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Maybe the ordinary person, the ordinary player -- if she's having an Alana Beard season, if she's the freshman leading scorer on the country's fifth-ranked college-basketball team -- maybe the ordinary player, the ordinary person, thinks quietly to herself, 'What's so hard about this game?'
Maybe that's why no ordinary player has an Alana Beard season. Maybe that's why Alana Beard is no ordinary person.
Here's what quietly happens to Alana Beard, multi-dimensional 5-11 forward for 15-1 Duke: 'I get soooo mad ... It's not like I break down, exactly. I just get so mad at myself.'
Stop now if you're thinking that Beard is like the falsely-earnest job applicant who, when asked by an interviewer to identify a weakness, says, 'Sometimes, I work too hard because I expect too much of myself.' Beard is not that job applicant. She really does expect too much of herself. Her coaches see it; her teammates see it. They want her to stop it.
'Alana will become a great player and a great leader when she learns to let things go and move on to the next play,' Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. 'She dwells on mistakes too much.'
Beard says, 'Coach G and I have had talks about it ... In a way, it's so selfish. My teammates have to take time out to get me back focused. That's time they're wasting where they could be concentrating on executing a play.'
Goestenkors: 'It's funny because Georgia (Schweitzer, Duke's senior guard and the 1999-2000 Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year) was just talking about the fact that she was exactly like Alana in that way as a freshman. When Georgia was a freshman, when she would make a mistake, she would be so upset with herself on the court. It was like her whole world was ending.'
Schweitzer got over it. Goestenkors feels confident that Beard will to. But the coach doesn't want to eliminate this part of the player's mindset -- just regulate it.
'I don't see it that often,' she said. 'Unfortunately, when most players make a mistake, they don't get upset at all. You have to find a happy medium there.'
Goestenkors also wants to see Beard grow more in tune with the nuances of the game -- 'understanding what's a good shot and when's a good time to shoot it, reading mismatches, understanding when the ball needs to go in and when the ball needs to be pulled out, understanding when she can post up and when she can drive.'
Otherwise, this is one exceptionally polished 18-year-old player. The per-game averages: 17 points, five rebounds, four assists, four steals and a block. She's successful, too. Her three most recent teams -- Duke, the U.S. Junior World Championship team and Southwood High School in Frierson, La. -- had combined for a 67-game winning streak before Clemson upset the Blue Devils on Dec. 9. Heading into today's Duke game at Maryland, Beard's teams are 164-7 since 1996, having bagged four Louisiana state championships and a gold medal.
Is there an ACC title in the near future?
Well, Duke's awfully good awfully soon. The 15-player roster includes 10 freshmen and sophomores, and yet Goestenkors has accelerated her lesson plans, introducing more traps and presses earlier this season than in any other. 'I expected to be working on the basic defensive sets for a much longer period of time, but they're such quick learners.' Three of the freshmen and sophomores start -- Beard, freshman forward Iciss Tillis and sophomore guard Sheana Mosch.
'We have our moments. We do have a lot of talent,' Goestenkors said. 'For instance, against Iowa State, when we're playing really well and clicking on all cylinders and there's a big crowd and it's a great game, I mean that was just fun. (The Blue Devils won that one, Dec. 30 in Durham, N.C.)
'And then there are other times when, because of our youth, we're not to the point where we can sustain that level of play -- where we can come out when the crowd isn't big or the opponent isn't ranked and still play at our own level. That becomes very frustrating.
'There's so much room for improvement with this team.' Despite the early success, Goestenkors said, 'this team is definitely challenging me.'
Duke entered the 2000 NCAA tournament as the East Regional's second seed, behind Connecticut. This season, the Blue Devils may not have to worry about the Huskies before the Final Four.
