Women's Nat'l Basketball Report
George Rodecker, National Women's Columnist
John Wooden once said, "To me, the best pure basketball I see today... is among the better women's teams."
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First thought on the way in
When you look a little closer at the Big 4: Baylor, Notre Dame, Connecticut and Stanford, you’ll see something that’s a bit revealing. Baylor has beaten both Notre Dame and UConn. UConn has beaten No. 4 Stanford, Notre Dame has defeated UConn. What’s caught my eye is that all of these wins are home wins. Not a one was on the road or even at a neutral site. So is home court that huge advantage we’ve been told over and over again? One more Big 4 in-season game remains with Notre Dame traveling to Connecticut on Monday February 27 for a final regular season contest for each team.... and to test the theory one last time. After that comes conference play and then the neutral court comes back into play. Early NCAA Tourney games might as well be home court – they’re such mismatches, but then the real neutral sites take center stage and so too do the questions. Can Baylor beat either UConn or Notre Dame again, or who does in fact beat who on the neutral sites? We have a while before that question becomes timely and topical, but I for one am already looking forward to getting my question answered!
Spotlight
Out in South Dakota (population 755,933), where the 9-4 women’s basketball team is named the Coyotes (population 12 players, 4 coaches) and they play in the Summit League, Amber Hegge is closing out her career in style. Averaging 17.8 points, 8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.1 blocks - the senior who also shoots 53.8 from the floor, 38.9 from long range and 75.3 from the charity stripe obviously is having a banner season. Hegge’s South Dakota ledger reads like something more usually reserved for women playing at bigger schools in bigger conferences.
First in 2007-2008 she tallied 7.9 points for the Coyotes as they were the Division II national runners up. She redshirted the 2008-2009 campaign in which USD made the debut in Division I and came back in 2009-2010 to make her own personal Division I debut with the Coyotes in the Great West Conference where she claimed first team honors and led South Dakota in scoring, rebounding, assists, blocks and field goal percentage.
In 2010-2011 the Nebraska native repeated her first team All Great West selection with 16.9 points per game along with 8.0 boards. During both Great West seasons, Hegge was also an All Conference Academic selection.
Now entering its fourth season of transition to Division I, the Coyotes are also beginning their first season in the competitive Summit League. USD comes to Division I with a powerful resume. 13 D-II league titles and a national championship are among their accomplishments.
Their legion of fans, dubbed the “Coyote Crazies” pack
the DakotaDome on a regular basis. Hegge has been the strong
catalyst for the ladies of Vermillion (population 9,964 –
less on semester breaks!), South Dakota as she leads the team in
nearly every significant offensive category as she looks to cap a
stellar career for the Coyotes.
If ever there would be a Mount Rushmore of South Dakota women’s basketball you can be certain that Amber Hegge would be there!
Overtime
Most people think sugar is just fine, but ask BIG EAST guards who try to defend Georgetown’s Sugar Rodgers just how much Sugar they can handle! The 5-11 junior guard from Suffolk, Virginia is averaging 20.1 points along with 5.3 boards and leads the No. 18 Hoyas. She recently was named United States Basketball Writers Association’s Player of the Week as well as BIG EAST Player of the Week. Rodgers arrived on the D.C. scene, a McDonald’s All American and delivered quite a debut performance. She was honored as BIG EAST Rookie of the Year after a 17.6 points season that also netted her Honorable Mention All American as well as first team All BIG EAST. Her sophomore campaign was highlighted by a BIG EAST First Team unanimous selection after an 18.7 point season which was second in the conference. Rodgers is the gas in the engine that is WBB Georgetown style. With high post season hopes for eighth year Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy’s squad, Hoya fans know that any March success will come with a lot of Sugar!
Skylar Diggins versus
Brittany Griner: The POY Battle
Report #6
For games January 1st thru January 7th, 2012:
Brittany Griner
In a 90-46 win over Missouri, Griner contributed 14 points, nine rebounds and eight blocks in a 32 minutes performance – eight points off her norm. She then tallied 26 points, six boards and four blocks in a 57-45 win over Iowa State.
Skylar Diggins
Diggins scored 14 points and added three assists in 21 minutes during a 74-36 blowout at Seton Hall, then took center stage as Connecticut’s 57 game BIG EAST winning streak as snapped in South Bend. Diggins netted 22 points and four steals in the matchup between No. 2 and No. 3.
Week Advantage: Diggins / Overall: Tie - Griner and Diggins 2-2-2
Around the Conferences
Who is the only player in the BIG EAST to be averaging a double-double? No, not any of those household names from those marquee household programs. It’s Teya Wright, the redshirt senior from Providence with 14.4 points and 10.8 rebounds.
A week after we featured Duke’s freshman sensation Elizabeth Williams she went out and recorded the school’s 5th ever triple double as she tallied 18 points, 16 rebounds and a ACC record 12 blocks in a 76-58 win over Wake Forest.
The SEC has launched a “We Back Pat” Week in honor of Tennessee Head Coach Pat Summitt and to focus awareness on Alzheimer’s disease. And its not just the SEC who are involved. At a BIG EAST contest, visitor Louisville as well as host Saint John’s both donned the We Back Pat tee shirts during pre-game.
Jamie Smith of UNLV is adding milestone after milestone to her legacy. She recently topped the 1,000 rebound mark and is on the cusp of breaking through the 1,000 point barrier. The Lady Rebel senior forward is now 4 boards (1012) away from setting a new standard for the Mountain West Conference. Her 32 career double-doubles are 11 off the all time conference mark.
Duquesne Head Coach Suzie McConnell-Serio’s Dukies were dealt a tough blow when it was announced that senior point guard Vanessa Abel will miss 3-6 weeks with a stress fracture in her left leg. Abel was averaging 8.7 points and will be missed.
It was an award winning week for Temple’s Kristen McCarthy as she nabbed quite a few honors on the heels of a 18 point, 11 rebound effort at Richmond as well as a 19 point, 5 board, 4 steal game at Western Michigan – both wins for the Owls! All in all, the La Puente, Cali native was recognized as the Atlantic 10 co-player of the week, the Big 5 Player of the week as well as College Sports Madness A-10 Player of the Week, and Pickin’ Splinters Performance of the Week award. It’ll be interesting and hopefully entertaining to see what the 6-0 senior guard can do in the future.
Last thought on the way out
Injuries really do matter. Take St. John’s.
Head Coach Kim Barnes Arico told me in December that her preseason ranked Red Storm had been decimated by the injury bug and she hoped to be at full strength by the time BIG EAST Conference play began. Shenneika Smith missed the first 10 games of the season and just as she was returning, point guard Nadirah McKenith was injured in the Baylor game and missed three games. Now the Johnnies are back at full strength and hope to be back to the form that had them ranked in the pre-season polls.
Meanwhile, Jeff Walz had Louisville cruising along with losses only to defending national champion Texas A&M in Waco and at in-state rival and #12 Kentucky. Then the injury bug hit the Cardinals. The Cardinals lost Junior Tia Gibbs for the season in the opening game with a shoulder injury. Senior Monique Reid sustained an injury eight games into the season to her left knee and she too is done for the season.
Saint John’s defeated Louisville 72-64 as the Red Storm have gotten all their puzzle pieces back and the Cardinals look to patch together a winning combination.
Yep, injuries too indeed matter!
See you next week -
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Hegge photo courtesy of Aaron
Packard/South Dakota Sports Information
