Feb. 21, 2006
2006 Gonzaga Women's Basketball Notes - Feb. 21
Download Free Acrobat Reader
West Coast Conference Weekly Release
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Game No. 28 - SAN DIEGO Thursday - Feb. 23, 7 p.m. Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100) - San Diego, CA
GONZAGA UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS (14-13, 9-3 West Coast)F - 30 Ashley Anderson, 6-1, Sr., Enterprise, OR (10.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.1 apg)F - 42 Stephanie Hawk, 6-3, Jr., Ontario, OR (12.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.4 apg)G - 11 Juliann Laney, 6-0, Sr., Sprague, WA (2.9 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.9 apg)G - 21 Katy Ridenour, 5-11, Jr., Post Falls, ID (6.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.8 apg)G - 32 Jami Bjorklund, 5-11, Fr., Spokane, WA (7.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.2 apg)HEAD COACH: Kelly Graves (University of New Mexico, 1988)GONZAGA RECORD: 94-82 (6th year); CAREER RECORD: 160-108 (9th year)
UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO TOREROS (8-17, 3-9 West Coast)F - 55 Kaila Mangrum, 6-0, Fr., Las Vegas, NV (3.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.3 apg)C - 4 - Sabine Loewe, 6-4, Jr., Lauchhammer, Germany (7.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 0.6 apg)G - 3 Ashley Voisinet, 5-10, Jr., Irvine, CA (6.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 0.8 apg)G - 5 Tiara Harris, 5-10, Sr., Colorado Springs, CO (13.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.7 apg)G - 12 Polly Dong, 5-6, Sr., Auburn, CA (5.2 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.8 apg)HEAD COACH: Cindy Fisher (Arizona State University, 1988)USD RECORD: 8-17 (1st year); CAREER RECORD: 67-98 (6th year)SERIES: Tied 19-19
Game No. 29 - SAN FRANCISCO Saturday - Feb. 25, 2 p.m. War Memorial Gym (5,300) - San Francisco, CA
UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO DONS (7-18, 3-9 West Coast)F - 12 Dominique Carter, 5-10, So., Tracy, CA (13.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.5 apg)C - 5 Leeane Jensen, 6-3, Sr., Morro Bay, CA (5.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.1 apg)G - 11 Shay Rollins, 5-4, Fr., Encinal, CA (6.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.4 apg)G - 14 LaShaunte Stephens, 5-10, So., Fresno, CA (7.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 0.8 apg)G - 21 Nykia Peace, 5-7, So., Los Angles, CA (4.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.2 apg)HEAD COACH: Mary Hile-Nepfel (University of San Francisco, 1981USF RECORD: 268-264 (19th year); CAREER RECORD: SameSERIES: USF leads 24-14
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 94-82 record. He has twice been named the WCC Coach of the Year at Gonzaga (2003 & 2005) and boasts a 160-108 career record including 74-50 in WCC action.
BULLDOGS STILL IN HUNT FOR WCC TITLE: Gonzaga hits the road for its final regular-season games of the season this weekend with a trip to San Diego and San Francisco. The Bulldogs are one game out of first place in the West Coast Conference race after knocking off Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine over the weekend. GU and LMU are both tied for second place with 9-3 WCC records. Santa Clara is currently in first place at 10-2 with the Broncos ending the WCC regular-season at LMU and Pepperdine this weekend. Gonzaga has finished first or second in the WCC regular-season each of the previous three seasons.
SCOUTING THE TOREROS: Gonzaga opens its final regular-season road trip on Thursday night at San Diego. The Bulldogs knocked off the Toreros in their earlier meeting, winning 81-66 in Spokane. San Diego is currently tied with San Francisco for sixth place in the WCC standings at 3-9. USD has won only one of its last five games heading into the final weekend. Tiara Harris is among the league's most explosive players leading USD with 13.8 points per game and 16.5 points per game in WCC action.
SCOUTING THE DONS: Gonzaga plays its final regular-season contest at San Francisco on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs picked up a 54-42 win over the Dons earlier this year. USF is currently 3-9 in WCC action and tied with San Diego for sixth place. The Dons have won only once since their last meeting with GU, a 59-56 win over San Diego. Dominique Carter is USF's top player with 13.3 points per game. USF is averaging only 57.2 points per game in WCC action with a 2-3 record at home in conference play.