| Seed | Team | Of note |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Duke | Beard has won four of the ACC's rookie-of-the-week honors so far this season, but the most recent one went to Tillis, her teammate. She's averaging nine points and five rebounds per game but totaled 35 and 17 in wins over Wake Forest on Jan. 2 and Florida State on Jan. 8. Tillis's dad, James 'Quick' Tillis went the distance with Mike Tyson in a 10-round heavyweight bout May 3, 1986, but lost the decision Iciss was 4 at the time. |
| 2. | Notre Dame | Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, spunky with the media during a Jan. 12 teleconference, said the Irish, his Jan. 15 opponent, is 'a Final Four team -- no question in my mind. If you were to ask me who the four best teams in the country are that I've seen, I'd say Connecticut, Georgia, Notre Dame and Tennessee -- not necessarily in that order. If I want to put them in order, I'd say Connecticut, Notre Dame, Georgia and Tennessee, because I like Notre Dame -- they're in our league -- and just to put a bug up the other guys' butts.' |
| 3. | Louisiana State | Coaches call it 'playing like a senior': Senior forward April Brown bombs a three-pointer to give home-standing LSU a 57-54 lead with 1:11 to go after trailing by eight at the half Jan. 11, and, on the ensuing Arkansas possession, senior guard Marie Ferdinand makes her fourth steal of the night and converts a transition layup with 21 seconds left to seal victory. The Lady Tigers prevail, 61-54, to improve to 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference and keep dangerous Arkansas winless in the league. |
| 4. | Oklahoma | Seven different Sooners have led OU in scoring during games this season. |
| 5. | Southwest Missouri State | Among the 41 points that Jackie Stiles scored in the Bears' 90-67 win at Missouri Valley Conference-foe Evansville on Jan. 13 were 11 free throws in 11 attempts. |
| 6. | Baylor | Life in the tough Big 12 Conference: After a 13-0 start, the Bears have lost two in a row -- 84-61 to Texas Tech on Jan. 10 and 90-87 to Oklahoma on Jan. 14. |
| 7. | Arizona | Reshea Bristol broke the program's single-game assists mark with 16 in an 88-72 win over Washington on Jan. 13. Before the game, Wildcats coach Joan Bonvicini saw few clues that her senior point guard was in for a record-breaking day. 'Reshea wasn't herself. She looked a little out of it. In practice, she got an abrasion on her eye, (and) before the game she had a patch on her eye. She looked like a pirate.' |
| 8. | Florida State | It would be the program's first NCAA tournament appearance since 1991. |
| 9. | Texas Christian | Jeff Mittie, in his six seasons as a head coach at Arkansas State and Texas Christian, is 102-60. That's winning almost 63 percent of the time. His Horned Frogs are 3-0 in league play and alone atop the Western Athletic Conference. |
| 10. | Wisconsin-Green Bay | The Phoenix closed non-conference play with a bang: 69-56 over Colorado State on Jan. 4 and 82-80 in overtime over Wisconsin on Jan. 7. Junior forward Mandy Stowe was suffering from the flu last week, but she totaled 45 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and a blocked shot. Stowe was a three-time Associated Press all-Michigan selection at Ludington High School but played in only 25 games in two seasons at the University of Michigan before transferring to Wisconsin-Green Bay. |
| 11. | Stephen F. Austin | Louisiana-Monroe opponents were averaging 57 points a game before the Lady Eagles' game with the Ladyjacks in Nacogdoches, Texas. Stephen F. Austin won that clash of the last two teams unbeaten in Southland Conference play, 86-67. |
| 12. | Villanova | Senior center Brandi Barnes, in her third year at Villanova after one at Maryland, is averaging 14 points and six rebounds a game -- 17 points and seven rebounds per in the Wildcats' seven-game win streak. |
| 13. | Colorado State | The records of 12-2 overall and 1-0 in the Mountain West Conference look great, but let's see the Jan. 18 game at league-heavy Utah. |
| 14. | Holy Cross | In celebration of its 10th anniversary in November, the Patriot League announced its all-decade women's basketball team. Ten players were selected, without regard to position; six of them were former : Kathy Courtney (class of 1997), Anna Kinne (2000), Lauren Maney ('96), Amy O'Brien ('99), Norinne Powers ('93) and Mary Helen Walker ('91). |
| 15. | Oral Roberts | Fifteen steals in the 65-53 win over Oakland on Jan. 8. It was a meeting between the last two teams unbeaten in Mid-Continent Conference play. |
| 16. | Monmouth | The starting frontcourt -- sophomore center Nicola Mignott, junior forward Michelle Cappadona and senior forward Katie Kostohyrz -- combined for 56 of Monmouth's 71 points in a 13-point Northeast Conference win over Sacred Heart on Jan. 4. Mignott blocked six Pioneer shots. |
