WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Women seize two WAC victories

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by David Gordon

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An early season injury to freshman point guard Sara Ludwig forced Garcia to spend more time at the point rather than her usual shooting guard position.

She took the development in stride and has been the team's second leading scorer.

But that only tells part of the picture. It is the contributions that Garcia has made that don't show up on the box score that are especially valuable.

Head Coach Cristy McKinney has used Garcia off the bench when the team needed a stabilizing force. When the team has trouble scoring, Garcia jumps into the game and hits the clutch three-pointer or beats her defender with a spin move in the lane.

In perhaps her best all-around game of the season, Garcia helped the Owls build a 20-point lead over the visiting University of Texas at El Paso Lady Miners. She then helped fight off the UTEP comeback and gave the Owls a 77-70 win.

It was the team's sixth straight victory, setting a new school record.

In her last game at Autry Court, Garcia dropped in a career-high 29 points.

She shot nine-of-16 from the field including four-of-six from behind the three-point line.

Garcia's biggest shots were six free throws late in the game. UTEP began to put the Owls on the free-throw line late in the game. Rice was forced to to convert their "one-and-one" free throw chances to hold onto their victory.

Garcia hit six straight from the stripe late in the game to put away the Miners.

Joining Garcia in their last home game for Rice were center Debi Williams and guard Lisa Escobedo. Williams had three points, three rebounds and two blocks in limited playing time.

It appeared early in the game that the bigger Rice frontcourt would have their way with their smaller UTEP opponents. But early foul trouble on Williams, sophomore center Jennifer Hamilton and freshman forward Kirra Jordan, and the absence of sophomore forward Angelica Smith forced the Owl back-court to pick up the scoring load.

Freshman Marla Brumfield also contributed, as she collected 17 points and nine rebounds.

On Feb. 13 the Owls avenged an early-season overtime loss to the University of New Mexico by sending the Lobos back to Albuquerque with a 74-48 defeat.

Jordan was unstoppable in the middle. She had a double-double with career highs in both points (20) and rebounds (12).

Garcia and Brumfield were the focus of the Lobos' attention, and this opened up scoring opportunities for their teammates.

Junior guard Gina Cafagna scored 11 points on five-of-seven shooting.

Sophomore guard Charonda Wilson chipped in 10 points, many coming as easy lay-ups following her five steals.

The team has three games remaining before the conference tournament.

The two wins give the team a 15-8 record with a 10-3 mark in Western Athletic Conference play. They have a solid hold on second place in the Mountain Division.

The Owls travel out west this week to face Brigham Young University, whom they played yesterday, and then to the University of Utah for tomorrow's game. The Owls lost to both of these teams in their first meetings.

The following week they travel to Fresno State University for their last game of the regular season.

This item appeared in the Sports section of the February 21, 1997 issue.

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