BAILEY NEEDS NINE: Senior Anne Bailey hauled in 9 rebounds in Saturday's win over Pepperdine to pull into 10th place on the Bulldogs career rebounding list. Bailey passed Janet Robertson (1980-84) during the contest as she increased her career total to 591. Bailey now needs nine more rebounds to become the 10th player in Gonzaga history to crack the 600 career rebound mark. Only two players, Kay Koppelman and Juanita Rivera, have ever collected 700 or more career rebounds. Bailey also needs 16 rebounds to catch Lisa Nichols (1987-91) for 9th on the career list.
ANDERSON NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior Ashley Anderson was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week following her efforts during the Bulldogs wins over Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine. Anderson nearly averaged a double-double for the weekend with 16 points and 9.5 rebounds. On Thursday Anderson had 18 points and 9 rebounds during the Bulldogs win over LMU. She collected her sixth double-double of the WCC season on Saturday night with 14 points and 10 rebounds against Pepperdine. Anderson is averaging 15.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game in WCC action winning her fourth WCC Player of the Week honor.
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 64 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.
HAWK DOUBLES UP: Junior Stephanie Hawk collected her fifth and sixth double-doubles of the season over the weekend as she helped Gonzaga knock off LMU and Pepperdine. Hawk had 10 points and 10 rebounds in the win over LMU on Thursday. She followed that up with 18 points and 12 rebounds against Pepperdine. The 12 rebounds matched a career-high. She also had six blocked shots to move her career total to 84 blocks, two shy of 7th on the GU career list.
HAWK ON THE SINGLE SEASON LIST: Stephanie Hawk became the first GU player this season to crack a single-season Top 10 list as she moved into two categories over the weekend. Her 38 blocks this year moved her into a tie for 7th on the career list with Juanita Rivera (1993). She also made five free throws over the weekend to move into 10th on the free throws made list with 94.
BULLDOGS WIN ON SENIOR NIGHT: Gonzaga won its second straight senior night game in the McCarthey Athletic Center as the Bulldogs knocked off Pepperdine 55-38 in front of 2,336 fans. All four seniors played significant minutes for GU in the win. During the Kelly Graves era at Gonzaga, the Bulldogs have only three of six senior night games. The Bulldog seniors will get at least one more chance to play at home this year when the Bulldogs host the West Coast Conference Tournament, March 2-6.
HOME WIN STREAK UP TO 9: Gonzaga has won nine straight home games which ranks just outside the NCAA Top 10 for current home winning streaks. Only 9 schools currently have home winning streaks of 10 games or greater with the NCAA not ranking schools with less than 10 straight home wins. LSU has the nation's longest home winning streak at 30 games while Marist College is ninth with 10 straight home wins. The Bulldogs entered the season 14th on the longest home winning streak list before falling to Montana in December. Since that game GU has reeled off 9 straight home wins with the WCC Tournament set to be played at the McCarthey Athletic Center where GU is 24-1 over the last two years.
BLOCKS ON THE RISE: Gonzaga has now swatted 113 shots this season for the third best total in school history. Gonzaga had 10 blocks over the weekend against LMU and Pepperdine. Gonzaga leads the WCC with 4.19 blocks per game. Auburn is the national leader with 7.7 blocks per game while Duke is second at 7.4 blocks per game. GU's school record for blocks is 136 set last season.
HARRIS BIG IN LMU WIN: Sophomore Dominique Harris scored 11 big points in Thursday's win over LMU after missing the Bulldogs road game at Portland with a sore foot. Harris hit 6-of-10 free throws down the stretch to help seal the GU win. Harris missed a majority of the Pepperdine game with recurring soreness.
LANEY STEPS IN AT THE POINT: With injuries to all of the Bulldogs regular point guards, senior Juliann Laney has shouldered most of the load the last three games. Over the weekend Laney averaged 4 points and 2.5 assists per game playing 33 minutes in each contest. For the season Laney ranks second on the team with 1.89 assists per game.
BACK OVER .500: With Saturday's win over Pepperdine, Gonzaga climbed over .500 for the first time this season as the Bulldogs improved to 14-13, 9-3 in the WCC. GU is looking to finish on a strong note for its fourth straight winning season.
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.
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.
