BOISE STATE’S HARRIS EARNS WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Boise State’s Tasha Harris has been named Western Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for Nov. 10-16. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor of the season for Harris and the fourth of her career.

Harris, a guard from Longmont, Colo. (Skyline HS), led Boise State to a 2-0 record in the opening week of the women’s basketball regular season. The senior scored a team-high 25 points and helped the Broncos rally from 11 points down to defeat Seattle on Friday, Nov. 14. Sunday, against Portland, she recorded 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field, including six during a scoring run midway through the second half that gave BSU breathing room it needed to hold off the Pilots, 68-59. On the week, she averaged 22 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals in 33.5 minutes per game. Harris shot 52 percent (13-of-25) from the floor, 63 percent (5-of-8) from beyond the three-point arc and converted on 13 of her 17 free-throw attempts.

Other nominees included: Fresno State’s Bailey Amundsen had a career-high 12 rebounds to go along with 17 points in a 97-88 win at Cal State Bakersfield ... Keisha Kanekoa of Hawai‘i averaged 9.2 in three games last week, including a 17-point performance against Toledo ... Louisiana Tech’s Adrienne Johnson led the Lady Techsters with 22 points, six rebounds and four steals in a 77-36 win over Central Arkansas ... Dellena Criner of Nevada helped lead the Wolf Pack over Eastern Washington, 69-51, after she notched 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field ... New Mexico State’s Danisha Corbett averaged 12.5 points in two games including a 21-point outburst in a 78-55 win over UC Irvine ... San Jose State’s Natalie White tied her career-best with 27 points in a one-point (69-68) loss to Oregon as she converted on 11-of-17 shots from the floor ... Lydia Whitehead of Utah State had a team-high 15 rebounds and recorded 12 points for the Aggies in a 64-52 loss to Portland.

Boise State Broncos (2-0, 0-0 WAC)
The Broncos went 2-0 last week, defeating Seattle (66-56) and Portland (68-59) ... Tasha Harris scored a team-high 25 points vs. Seattle and 19 points vs. the Pilots ... The two victories extended the Broncos’ school-record home win streak to 19 consecutive games, sixth-longest streak in the nation (as of the end of 2008) ... Boise State hosts Washington State on Thursday and plays at Washington on Sunday.

Fresno State Bulldogs (1-0, 0-0 WAC)
The Bulldogs defeated Cal State Bakersfield 97-88 in their only game last week ... Bailey Amundsen had 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in 29 minutes of action. She was 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-5 from three-point range ... Fresno State hosts UC Santa Barbara on Thursday and travels to Sacramento State on Sunday.

Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine (0-3, 0-0 WAC)
The Rainbow Wahine went 0-3 at the Bank of Hawaii Invitational in Hilo last week, falling to Loyola Marymount (63-47), Toledo (67-61) and Arizona (62-50) ... Keisha Kanekoa recorded 17 points against Toledo and had an eight-point, eight-assist game against Arizona en route to being named to the all-tournament team, her first all-tournament team selection ... The Rainbow Wahine are idle this week.

Idaho Vandals (0-1, 0-0 WAC)
The Vandals fell 90-55 at Texas Tech in their season opener last week ... Derisa Taleni and Yinka Olorunnife scored 12 each and Olorunnife pulled down nine rebounds in the loss ... Liz Boyden and Anna Sandman, goalkeepers for the Idaho soccer team, are the first two-sport athletes in Idaho history to play soccer and basketball ... Idaho hosts Montana on Tuesday and players at Colorado State on Sunday.

Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (1-0, 0-0 WAC)
The Techsters cruised past Central Arkansas 77-36 in their season opener last week ... Adrienne Johnson led Tech with a career-high 22 points ... Shanavia Dowdell recorded a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds ... Tech out-rebounded UCA 60-35 ... Tech used a 35-1 run to put the game away, holding UCA without a field goal for more than 15 minutes during that stretch ... The win broke a streak of three straight years where Tech lost its season opener ... Louisiana Tech is now 28-7 all-time in season openers ... The win was the 60th for head coach Chris Long (60-33) ... The Techsters play at Memphis on Tuesday and at Tennessee on Sunday.

Nevada Wolf Pack (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
The Pack went 1-1 last week, defeating Eastern Washington (64-49) to give head coach Jane Albright her 398th career victory ... The team then fell at No. 9 Cal (67-53) ... Dellena Criner led all players with 20 points vs. Eastern Washington ... Shavon Moore (10 points, 10 rebounds) recorded her second career double-double ... Nevada’s game at Cal was its first non-conference game against a ranked opponent since joining the WAC in 2000 ... Johnna Ward led Nevada with 14 points at Cal ... With 202 career steals, Criner is just the second player in school history to record at least 200 ... The Pack are in the midst of playing five games in 10 days. They host Brigham Young on Tuesday, play at UNLV on Friday and return home to face Saint Mary’s on Sunday.

