Zags Open Hardwood Tournament of Hope Tuesday
11/19/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
| GAME 5: GONZAGA VS. MISSOURI STATE | ||
DATE: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 | ||
| THE LAST MEETING: March 21, 2005 @ Springfield, Mo. (WNIT Second Round) | ||
GONZAGA: 66 |
GONZAGA BULLDOGS | MISSOURI STATE LADY BEARS | |
GONZAGA UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS (4-0) FIVE GAMES IN SEVEN DAYS: Gonzaga University women's basketball is in the midst of a five-games-in-seven-days spurt. The five games started Friday with a win over the University of Wisconsin. The Zags then defeated Monmouth University Sunday. It now has one day between a 3-consecutive game stretch at the Puerto Vallarta Tournament of Hope. Gonzaga will play Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Mexico. ABOUT THE GONZAGA BULLDOGS: Gonzaga University women's basketball is coming off another successful campaign where it earned its fourth-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and reached the Sweet Sixteen for the third-consecutive season. The Bulldogs return nine letterwinners from its 28-6, 14-2 WCC squad in 2011-12, including two starters. Headlining the group of Bulldogs returnees are senior guard Taelor Karr and junior guard Haiden Palmer, who each were named to this year's West Coast Conference Preseason All-Conference team. Karr, the nation's reigning assist-to-turnover leader, averaged 7.5 points, 4.5 assists and 3.2 rebounds as a junior in 2010-11. Palmer was named the 2012 WCC Co-Newcomer of the Year after averaging 12.4 points, 2.3 steals, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. ZAGS OPEN SEASON 4-0: Gonzaga University women's basketball has began the 2012-13 season with a 4-0 record. It is the first time since the 2008-09 season and the only the fourth time in school history the Bulldogs have opened a perfect 4-0. In 2008-09 GU began the season 5-0; 2007-08 it started 4-0 and in 1993-94 it opened 4-0. ABOUT THE MISSOURI STATE LADY BEARS: The Missouri State University women's basketball team enters into the Hardwood Tournament of Hope with a 1-1 record. The Lady Bears opened the season with a 74-71 setback to then-No. 22 Oklahoma State University. They rebounded with a 78-68 win at the University of Arkansas Little Rock, Nov. 15. Missouri State has five players averaging double-figure points, including Whitney Edi and Bry Snow who are averaging 14.0 points and 13.5 points per game, respectively. Edi also leads the squad in rebounds per game at 9.5. The Lady Bears are coached by Nyla Milleson, in her sixth year at the helm. ABOUT THE LOUISVILLE CARDINALS: Currently ranked eighth is both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Top 25 polls, the University of Louisville heads into the Hardwood Tournament of Hope with a perfect 3-0 record. The Cardinals opened the season with a 47-45 win over Texas A&M and followed that win up with a 95-48 victory over West Coast Conference member University of Portland, and topped Austin Peay University 90-52. Louisville has three players averaging double-figure points and is led by Shoni Schimmel at 12.0 points per game. The Cardinals are coached by Jeff Walz in his sixth year as head coach. Gonzaga and Louisville have met once on the hardwood, coming in the 2011 NCAA Sweet Sixteen. The Bulldogs defeated the Cardinals 76-69 to reach their first-ever Elite Eight. ABOUT THE CENTRAL FLORIDA KNIGHTS: The University of Central Florida holds a 1-3 record. The Knights have lost to Georgia State University (50-64), then-No. 13 St. John's (54-72) and TCU (55-61). UCF's lone victory thus far was a 53-41 win over the University of North Florida. Briahanna Jackson leads the squad with 14.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.8 steals per contest. Joi Williams is in her sixth year as head coach of the Knights. If Gonzaga University plays Central Florida it will be the first meeting between the two schools. WHAT WE RETURN: Gonzaga University's women's basketball team returns 51.8 percent of its scoring from the 2011-12 season and 44.0 percent of its rebounding. The Bulldogs top returning scorer is junior Haiden Palmer, who was third on the squad last year averaging 12.4. Senior Taelor Karr and junior Jazmine Redmon are the only other two players to average more than 20 minutes a game. Karr, who started all but five games, averaged 28.6 minutes per contests and averaged 7.5 points. Redmon played in all 34 games with seven starts, averaged 20.9 minutes, 4.7 points 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game. A YOUNG SQUAD: Gonzaga University women's basketball team has a lot of depth, holding 15 players on the squad, but overall is young. The Bulldogs have 10 underclassman on their roster, which includes four freshmen, two returning redshirts and four sophomores. Besides the returning guard trio of Haiden Palmer, Taelor Karr and Jazmine Redmon, the six other returners averaged 7.4 minutes per game in 2011-12. A NATIONAL LEADER: Senior Taelor Karr enters the 2012-13 campaign as the reigning national champion in assist-to-turnover ratio. Karr paced Gonzaga and the West Coast Conference with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.7. Junior Jazmine Redmon was seventh in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio last year at 2.27. ALBANEZ HAS STELLAR OPENING WEEKEND: Sophomore Keani Albanez led Gonzaga University women's basketball to an opening 2-0 weekend. Albanez averaged 17.