| Seed | Team | Of note |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Connecticut | Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, candid with the media during a Jan. 12 teleconference, said of the Huskies, her Jan. 15 opponent: 'We can match up with them five against five; it is their bench that has a huge advantage against us. We are going to have to stay out of foul trouble and hopefully not turn any ankles or have any kind of injury problems because we obviously need to keep our starters on the floor for 40 minutes ... I am going to play my starters the whole game, and I am hoping the referees will concur with that.' |
| 2. | Louisiana Tech | Consecutive Sun Belt Conference win No. 40 was no gimme. The Lady Techsters trailed by five with 9:19 to go in the first half at North Texas on Jan. 11. Louisiana Tech closed the half on a 25-3 run in which it limited the home team to seven field-goal attempts and just one make. 'North Texas had an excellent game plan and played very hard. I credit our basketball team for adjusting and winning the ballgame,' Tech coach Leon Barmore said. 'We respect UNT and didn't think we could just walk in here and win. This was a good win for us ... Everything we did to scout Connecticut, we did for UNT.' Lady Eagles coach Tina Slinker, too, was pleased: 'The fact that Leon had to actually coach some in the second half bodes well for our team.' |
| 3. | Penn State | Freshman guard Kelly Mazzante is averaging a team-high 18 points a game. She's hitting 51 percent from the field, including 41 percent from three-point range. 'She scored 3,200 points (at Mountoursville High School in Pennsylvania). We knew she had a trigger,' Penn State coach Rene Portland said. 'She tried out for the USA team this summer, and, to be quite honest, Geno (Auriemma, the Junior World Championship coach) cut her because she shot the ball too much. And that's not a problem with me. I actually get mad at her when she doesn't attempt double digits -- her and (senior guard) Lisa Shephard.' |
| 4. | Florida | Twenty turnovers, 33-percent field-goal shooting, scoreless in the game's final three minutes. 'We played real hard but not real smart all the time,' Florida coach Carol Ross said after a 72-59 loss at Georgia on Jan. 11. |
| 5. | Texas | The Longhorns, coach Jody Conradt said, sunk into 'such a sense of failure' after the 68-52 upset loss to Missouri on Jan. 6. 'It's been a tough week. I think this team will bounce back, but it's almost like recovering from an illness.' |
| 6. | North Carolina State | The 71-64 win over Temple on Jan. 11 was Kay Yow's 600th as a collegiate head coach. The first 57 came between 1971 and '75 at Elon College, a private school about 40 miles west of Raleigh. Since '75, the Gibsonville, N.C., native has guided the Wolfpack. She's clearly made a lot of friends along the way. As the final seconds ticked away in the win over Temple, fans waved cards with '600' printed on them and chanted, 'We love Kay.' After the game, Yow danced with her players and carried a bouquet of red and white helium-filled balloons while being showered with confetti from the Reynolds Coliseum rafters. Later, other members of N.C. State's women's athletics staff presented Yow with a hand-made quilt with sketches of wolves stitched into each panel. And Mel Greenberg, the Philadelphia Inquirer writer and originator and keeper of the Associated Press women's basketball poll, gave her a copy of Philly's Final Four, a compilation of that newspaper's coverage of last season's national semifinals and final. |
| 7. | George Washington | Who has played better in a key conference game so far this year than Lindsey Davidson did Jan. 6? At home against Xavier, previously unbeaten in the Atlantic 10 and ranked 22nd nationally by the Associated Press at the time, the sophomore guard hit 11 of her 12 field-goal attempts, including all four from three-point range. She finished with 26 points, six assists and two steals. |
| 8. | Mississippi | Stephanie Murphy is one busy Lady Rebel. Not only an 11-minute-, three-point-a-game reserve swing player, she's also a minister at Providence Methodist Church in Abbeville, Miss., and a December 2000 Ole Miss graduate who's now pursuing a master's in higher education and student personnel. |
| 9. | Old Dominion | Still hasn't lost a Colonial Athletic Association game since 1994-95, but there was a close call Jan. 7. Playing at home, ODU trailed by three at the half and by one with 2:33 to play against James Madison. But the Lady Monarchs prevailed, 62-56, as they ran off the final 56 seconds of the game by maintaining possession thanks largely to two offensive rebounds by junior forward Tiffany Thompson. |
| 10. | Illinois | The Illini is 8-8 heading into today's game at Michigan State, after three 20-win seasons in Theresa Grentz's first five as head coach at Illinois. She's not complaining, though: 'You can't enjoy being refreshed if you've not been thirsty. I'm grateful to have this season.' |
