Washington State University Athletics

5-2 Cougar women's basketball to host Gonzaga Friday.

December 14, 1998

W-BASKETBALL:

THIS WEEK:
Friday, Dec. 18 - WSU vs. Gonzaga, 7:00 p.m., PST, Friel Court, Pullman

Monday, Dec. 21 - WSU at St. Mary's 7:30 p.m. PST, McKeon Pavilion, Moraga, Calif.

NEXT WEEK:
Sunday, Dec. 27 - WSU vs. Portland Saints (Exhibition), 1:00 p.m., Friel Court, Pullman

-- UPCOMING OPPONENTS --
Gonzaga - The Cougars hold a 14-1 advantage in the series, including last year's 78-59 win in Spokane.

St. Mary's - WSU and St. Mary's will be meeting for the first time.

WSU OVERALL:     5-2
WSU IN PAC-10:   0-0
WSU AT HOME:     3-2
WSU ON THE ROAD: 2-0
WSU STREAK:       -2

COACH: Harold Rhodes (Washington State '77); WSU/Career record: 188-257 (17th year).

THIS WEEK: The Washington State Cougar women's basketball team (5-2) will face more than one test this week when they host the Gonzaga Bulldogs (3-5) Friday in a 7:00 p.m. game at Friel Court. Before taking on their nearby rivals from Spokane, the Cougar women must face a battery of final exams in the classroom as the fall semester comes to a close prior to a three-week vacation period. WSU will also be out to snap a two-game skid suffered at the hands of Idaho and Utah last week. Friday's battle with the Bulldogs will be WSU's final home game in a string of six straight. The Cougar's final action of the year will be Dec. 21 at St. Mary's and a home exhibition game against the Portland Saints Dec. 27 as a tune-up for the Pac-10 opener at Washington Jan. 4. Alke Dietel, coming off a 51-point effort last week, has taken over the WSU scoring lead, averaging 19.9 points. She also is the club's top rebounder, averaging 7.4 boards. Tricia Lamb is second in scoring at 18.6.

LAST WEEK: WSU saw its five-game win streak snapped by the Idaho Vandals 86-79 Dec. 12, then two days later Utah upended the Cougs in overtime 81-70...Dietel scored 31 for WSU to take game-high honors and she also had nine rebounds...WSU lost the game at the free throw line, where the Pac-10 leader shot just 60% (15-25), and on the boards, where Idaho owned a 42-29 advantage...Utah scored all 17 overtime points at the free throw line...Dietel led WSU with 20 points...the Cougs shot just 36.8%, Utah 47.4%.

DIETEL AND LAMB RECORD DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Two current Cougars have recorded double-doubles in their careers, sophomores Alke Dietel and Tricia Lamb...each had one as freshmen last year and Dietel has two this season:

SMITH TO SIT OUT 1997 SEASON: Junior Joanna Smith, who set a school record with 68 treys as a freshman in 1997 and came back last year to hit a record 46.4% of her three-point attempts (39-84), will redshirt this season.

LAMB PROVIDES SCORING BOOST: Tricia Lamb, a sophomore, is quickly showing her freshman numbers were no accident...after leading the Cougs in scoring through the first five games, she is currently second in scoring at 18.6 points, second in free throw shooting percentage at 78.9% (15-19), first in steals with 16, and also leads the team in three-point shooting with 19 treys and 37.3%...Lamb started the season with a 33-point effort against Appalachian State and was named to the Howard Bank Classic all-tourney team at Vermont...two weeks ago she was the MVP of the Cougar Shootout after scoring 33 points in two games...Lamb now has 49 career treys in 34 games to put her within just 13 of WSU's career Top 10 list...last year Lamb averaged 9.8 points while starting all 27 games...she shot 42.5% from the field, including 35.3% from outside the arc.

FRESHMAN POWER NOW SOPHOMORE POWER: The Cougars' starting lineup includes three sophomores, forward Alke Dietel (29.9 minutes per game) and guards Katie Nyseth (28.4 minutes) and Tricia Lamb (29.3 minutes)...in addition, sophomore Yvonne Volkman (23.4 minutes) averages enough minutes to be considered a starter...the only other players averaging 20 or more minutes per outing are junior Cathy McNeely (22.7) and senior Sheri Quinton (29.4).