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals, while shooting an impressive 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the floor. She also topped her total 3-pointers made (4) during the 2011-12 season, with six the opening weekend. Albanez started the weekend off scoring a career-high 17 points at UC Riverside. Albanez followed that up with another 17-point outing, this time in the Zags 63-52 win at USC. STEALING THE BALL: Gonzaga University women's basketball junior Haiden Palmer opened the new year making a career-high six steals at UC Riverside, Nov. 9. She followed that up with five steals at USC, Nov. 9 and had another five against the University of Wisconsin, Nov. 16. Palmer, who had a team-leading 78 steals a season ago, has 19 of the Zags 49 picks after four games. CHESLEK MAKES PRESENCE FELT: Gonzaga University women's basketball redshirt freshman made her presence felt in the Bulldogs nine-point win over the University of Wisconsin, Nov. 16. Cheslek recorded her first career double-digit rebounding game with 11, and added seven points, three blocks, two assists and two steals in 28 minutes of action. BASKETBALL IN HER GENES: Gonzaga University women's basketball freshman Elle Tinkle comes from a basketball family. Her father Wayne Tinkle played for the University of Montana, played professionally in Europe for 10 years and is currently the head men's basketball coach at the University of Montana. Her mother Lisa Tinkle also played for Montana and was inducted into Montana's Hall of Fame. Her sister Joslyn Tinkle is currently a senior on the Stanford University women's basketball team. The two sisters will battle each other on the hardwood Dec. 2 when the Cardinal visit the McCarthey Athletic Center. ALL-AROUND ATHLETIC FAMILY: Gonzaga University women's basketball senior Meghan Winters is one of four Winters siblings to play a collegiate sport in college. Her brother Brendan Winters played collegiate basketball at Davidson College. Her sister was a member of the University of Portland women's soccer team. Her younger brother Ryan Winters is currently a sophomore on the Elon University men's basketball team. And where do they get their athletic talents from? Her father Brian Winters was the 12th pick in the NBA draft in 1974, taken by the L.A. Lakers. After his playing career, he went on to coach for the University of South Carolina, L.A. Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Vancouver Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and the WNBA's Indiana Fever. He is currently an assistant coach for the Charlotte Bobcats. COACH GRAVES AND USA BASKETBALL: This past summer, Gonzaga University women's basketball head coach Kelly Graves added USA Basketball to his resume, becoming an assistant coach with the U18 women's basketball squad and helping the team to a gold medal at the 2012 FIBA Americas. SEASON TICKETS TOP 4,300: Gonzaga University women's basketball season tickets have hit a record-high 4,315 and counting. The Bulldogs hit a then-record-high of 4,104 season-ticket holders in 2011-12 and averaged 5,442 fans for their 17 home games which stood 14th in the NCAA for women's basketball attendance. RECEIVING VOTES IN BOTH THE USA TODAY COACHES' AND AP POLL TOP 25 POLL: The Gonzaga University women's basketball squad is receiving votes in both the USA Today Coaches' Top 25 poll and the Associated Press Top 25. The Bulldogs received 24 votes in the Coaches' poll; the sixth team 'also' receiving votes. The Zags earned three votes in the AP poll Monday. BULLDOGS PICKED SECOND IN WEST COAST CONFERENCE: Eight-time West Coast Conference Champion Gonzaga University women's basketball has been picked to finish second this year in a preseason vote of the nine league coaches. The Bulldogs, who for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign were not picked to win the WCC, garnered four first-place votes and received 60 points. Second-year member BYU was chosen as the favorite to claim the WCC women's basketball title, edging out the Zags by one point. The Cougars, who defeated GU to win the 2012 WCC Tournament title, received five-first places votes and 61 overall points. OPPONENTS IN THE TOP 25: Gonzaga University women's basketball 2012-13 opponents Stanford University and Ohio State University, along with possible 2012 Hardwood of Hope Tournament opponent University of Louisville are all ranked in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches' Top 25 polls. Stanford is ranked fourth in both polls, Ohio State is 20th in the AP poll and 21st in the USA Today Coaches' poll, while Louisville is eighth in both polls The Bulldogs host Stanford Dec. 2, host Ohio State Dec. 17 and could battle Louisville Nov. 21 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. GONZAGA TO HOST 2013 NCAA FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS: Gonzaga University was one of 16 institutions selected to host the first-and-second rounds of the 2013 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament as announced by the NCAA. The Bulldogs will host the opening weekend action at the McCarthey Athletic Center. If Gonzaga earns a bid to the NCAA Tournament, it automatically will be seeded to play at the McCarthey Athletic Center. This will be third year in a row Gonzaga has been selected to host the first and second rounds. ZAGS SIGN TWO: Gonzaga University women's basketball head coach Kelly Graves has announced the signing of two players to national letters of intent. Joining the Bulldogs next fall is Bayli McClard, a 6-1 forward from Hanford high school in Hanford, Calif., and Emma Wolfram, a 6-5 center from South Kamloops high school in Kamloops, British Columbia. | ||