| 11. | St. Joseph's | Junior forward Susan Moran had the proverbial 'field day' on Fieldtrip to the Fieldhouse Day. Moran tallied 36 points in an 81-69 St. Joseph's win over Duquesne on Jan. 12. The game drew a capacity crowd to St. Joe's Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse in Philadelphia -- 3,200, many of them youngsters drawn by the promotional event co-sponsored by the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. Hawks coach Stephanie Gaitley gave the children a speech, 'Academics and Athletics,' and former St. Joe's player Amy Mallon oversaw a basketball skills session. 'It's great to see the Fieldhouse packed,' Moran said. 'It doesn't matter what age they are ... Hopefully, some of those kids will be encouraged to come back.' |
| 12. | Tennessee-Chattanooga | Trailed by four at half of its Jan. 13 game at UNC Greensboro. Led by 10 just 3:50 into the second half. Won, 79-63, to seize single ownership of first place in the Southern Conference. 'It was just over after that run,' Greensboro coach Lynne Agee said. 'The mistakes just compounded upon themselves. We'd make a mistake at one end and then one at the other. There was a stretch there where everything we did was a mistake. And a lot of that has to be attributed to them ... They stepped it up and abused us physically; we wimped.' Chattanooga coach Wes Moore: 'We made no adjustments at halftime really. I told the players after the game that they did it. It wasn't coaching. They just turned it up a notch.' |
| 13. | Kent State | Two wins to open the season, then five losses in six games and now six victories in a row. Here's the important part: 4-0 in the Mid-American Conference. |
| 14. | Delaware | In a meeting of teams unbeaten in America East Conference play Jan. 6, Drexel had rallied from 16 down to take a 71-68 lead with 4:39 remaining in its home game with Delaware. The Blue Hens, though, scored 16 consecutive points to clinch victory, 85-73. Senior guard Cindy Johnson recorded 25 points, 12 rebounds, seven steals and four assists for the visiting winners, now 6-0 in the league.. |
| 15. | Pennsylvania | In the Quakers' last action before Ivy League play, senior forward Diana Caramanico scored 42 of Penn's 64 points in a 13-point win over home-standing Albany on Jan. 8. That's better than 65 percent and, Caramanico said, 'not really important. It's just important we won.' |
| 16. | High Point | Placed last in the preseason Big South Conference coaches poll, but the young Panthers won their first two league games. Seven of the 14 players on the team are freshmen, and two of them start in Coach Joe Ellenburg's backcourt. Narelle Henry and Debbie Ruiz combine to average 17 points, five rebounds and seven assists a game. |
| Seed | Team | Of note |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tennessee | No hard feelings between Coach Pat Summitt and former player Teresa Geter, a 6-4 frontcourter who played two seasons with the Lady Vols before transferring to South Carolina. 'I am really proud of her, and when I saw her at SEC media day I told her that,' Summitt said in a media teleconference Jan. 10. 'She's very content to be back at home in Columbia and fits in well at South Carolina.' Geter is averaging 11 points and six rebounds a game in her first season with the Gamecocks, but she was limited to four points and no rebounds in South Carolina's 99-45 loss at Tennessee on Jan. 11. |
| 2. | Iowa State | In three of the Cyclones' first four Big 12 Conference games, all five starters have reached double-figure point totals three times. In the fourth, four of the five made it -- and Iowa State hammered Nebraska, 89-46, on Jan. 14. |
| 3. | Rutgers | Linda Miles had Rutgers' last two points of regulation and then seven in overtime during a 75-66 win over Rutgers on Jan. 13. She hit five of six free throws in the game, en route to 19 points. 'It's easy to shoot free throws because you have 10 seconds to shoot,' the senior forward said. 'That gives you a lot of time to build up your concentration. The key is in keeping your hands dry and keeping your focus.' |
| 4. | Clemson | Connecticut transfer Marci Glenney has worked her way into Jim Davis's starting five, at small forward. The 5-11 junior is averaging nine points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal per game. |
| 5. | Indiana | Coach Kathi Bennett's dad, Wisconsin men's coach Dick Bennett, spent time with his daughter and her team last week. Dick Bennett watched the Hoosiers' 67-59 loss to Purdue on Jan. 7 and 92-64 win over Minnesota on Jan. 11. In between, he gave the team a motivational talk during practice Jan. 10. |
| 6. | Mississippi State | The Jan. 11 win at Mississippi closed the Lady Rebels' lead in the all-time series to a mere 52-7. It was Mississippi State's second-ever and second-straight win at Ole Miss's Tad Smith Coliseum. The series is into its 28th season. |
