Nov. 29, 2005
2006 Gonzaga Women's Basketball - Nov. 29
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WCC Weekly Notes
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Game No. 6 - IDAHO Wednesday - Nov. 30, 6 p.m. Cowan Spectrum (7,000) - Moscow, ID
GONZAGA UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS (1-4, 0-0 West Coast)F - 30 Ashley Anderson, 6-0, Sr., Enterprise, OR (5.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg)F - 42 Stephanie Hawk, 6-3, Jr., Ontario, OR (13.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.6 apg)F - 44 Anne Bailey, 6-0, Sr., Snohomish, WA (12.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 0.8 apg)G - 3 Sasha Polishchuck, 5-6, Fr., Richmond, B.C. (3.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.2 apg)G - 21 Katy Ridenour, 5-11, Jr., Post Falls, ID (9.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.2 apg)HEAD COACH: Kelly Graves (University of New Mexico, 1988)GONZAGA RECORD: 81-73 (6th year); CAREER RECORD: 147-99 (9th year)
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO VANDALS (1-2, 0-0 Western Athletic)F - 4 Emily Faurholt, 5-11, Sr., Kennewick, WA (17.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.0 apg)F - 50 Jessica Summers, 6-0, So., Blaine, WA (2.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 0.3 apg)G - 3 Leilani Mitchell, 5-5, Jr., Kennewick, WA (15.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 5.7 apg)G - 12 Emily Halliday, 5-7, So., Pasco, WA (5.7 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 2.7 apg)G - 13 Karly Felton, 5-11, Jr., Yakima, WA (3.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.7 apg)HEAD COACH: Mike Divilbiss (Winona State University, 1981)UI RECORD: 63-55 (5th year); CAREER RECORD: 373-177 (19th year)
Game No. 7 - NORTHWESTERN STATE Friday - Dec. 2, 7 p.m. (PST) Lawlor Events Center (11,784) - Reno, NV John Ascuaga's Nugget Classic
NORTHWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY (3-1, 0-0 Southland)F - 30 Shenise Milliner, 6-0, Sr., Pineville, LA (12.0 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 1.5 apg)F - 32 Chassidy Jones, 5-10, Jr., Crowley, LA (11.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.2 apg)G - 3 Sheronda Bell, 5-4, Sr., Bienville, LA (7.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.5 apg)G - 5 Shonte Kennedy, 5-5, Fr., Leesville, LA (9.3 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 5.5 apg)G - 24 LaTonya Perry, 5-10, Jr., Sulphur, LA (11.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.7 apg)HEAD COACH: Jennifer Graf (Northwestern State, 2000)NSU RECORD: 20-13 (2nd year); CAREER RECORD: Same
Game No. 8 - NEVADA OR NORTHERN COLORADO Saturday - Dec. 3, Noon or 2 p.m. (PST) Lawlor Events Center (11,784) - Reno, NV John Ascuaga's Nugget Classic
Game No. 9 - SACRAMENTO STATEMonday - Dec. 5, 5 p.m.Hornets Nest (1,200) - Sacramento, CA
SACRAMENTO STATE UNIVERSITY HORNETS (1-2, 0-0 Big Sky)F - 33 Ashley Cadotte, 6-0, Sr., Oregon City, OR (27.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.5 apg)C - 5 Katelyn Ciampi, 6-2, Sr., Martinez, CA (2.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 0.5 apg)G - 12 Stephanie Cherry, 5-6, Jr., Suisun, CA (13.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.0 apg)G - 20 Kim Sheehy, 5-9, Jr., Santa Fe, NM (11.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.5 apg)G - 32 Cindy Alldrin, 5-9, Sr., Vancouver, WA (7.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.0 apg)HEAD COACH: Dan Muscatell (Western Washington, 1983)SSU RECORD: 10-48 (3rd year); CAREER RECORD: Same
SCOUTING THE VANDALS: Gonzaga returns to action on Wednesday with a game against regional foe the University of Idaho. The game starts a swing that includes four games over six days with all four games on the road. Idaho is 1-2 entering the weekend after finishing fourth at the New Mexico Thanksgiving Tournament. Emily Faurholt and Leilani Mitchell pace the Vandals attack with Faurholt averaging 17.3 points and Mitchell 15.3 points per game.
THE NUGGET CLASSIC FIELD: Gonzaga travels to its final in-season tournament over the weekend as the Bulldogs participate in the John Ascuaga's Nugget Classic in Reno. Gonzaga will open the tournament against Louisiana's Northwestern State as the two teams will meet for the first time. NSU is 3-1 on the year with a Tuesday game against Centenary prior to heading West. Gonzaga will face either host Nevada or Northern Colorado on Saturday in the championship or consolation game. Nevada is 0-4 on the year after going 0-2 at the Paradise Jam St. Thomas Division. Nevada is led by Sabrina Keys and Brandi Fitzgerald each with 8.8 points per game. Northern Colorado is 3-2 on the year after a second place finish at the Montana State University tournament over the weekend. The Bears had their 3-game win streak stopped by Boise State on Saturday. UNC is led by Jabrenta Hubbard with 14.2 points per game.