New Mexico State Aggies (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
The Aggies went 1-1 last week, defeating UC Irvine (78-55) before falling to Cal Poly (75-53) ... Danisha Corbett finished with a career-high 21 points in the season opener ... Her five three-pointers were the most by an Aggie in two years ... Head coach Darin Spence took over sole possession of third place on the Aggie win list with the victory over UC Irvine. His 69th win at NMSU surpassed Joe McKeown, who coached at NMSU from 1986-89 ... The nine three-pointers made by the Aggies in their season opener tied the single-game high from all of last season ... NMSU has won 14 out of its last 17 games in the Pan American Center ... The Aggies take to the road this week, playing at UTEP on Thursday and at Kent State on Sunday.

San Jose Spartans (0-1, 0-0 WAC)
The Spartans dropped a heartbreaker to Oregon, 69-68, last Saturday ... Natalie White led the Spartans, tying her career high with 27 points ... White also tied her career-best 11 field goals made, led the team in rebounding with seven nand was a perfect 5-of-5 from three-point range ... White now has 954 points and needs 46 to become the 12th player in school history to score 1,000 points in her career ... The Spartans play three games this week, traveling to Northern Colorado on Tuesday and Long Beach State on Friday before hosting Seattle on Sunday.

Utah State Aggies (0-1, 0-0 WAC)
The Aggies lost their 11th-straight season opener, falling 64-51 to Portland last Friday  ... Danyelle Snelgrow led Utah State with 15 points and five assists ... In her first game as an Aggie, Lydia Whitehead posted a double-double – 12 points and 15 rebounds ... The Aggies, which open the season with four straight home games, host Northern Arizona on Wednesday and Idaho State on Saturday.

BOISE STATE FAVORED IN PRESEASON POLLS
Boise State, the 2007-08 WAC regular season co-champion and tournament title winner, was selected as the favorite by both the coaches and the media in the WAC preseason polls. The Broncos received five of the nine first-place votes in the coaches poll and 15 of the 22 top votes in the media poll.

2008-09 Preseason Coaches Poll
Rank   Team (1st)          Points
1.       Boise State (5)         61
2.       Fresno State (3)       58
3.       Louisiana Tech          46
4.       Nevada         41
5.       New Mexico State     39
6.       Utah State (1)          25
7.       Hawai‘i          24
8.       San Jose State         19
9.       Idaho  11

PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAMS ANNOUNCED
The coaches selected Nevada senior guard Dellena Criner as the WAC’s preseason Player of the Year, while the media tabbed Boise State senior guard Tasha Harris as the league’s top player. In the coaches poll, Criner and Harris were joined on the first team by Louisiana Tech junior forward Shanavia Dowdell, and Fresno State sophomores Hayley Munro and Jaleesa Ross. Second-team selections include Brandi Jones (Nevada), Danyelle Snelgro (Utah State), Madison Spence (New Mexico State), Natalie White (San Jose State) and Tarkeisha Wysinger (Louisiana Tech).

The media’s all-WAC team included Criner, Dowdell, Harris, Ross and Spence.

Preseason Coaches All-WAC Teams
First Team
Dellena Criner, Sr., G, NEV
Shanavia Dowdell, Jr., F, LTU
Tasha Harris, Sr., G, BSU
Hayley Munro, So., F, FS
Jaleesa Ross, So., G, FS

Second Team
Brandi Jones, Sr., G, NEV
Danyelle Snelgro, Sr., G, USU
Madison Spence, So., G, NMSU
Natalie White, Sr., G, SJSU
Tarkeisha Wysinger, So., G, LTU

Preseason Media All-WAC Team              
Dellena Criner, G, Sr., Nevada
Shanavia Dowdell, F, Jr., Louisiana Tech
Tasha Harris, G, Sr., Boise State
Jaleesa Ross, G, So., Fresno State
Madison Spence, G, So., New Mexico State
 
NEVADA TO HOST 2009 WAC TOURNAMENT
Reno and the University of Nevada will host the 2009 WAC Tournament, March 10-14.  It will be the third time that Nevada has hosted the event. Nevada also hosted the tournament in 2005 and 2006. The tournament features all nine men’s and women’s teams.