| 7. | Wisconsin | Wisconsin coach Jane Albright on the news that Ohio State sophomore frontcourter LaToya Turner was lost for the season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament: 'It deflated our players ... And, as a coach, you would think that would make you think, "Oh, now they won't be as good." No. It devastates everyone. You want the great players to be able to compete.' |
| 8. | Memphis | Yes, it's her real name. Princess Swilley's dad got the idea from the name of a winning horse his brother-in-law had wagered on -- 'Princess Karrenda.' |
| 9. | Auburn | 12-0 before Dec. 20, 1-4 since. |
| 10. | Alabama-Birmingham | Had a 12-game losing streak against Memphis going until a 78-51 win at home Dec. 31. Will try to make it two in a row in a key Conference USA tilt today. |
| 11. | UC Santa Barbara | The Gauchos were only 6-6 in non-conference play, but their Big West Conference opener suggested that UCSB remains that league's heavy. UCSB opened a 20-point halftime lead and dismissed Cal State-Fullerton, 74-51, on Jan. 9. That made it 43 straight Big West wins for Santa Barbara and 26 straight league losses for Fullerton. |
| 12. | Northern Iowa | In the hopper for 2000-01: Lindsey Aves, a 5-11 swing player. Aves played in 39 games with Georgia Tech over the last two seasons but elected to transfer closer to her home in Waterloo, Iowa. She'll be eligible to play for UNI in the second semester of next season. Coach Tony DiCecco recruited Aves out of Waterloo West High School, where she played with two other future Division I players: San Diego State's Jamey Cox and Wisconsin's Nina Smith. |
| 13. | Temple | The Owls haven't made an NCAA tournament since 1989 (and had never played in one before then), but coach Dawn Staley is developing a troublesome team that seems to have fully subscribed to a scrappy style. North Carolina State's Yow, after having to rally her team for a 71-64 win at home Jan. 11: 'She's doing a great job. She's got them playing their game, and, if they can win, they will.' |
| 14. | Tennessee Tech | The Golden Eaglettes are 3-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play, and junior center Janet Holt is averaging better than 28 points and 11 rebounds per in league action. |
| 15. | Fairfield | Lying in wait for the only other team still unbeaten in Metro Atlantic Association Conference play. After a week off, Fairfield (5-0 in the league) hosts Siena (5-0) on Jan. 16. |
| 16. | Grambling State | The flu had kept sophomore guard Shrieka Evans out of practice the week leading up to the Jan. 6 game with Southern, but Grambling State's leading scorer finally convinced coach David 'Rusty' Ponton to let her play. Evans scored 15, but Southern won, 80-70 -- breaking the Lady Tigers' win streak in Memorial Gym at 68. That's one short of the Division I record (Tennessee's 69 from Feb. 1, 1991, to Jan. 2, 1996). Grambling State's next home game was two nights later, and the Lady Tigers turned back the Southwestern Athletic Conference favorite, Alcorn State, 74-63. |
| Seed | Team | Of note |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Georgia | Coach Andy Landers is warning his Lady Bulldogs of an unusual challenge today in Baton Rouge, La.: 'LSU tempos you in the half court. The last 15 seconds of most of their possessions are usually very critical. They sort of lull a defense to sleep and then attack you during the latter portion of the shot clock.' |
| 2. | Purdue | Sophomore frontcourter Mary Joe Noon tore an anterior cruciate ligament Jan. 4 and is out for the remainder of the season. She was averaging five points and three rebounds in just 12 minutes of reserve work a game, and yet, Purdue coach Kristy Curry said, 'there've been times this season that she's been better than (Camille) Cooper for us. That's not to be critical of Camille (the senior starting center who's averaging 14 points and six rebounds); that's just to say that it's a huge blow for us.' |
| 3. | Texas Tech | Key play in the Lady Raiders' 85-78 win at home over Texas A&M on Jan. 13: a three-pointer by freshman guard Jia Perkins with 51 seconds to go. The Aggies had closed Tech's lead to four points, and there was only one second remaining on the shot clock. |
| 4. | Oregon | Before her team's game with Oregon on Jan. 11, Caren Horstmeyer designed a game plan whereby, if the Ducks 'were going to beat us, they were going to beat us from the three-point line -- but that Jamie Craighead was not going to shoot threes,' California's coach said. 'She hit four in the first half.' Craighead's four long-range makes came in the game's opening 14 minutes, 10 seconds as Oregon opened a 28-15 advantage at home. The Pac-10 Conference's two-time defending champs went on to win, 86-56. Craighead, a junior guard, finished with 14 points. |