SCOUTING THE HORNETS: Gonzaga ends its four-game swing on Monday night with a game at Sacramento State. The Hornets are 1-2 on the season with a overtime win over Southern Utah on Saturday. Sacramento State will play at Texas Tech on Dec. 1 prior to hosting the Bulldogs on Monday night. Gonzaga has won the last two meetings with Sacramento State including a 71-56 win last season. Kim Sheehy leads the Hornets with 12 points per game.
HEAD COACH Kelly Graves: Kelly Graves is in his sixth season as the head coach at Gonzaga University having built the Bulldogs into an annual West Coast Conference contender. After winning just 5 games his first season, Graves guided the Bulldogs to their first regular-season title since 1988 last year when GU posted a 28-4 record and 14-0 mark in the WCC. It was only the second time a school has run the table in the league, Graves was an assistant coach at the University of Portland when the Pilots accomplished the feat in 1997. Graves was named the WBCA Region 8 Coach of the Year and WCC Coach of the Year as Gonzaga ran off a nation's-best 23 game win streak and earned the school's first national ranking. Graves is currently the school's career wins leader with a 81-73 record. He has twice been named the WCC Coach of the Year at Gonzaga (2003 & 2005) and boasts a 147-99 career record including 65-47 in WCC action.
BULLDOGS CONTINUE ROAD SWING: Gonzaga continues life on the road this week as the Bulldogs will play four games in six days before getting a few days to rest. The trip starts with a Wednesday game at Idaho followed by a pair of tournament games in Reno, Nevada on Friday and Saturday ending with a Monday night game at Sacramento State. Gonzaga traveled home 22 hours on Sunday from the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands were they played three straight days against No. 10 Maryland, No. 1 Tennessee and No. 9 Michigan State.
HAWK NAMED TO ALL-STAR TEAM: Junior forward Stephanie Hawk was named to the Paradise Jam All-Star team after the Bulldogs finished play against three of the nation's top teams. Hawk scored in double figures in all three games to extend her streak of double figure games to seven games dating back to last year. Hawk averaged 13.3 points per game at the tournament with a high of 18 points against Michigan State on Saturday. Hawk shot 56 percent from the floor and pulled down 4.3 rebounds per game. Hawk currently leads the team in scoring with 13.4 points per game and ranks second with 5.8 rebounds per game.
POLISHCHUCK HANDLES THE PRESSURE: Gonzaga freshman point guard Sasha Polishchuck handled the pressure extremely well against three of the nation's top teams as she started all three games at the Paradise Jam. Polishchuck averaged 32 minutes a game committing only 7 turnovers against Tennessee, Maryland and Michigan State while passing out 12 assists. For the season she now has 16 assists and only 12 turnovers, making her the only Gonzaga player with a positive assist to turnover ratio. Polishchuck is also averaging 3.8 points per game with 8 points on Friday against Tennessee.
FIVE GOOD HALVES OF BASKETBALL: Gonzaga played five solid halves of basketball in the U.S. Virgin Islands with the only real lapse coming in the first half against Maryland. In the other five halves, Gonzaga played right with Tennessee, Maryland and Michigan State trailing the No. 9 Spartans by only one point at the half. Gonzaga played solid defense against both Tennessee and Michigan State holding the Lady Vols to 41 percent shooting and Michigan State to 34 percent. Maryland shot 46 percent from the field against the Bulldogs but dominated play on the glass with 26 offensive rebounds that helped give the Terps a commanding 88-50 win.
SANTOS SEES FIRST ACTION: Junior college transfer Simone Santos saw her first action of the season at the Paradise Jam as she played in all three games. Santos averaged just 7.7 minutes as she still recovers from a preseason meniscus repair on her knee. She scored just one point on a free throw against Maryland and pulled down 3 rebounds for the weekend.
TOUGH SCHEDULE FOR GU: The Bulldogs have opened the season with seventh toughest schedule in the nation as they prepare for their third week of play. Stetson is rated with the toughest schedule in the country followed by Old Dominion, Drexel, Davidson, UCLA, Penn State and Gonzaga. Based on their strength of schedule GU still rates as the top team in the WCC in the latest Jeff Sagarin Rating Index with GU landing at No. 103 with a 1-4 record.
RIDENOUR LIGHTS UP THE 3-BALL: Junior Katy Ridenour found her stroke from long range in the U.S. Virgin Islands as she connected for 60 percent from long range to land among the WCC leaders entering week three. Ridenour is now 6-for-14 for the season ranking 8th in the WCC with a .429 shooting percentage. Ridenour was 2-for-2 against Tennessee, 3-for-4 against Maryland and 1-for-4 against Michigan State. Already this season she has a third of her career total from her freshman and sophomore seasons as her 6 3-points lead the team.
