its hot play on Saturday night when the Bulldogs travel to the University of Portland for their lone game of the week. Gonzaga has won 13 straight games and now owns the nation's longest winning streak after No. 1 Duke University was knocked off by the University of North Carolina on Monday night. The game against the Pilots marks the end of the first half of WCC play with the Bulldogs currently holding a two-game lead over the second place team in the WCC standings entering the weekend. Gonzaga has won its previous six league games by an average of 21 points with GU averaging 74.2 points per game compared to only 53.2 scored by their opponents.
SCOUTING THE PILOTS: Gonzaga ends the first half of West Coast Conference play with a road game against its league travel partner as the Bulldogs venture to Portland for a Saturday afternoon matinee. The Pilots are 6-13 on the year and 1-5 in WCC play after picking up a win a 57-52 win over San Francisco last weekend. Amy Botto and Jamie Medley are Portland's top scorers with Botto averaging 11.1 points and Medley 10.8 points per game. The Pilots have been hit with several key injuries including the loss of Ashlee Orndorff, the WCC Newcomer of the Year last season. Portland leads the all-time series 25-21 but Gonzaga has dominated the series in recent years winning five straight since the 2002 season.
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 69-67 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 135-93 including a 57-47 WCC mark.
BLOCK STREAK HITS 23: Gonzaga extended its current streak of blocking at least one shot in a game to 23 over the weekend with 3 blocks against San Francisco and San Diego. Delphine Lecoultre picked up the Bulldogs lone block against San Diego to keep the GU streak alive. Gonzaga is averaging 4.7 blocks per game as a team.
MATHEWS CRACKS SINGLE-SEASON LIST FOR THIRD TIME: Senior guard Shannon Mathews has placed her name on the Gonzaga single-season assists list for the third time in her career as she climbed into 10th place over the weekend with eight assists against San Francisco and San Diego. Mathews has 114 assists on the season to pass Robin Allen for 10th position. Mathews previously cracked the single-season Top 10 with 162 assists her sophomore year (2nd) and 141 assists last season (4th). Maria Stack holds the single-season record with 207 assists during the 1984-85 season. While not the single-season record holder Mathews is the Bulldogs career assists leader with 517, that number also ranks sixth on the WCC career assists list.
RIDENOUR STEPS UP: Sophomore Katy Ridenour had her most productive game of the season on Thursday night as she was one of six Gonzaga players to score in double-figures during the win over USF. Ridenour scored 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor. The guard from Post Falls, Idaho, also added 4 rebounds and 4 assists during 20 minutes of action. The double-digit output was only the third game in her career that Ridenour has scored in double-figures. Last season she scored a career-high 13 points against Boise State and later added a 10 point night against Portland. Ridenour is averaging 3.3 points for the season.
LANEY PICKS UP SOME OFFENSE: Used primarily as the team's defensive stopper, Juliann Laney had her best offensive game in three seasons on Saturday afternoon as she scored 8 points against San Diego. The junior from Sprague, Wash., had not scored more than 3 points in a game all season before exploding for 8 points on 3-of-5 shooting. Laney has fought through injuries the last two seasons to appear in all 19 games this season with 10 starts. As a freshman in 2002, Laney averaged 5.7 points per game with four double-figure scoring nights and a career-high 14 points against Washington State.
HOME WIN STREAK REACHES 10: Gonzaga is currently 10-0 at home this season after knocking off San Francisco and San Diego over the weekend. Gonzaga has compiled a 33-4 record for a winning percentage of .891 over the last three seasons. GU has now won 10 or more games at home each of the last three seasons with a 13-2 record in 2003 and 10-2 record in 2004. The Bulldogs have also played well at home for WCC action going 6-1 each of the previous two seasons for a .857 home league winning percentage. Since joining the NCAA Division I ranks in 1986 Gonzaga has only gone undefeated at home during one season with a 12-0 home record during the 1994 season in which GU advanced to the WNIT. The Bulldogs current 10 game home winning streak ranks tied for 20th longest in the nation with Western Illinois the national leader with 35 straight home wins.
BULLDOGS REMAIN IN RPI TOP 40: Gonzaga returned to the RPI Top 40 after picking up a pair of wins over San Francisco and San Diego last week. The Bulldogs have remained around the 40th spot for a majority of the season climbing as high as No. 36 earlier this year. The WCC is currently 12th as a league out of 32 NCAA Division I conferences. This week's opponent Portland is rated No. 233.