| 5. | Vanderbilt | Shot 70 percent from the field to Kentucky's 40 percent and outrebounded the Wildcats, 41 to 19, in a 91-61 win in Lexington on Jan. 11. |
| 6. | Utah | The Utes defend. They held home-standing Nevada-Las Vegas to 21 first-half points and 29-percent field-goal shooting for the game in a 70-51 Mountain West Conference win Jan. 11. The Lady Rebels' and league's leading scorer, Linda Fršhlich, averaging 20 points per game before facing Utah, went without a first-half field goal and fouled out with 11 points on three-of-12 shooting. |
| 7. | Virginia | Sometimes, the best-laid plans of mice and basketball coaches actually work. After a three-pointer by North Carolina's Juana Brown tied the Jan. 11 game at 76, Virginia got the ball back with 30 seconds remaining. The Cavs ran the clock to 5.5 seconds before calling timeout and then got the ball low to sophomore forward Schuye LaRue and a game-winning layup with 1.8 seconds to go. 'That's exactly what we wanted to do,' Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. 'We didn't want to get them the chance to win the game. We ran through that play in shootaround.' |
| 8. | Xavier | Xavier coach Melanie Balcomb has a big fan in Durham, N.C. 'I think she's an excellent coach,' Goestenkors said. Duke's coach watched one of Xavier's games in the 2000 NCAA tournament on videotape and was especially impressed with the way that Balcomb had the Musketeers execute fast breaks. 'I wanted to run a break like theirs this year, and we had all of Xavier's games that were on satellite on tape,' Goestenkors said. 'So I sat and watched the tapes until I thought I'd figured out exactly what all of their options were on the breaks ... (Balcomb) probably doesn't know it. And even if she watches us play, she still probably doesn't know it because we don't run them as well as Xavier does.' |
| 9. | Missouri | Winning in a lot of different ways: outshooting their opponents, 46 percent to 37 percent; outscoring them, 80 points per game to 64; outrebounding them, 44 to 37, and outexecuting them, 17 assists and 20 turnovers per to 11 assists and 22 by the foes. |
| 10. | Santa Clara | Senior forward Jennifer Glysson, normally a starter, played 23 minutes in reserve during Santa Clara's 79-67 win over West Coast Conference-favorite Pepperdine on Jan. 11. Glysson suffered a concussion early in the season. 'They sent her in for a CAT scan and found a cyst in her sinus cavity,' Coach Chris Denker said. Doctors deemed Glysson's situation to require immediate surgery because the cyst 'could have grown through her sinus wall and into her brain. . She went in early last week ... and thank goodness it wasn't anything serious. They got it taken out and everything's fine.' |
| 11. | Oregon State | Junior guard Felicia Ragland scored 20 for Oregon State in its 81-65 upset of visiting Stanford on Jan. 11. Beavers coach Judy Spoelstra had a nice assist after the game, dishing credit for the Pac-10 victory to one of her assistants: 'Tony Newnan did a great job of breaking down film this week, so our kids came out really prepared. We had our hands up on our match-up zone and forced Stanford to get some bad looks ... We have a tremendous amount of respect for every player on Stanford's roster.' |
| 12. | Texas A&M | Coach Peggie Gillom likens the passing ability of her freshman point guard, Toccara Williams, to that of the two best passers she's played with: Teresa Edwards and Dawn Staley. Williams 'has that knack ... She's one of the best point guards I've been around. She doesn't play like a freshman a lot of the time. She does exactly what you want her to do. She's our little general on the floor.' Williams is averaging more than seven assists and fewer than four turnovers in 36 minutes per game. |
| 13. | St. Mary's | Jerkisha Dosty was the West Coast Conference's player of the month for December, averaging 15 points and nine rebounds as the Gaels got off to a 9-2 start. Though the junior forward's numbers are down so far in January (nine points and five rebounds per), St. Mary's is unbeaten through four games in the new year. |
| 14. | Montana | One of the best rebounders and top defenders on 23rd-year coach Robin Selvig's first three Lady Griz teams was his sister, Sandy Selvig (now Sullivan). One of Robin's and Sandy's brothers, Doug, played for Montana's men's team, 1981 through '84. |
| 15. | Howard | Junior forward Andrea Gardner is the nation's best rebounder, at better than 15 per game. |
| 16. | Campbell | April Cromartie is averaging the fewest rebounds per game, seven, of her career with the Fighting Camels, but coach Wanda Watkins doesn't think the junior forward is any less effective than she has been in either of her first two years. 'There just aren't as many rebounds to be acquired,' Watkins said. Freshman frontcourter Crystal Clary is averaging better than eight per game. |
1/14/01
