WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Women win two over weekend, move to 8-3 in WAC play

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by David Gordon

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As the season winds down and the Western Athletic Conference tournament approaches, the team is beginning to smooth out these fluctuations. On Saturday, the team hosted Fresno State University in its "crossover" game. This is the one opponent from the WAC Pacific Division that the team plays to give it eight conference opponents.

The Bulldogs jumped out of the gates quickly, aided by easy baskets and poor Rice shooting. They built a 13-2 lead five minutes into the game. After a timeout, the team got back in the game. The Owls went on a 28-11 run that gave them a six-point halftime lead.

McKinney said that the team just needed a break to refocus on the task at hand. "It looked like it was tossed up," she said. "It was just a question of them changing their approach and getting more intense and trying to focus a little harder."

The rest of the game saw the Owls play some of their best basketball of the season. Over the last 10 minutes of the game, they allowed only three Fresno State points while dropping in 25 of their own to win 65-40. With Fresno State going to a smaller lineup in the second half in an effort to increase the pace of the game, sophomore center Jennifer Hamilton had an easy time. She scored 17 of her 19 points in the second period. Freshman forward Kirra Jordan was the top rebounder with 10. Freshman guard Marla Brumfield, the team's top scorer, was held to only four points. However, the attention she drew from the defense allowed her to set up her teammates with five assists.

Senior guard Jessica Garcia added 18 points. She continues to drain the threes, hitting four of her 10 attempts on the game.

Last Thursday night the Owls traveled to Tulsa to finish up their first season-series with the Golden Hurricane. The Owls dominated from start to finish, leading from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

The Owls outplayed Tulsa in all aspects of the game; they out-rebounded them 47-30, committed 12 turnovers to Tulsa's 19 and snatched 12 steals to Tulsa's three.

The Owls got a lot of production from the power forward position. With sophomore forward Angelica Smith being hampered by a knee injury, Jordan and sophomore center Suzanne Koy saw more minutes than usual.

Jordan scored 10 points and pulled down six boards. Koy went for a season-high 10 points to accompany her five rebounds.

When asked about the play of these two, McKinney said, "Suzanne and Kirra have given us some extra time at that position, and they are both doing a real good job.

"Suzanne's strengths are defense, and she has worked real hard to make herself a better rebounder."

The backcourt duo of Garcia and Brumfield helped the cause with 16 and 11 points, respectively.

An All-Points-Bulletin was put out on sophomore guard Charonda Wilson as she took Tulsa for six steals.

The two wins move the team's record to 13-8 and 8-3 in conference play.

They currently hold second place in the WAC's Mountain Division behind the University of Utah.

This week the team hosts its final two home games of the season. Late last night the team hosted the University of New Mexico. Tomorrow they face the University of Texas at El Paso.

Although the Owls are comfortably in the conference tournament -- the top 12 of the 16 teams make it -- they aren't getting complacent. The next few weeks will determine the team's seeding in the tournament.

"We just want to take it one game at a time and we are working for the best position we can get," McKinney said.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the February 14, 1997 issue.

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