BULLDOGS PICK UP ADDITIONAL AP VOTES: For the third week in a row Gonzaga was listed among the teams also receiving votes in the latest Associated Press college basketball poll. Gonzaga picked up eight votes this week, up from the seven votes they received last week. This is the fourth time this season and fifth time in school history that GU has been listed among the teams also receiving votes.
JEWELL CLOSING ON MILESTONES: Senior Raeanna Jewell is closing on two career milestones as the Bulldogs reach the midway point of their WCC season. Jewell needs 19 more points to become the 11th GU player to reach 1,000 points for their career. Jewell is also closing on the Gonzaga career rebounding list needing just 13 more rebounds to tie Lisa Vestal for 10th place with 580 career rebounds. Should Jewell pick up 33 more rebounds for the season she would become the 9th GU player to collect 600 rebounds for their career joining Ashley Burke who surpassed the magic number three weeks ago.
BURKE PASSES 1,400: Senior Ashley Burke continued her climb up the Gonzaga career scoring list passing the 1,400 mark against San Diego on Saturday afternoon. Burke now has 1,409 career points becoming only the fifth GU player to score 1,400 or more points. Next on the career scoring list ahead of Burke is current Bulldogs assistant coach Jennifer Mountain with 1,422 points. Should Burke continue at her current scoring pace she could jump into the West Coast Conference career scoring Top 15 by season's end. Former San Diego player Susie Erpelding is 15th on the WCC chart with 1,510 career points.
BULLDOGS IN THE NCAA RANKS: Riding the nation's longest active winning streak, Gonzaga also appears among the NCAA National Statistical Leaders in several categories.
Category Gonzaga Rank National LeaderScoring Defense: 15th (53.5 ppg) New Mexico (48.9 ppg)Scoring Margin: 15th (16.1 ppg) Duke (25.9 ppg)Field Goal Percentage: 16th (46.2 pct) Boston College (52.3 pct)FG Pct. Defense: 14th (34.7 pct) Duke (31.6 pct)Assists Per Game: 4th (18.8 apg) DePaul (20.7 apg)
INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: In addition to Gonzaga ranking among the nation's leader in several team categories, senior guard Shannon Mathews currently ranks 16th in the nation with 6 assists per game.
BULLDOG DEFENSE: The Bulldogs current 13 game winning streak can be attributed to many factors, but it is defense that has carried Gonzaga to one of the nation's best records. For the season only three opponents in 19 games have shot more than 40 percent from the field for a game with Gonzaga holding opponents to 34.7 percent for the season. In WCC action that defense has been even tougher limiting opponents to just 33.8 percent per game with only USF hitting over 40 percent with a 41 clip on Thursday.
FAN EXCITEMENT GROWING: Not only have the Bulldogs been winning this season, but they have also been drawing in the crowds including 1,784 fans on Saturday afternoon. For the season GU is averaging 1,160 fans per game which is 420 fans more than the next best team in the WCC with San Francisco averaging 740 per game.
ANDERSON OUT FOR THE SEASON: Junior forward Ashley Anderson will miss the remainder of the season after an MRI revealed that she suffered a torn ACL in her left knee prior to the Bulldogs Dec. 18 game against the University of Idaho. Anderson was averaging 8.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game prior to the injury. Last season Anderson was an honorable mention All-WCC selection with 11.4 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game.
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: Gonzaga basketball action continues on television this season as the five remaining Gonzaga home games will be televised by GU-TV and will be available on Channel 15 of the Spokane Comcast cable system. GU has already appeared once this season on GU-TV picking up a season opening win over Utah Valley State. The Bulldogs just won their only regular-season appearance on Fox Sports Net with a 71-54 victory over Pepperdine. Earlier this season Gonzaga also won during its lone appearance on KHQ as the Bulldogs knocked off Idaho, 70-53. The title game of the WCC Tournament will be the Bulldogs next chance to appear on FSN should Gonzaga advance that far in the WCC Tournament.
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 25 games. The Bulldogs record for 3-pointers made in a game is 14 against UC Riverside on Dec. 31, 2001. Gonzaga has recorded 17 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.
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.