DIETEL OFF TO FINE START: Sophomore Alke Dietel, who was the Pacific-10 Conference's Freshman of the Year last season, is currently averaging 19.9 points and 7.4 rebounds through seven games to lead WSU in both categories...Dietel was named the most valuable player at the Howard Bank Classic hosted by Vermont...two weeks ago she scored 37 points and grabbed 17 rebounds while being named to the Cougar Classic all-tournament team...last season Dietel averaged 11.9 points and 4.4 rebounds.

COUGS IN PAC-10: WSU currently leads the 10 Pacific-10 Conference teams in three-point field goals per game at 7.43...Alke Dietel is the league's top scorer with a 19.9 average and she also is sixth in rebounding at 7.4...Tricia Lamb slipped to third in scoring at 18.6 after leading all scorers through the first month of the season.

LAMB NATIONALLY: Washington State's Tricia Lamb is ranked 21st nationally, averaging 2.7 three-point field goals per game...as a team WSU ranks tied for 13th nationally, averaging 82.7 points per outing...in addition WSU's 7.4 three-point field goals per game ranks third nationally.

WASHINGTON STATE RECORDS WHEN . . .

PAC-10 RANKINGS (Updated Dec. 14)

Individuals - Lamb scoring/18.6/3rd, 3-pt FG%/.373/4th, Steals/2.29/t-10th; Dietel scoring/19.9/1st, rebounding/7.4/6th, blocks/0.86/t-10th; Quinton rebounds/5.1/t-10th; Volkman rebounds/5.1/t-10th.

Team Offense - scoring/82.7/2nd, scoring margin/+11.0/4th, FG%/.417/5th, FT%/.717/2nd, 3-pt FG%/.338/3rd, 3-pt FG/7.43/1st,

Team Defense - scoring/71.7/6th, FG%/.440/10th,

Team Misc. - rebound margin/-4.6/10th.

PACIFIC-10 STANDINGS (Pac-10/Overall): Oregon State 7-1/0-0, Oregon 6-2/0-0, UCLA 6-2/0-0, Washington State 5-2/0-0, Arizona State 4-2/0-0, USC 4-3/0-0, Arizona 4-3/0-0, California 2-2/0-0, Stanford 3-5/0-0, Washington 2-4/0-0.

GONZAGA OVERALL:      3-5
GONZAGA IN LEAGUE:    0-0
GONZAGA AT HOME:      2-1
GONZAGA ON THE ROAD:  0-4
GONZAGA SREAK:         +2

GONZAGA BULLDOGS (3-5 / 0-0)

COACH: Kellee Barney (Idaho '83); School record: 31-84 (5th year; Career record: 31-84 (5th year).

BULLDOG NOTES: Gonzaga will bring a two-game win streak into WSU's final home game of December, having defeated Pacific and Weber State..the Bulldog wins have been narrow victories, two points over Eastern Washington, one point over Pacific and a 10-point spread over Weber State...only one Bulldog averages more than 10 points, freshman Molly Malone out of Columbia River High in Vancouver...she enters the game averaging 11.0 points...she tallied 26 in the win over Weber State...the Zags shoot a lot of three-pointers, about 17 per game, but they only shoot 26.8% from outside the arc...Gonzaga has made 189 turnovers in eight games, nearly 24 per game.

COUG CONNECTION: There is a definite Cougar flavor to Gonzaga's women's basketball program...head coach Kellee (Knowles) Barney was an assistant at WSU until taking over at GU in 1995...she first jointed the WSU program in 1985-86 and was an assistant in 1991 when WSU earned a berth in the NCAA tournament... two of her assistants played at WSU while Barney was an assistant, Heather (Norman) Gores and Kelly Kronberger...Norman, 1989-90-91-92, still holds WSU's record for career three-point field goals, 133, and is 12th on the WSU career scoring list with 981 points...she is married to former WSU baseball player Greg Gores, who is now on the GU staff...Kronberger, 1993-94-95-96, is second on WSU's career three-point field goal list at 124.

SERIES RECORD: WSU's only loss in the 15 previous games with Gonzaga came in 1993 when the Zags prevailed 71-69 in Spokane...WSU has won all six games with the Zags played in Pullman...since the 1993 loss WSU has won four straight.