BAILEY JOINS 500 CLUB: Senior Anne Bailey became the latest Gonzaga player with 500 career rebounds as she pulled down 20 rebounds in the Virgin Islands to move her career total to 515. Bailey joined the select group on Thursday night with 6 rebounds against Maryland. She followed up that performance with 7 rebounds in each game against Tennessee and Michigan State. Should Bailey reach 600 rebounds this season she will become only the 10th GU player to reach that number.
NOT A LOT OF CHANCES AT THE LINE: Gonzaga did not have a chance to score a lot points at the line during the Paradise Jam as Gonzaga's opponents attempted 75 free throws compared to only 39 for GU. Gonzaga went to the line less than 10 times in losses to Maryland and Michigan State while they were able to get 22 free throws in against Tennessee. Katy Ridenour and Anne Bailey each attempted eight against the Lady Vols with Ridenour hitting seven and Bailey eight. For the season Gonzaga has only attempted 94 free throws hitting for 69 percent. Bulldog opponents are shooting 75 percent from the stripe with 116 attempts.
WCC TOURNAMENT COMES TO SPOKANE: The West Coast Conference Tournament will makes its first appearance in Spokane as the Bulldogs host the annual men's and women's championship on March 2-6 at the McCarthey Athletic Center. The Gonzaga women have advanced to the last two WCC Championship games losing to Loyola Marymount in 2004 at San Diego and to host Santa Clara last season.
BULLDOGS AND THE 3-POINTER: 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 and has extended its current streak to 43 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 including a 13 3-point performance against Santa Clara last season to open West Coast Conference play.
GU BLOCK STREAK: In addition to its current 3-point streak, Gonzaga also has a block streak of 41 games dating back to the 2004 season. In 2005 the Bulldogs had a record setting 136 blocks to shatter the previous mark of 118 set in the 2003 season. The Bulldogs had two games with 10 or more blocks including a record tying 12 blocks against Nevada. GU has blocked 10 or more shots 6 times.
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: Gonzaga entered the 2005 season with the nation's 14th longest active home winning streak at 14 games. Already this season Gonzaga has moved up to 12th with a 15 game home winning streak. Western Illinois leads the nation with a 41 game winning streak. Last season Gonzaga was one of two programs in the country to have both its men's and women's teams go undefeated at home, the University of North Carolina was the other. Over the past four seasons Gonzaga has won more than 90 percent of its home games with a 38-4 record.
BULLDOGS SIGN SIX NEW PLAYERS: Gonzaga head coach Kelly Graves announced the signing of six new players that will join the Bulldogs team for the 2006-07 season. Signing national letters of intent with the Bulldogs were Janelle Bekkering, Heather Bowman, Michelle Elliott, Vivian Frieson, Simone Jordan and Tatriana Lorenzo. Bekkering is a 6-0 guard/forward at W.R. Myers High in Taber, Alberta, Canada. Bowman is a 6-2 forward from Spokane's Lewis and Clark High. Elliott is 5-11 guard from Pasco, Wash., who played two seasons at San Diego State University before attending Columbia Basin College for classes this season. Frieson is a 6-0 forward from Seattle's Garfield High. Jordan is a 5-10 guard from Franklin High in Portland. Lorenzo is a 5-7 point guard from Kamahameha High in Honolulu.
BULLDOGS SET RECORD FOR WINS: The 2005 Gonzaga Bulldogs tied a school record for wins going 28-4 to advance to their second straight post-season berth. GU previously hit 28 wins in 1985 when head coach Bill Evans guided the Bulldogs to a 28-4 record and appearance in the NAIA District playoffs. Gonzaga did establish a new mark for consecutive wins as they rattled off 23 straight wins to lead the NCAA until falling in the WCC championship game. The previous mark was 18 straight wins set during the 1985 season.
BAILEY AMONG TOP WCC RETURNERS: Senior forward Anne Bailey has been selected as one of the Top 6 returning players in the West Coast Conference for the 2006 season. Bailey was an honorable mention All-WCC pick as a junior averaging 9.9 points and 5 rebounds per game. In league play Bailey was even better with 10.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest shooting .530 from the floor. Bailey ended the season playing extremely well hitting double figures in 13 of the final 16 games. Joining Bailey on the top returning player list are guard Dominique Carter from San Francisco, guard Kayla Huss from Santa Clara, guard Daphanie Kennedy from Pepperdine, forward Amber Sprague from the San Diego and guard Rachael Ziemann from Loyola Marymount.
ANDERSON SHUT DOWN IN THE ISLANDS: Senior Ashley Anderson was held to just one basketball during three games in the Virgin Islands as she was just 1-for-6 for the week. Anderson entered the tournament as the team's leading scorer and now ranks fourth with 5.8 points per game.
KANE HAS SURGERY THIS WEEK: Junior Rachel Kane will undergo complete knee reconstruction this Thursday which will end her season. Kane had her ACL come loose during the Bulldogs exhibition against Seattle Pacific.
