Week One Big Sky WBB Roundup

One week all you can find on ESPN is football, the next it is like Christmas and there are more basketball games than your brain can process. A great weekend of action reminded me why I love college basketball more than any other sport. There is so much intensity, strategy, and drama squeezed into forty minutes, that there is rarely a game that I am not emotionally drained after.

The Big Sky swung into action this weekend as all of the teams made their debuts for the 2008-09 seasons. Perhaps the weekend’s best games were on Sunday afternoon in Bozeman and Missoula, but there were noteworthy performances across the Big Sky landscape. I will do a separate post on MSU, so here are the rest:

Montana
The Griz only had one game on opening weekend, and it had a postseason flare. UM hosted Wyoming, a NCAA tourney team from a year ago. Coach Selvig put together a very tough non-conference schedule this season with hopes of improving a potential seeding in the tournament. Wyoming led most of the game, but the Griz got it together in the end, winning 71-64. Sarah Ena scored a career high 19 points. (I told you she would be a factor!) Rodgers, Morales, and Lohman played 40, 39, and 36 minutes respectively, which is a ton for the first game of the year.

Portland State
With double-doubles from Kelly Valentine and Kelsey Kahle, PSU beat BYU at the Stott Center 73-64. BYU started two players at 6-2 and PSU’s tallest player is Valentine at 5’11, but the Viks won the boards 44-31. Could the Viks hang their hat on defense this year? They only allowed BYU to shoot 35% from the field. Oh, and by the way, Claire Faucher only had 8 assists.

Northern Colorado
Northern Colorado pasted Air Force 73-53 in Colorado Springs on Friday. At one point in the first half, the Bears went on a 22-0 run and held the Falcons scoreless for 11 minutes. UNC forced 19 turnovers and held Air Force to 30% shooting. Freshman Cassie Lambrecht had 13 points off the bench (again I told you so) and Courtney Stoermer scored 12.

Northern Arizona
NAU wasn’t as lucky this weekend as the ‘Jacks failed to score over 47 points in two losses on the road. Friday NAU fell to Memphis 64-47 and on Sunday got walloped by Arkansas State 71-40. The story: turnovers and three pointers. NAU turned the ball over a combined 43 times and was a combined 6-30 from downtown in the two games (for those keeping track at home that is 20%). Highnote? San Diego State transfer Lauren Hoisington registered a double-double (17 pts, 11 rebs) in her first game as a ‘Jack.

Sac State
The Hornets got off to a 0-2 start, losing 92-71 on Friday at UNLV, and 100-45 at Oregon State on Sunday. Against UNLV, Sac leaders Charday Hunt and Tika Diaz both fouled out early. Hunt only lasted 11 minutes. The Hornets did get a double-double from Erika Edwards (11,13) who was 3-3 from long range. Four others were in double figures for Sac. The game was in range until UNLV went off from the arc, going 6-10 in the second half. Atty Boyer scored 1/3 of Sac’s points against Oregon State, but the Hornets turned it over 27 times and got outrebounded 38-21. Not gonna win many games that way.

Idaho State
The Seton Sobolewski era got off to a 1-2 start at the Travelers’ Tournament in Albuquerque, NM as the Bengals lost 73-55 on Saturday to DePaul, lost to host New Mexico 82-47 on Sunday, and just got done beating Alcorn State 67-50 tonight. Oana Iacovita was ridiculous in the win over Alcorn State, scoring 22 on 7-11 shooting (7-8 on free throws) and bagging 11 rebounds. In the losses, scoring was an issue. Against DePaul, only Iacovita scored in double figures and New Mexico held ISU to 26% from the field, with no one scoring double figures. Over the two losses, ISU was outrebounded 71-101. Ouch.

Weber State
The Wildcats lost to Nebraska 96-47 on Friday and lost its exhibition game 69-65 to the College of Idaho two weeks ago. ‘Nuff said. Have faith Weber fans, the suffering will end in four months.

Eastern Washington
The Eagles lost their opener on Friday at Nevada 64-49. While Kyla Evans was 5-9 from the field (5-8 from the arc!), the rest of the team was just 13 of 50 (26%). Don’t worry coach Schuller, you have Idaho coming up next week.

This Week

Tuesday
Northern Colorado vs San Jose State
Montana @ Idaho

Wednesday
Weber State vs Washington
NAU @ Utah State

Thursday
Sac State @ Santa Clara

Friday
Portland State @ Binghamton
Montana State @ Gonzaga
Eastern Washington vs San Francisco

Saturday
Portland State @ Syracuse
Northern Arizona vs Pepperdine
Idaho State @ Utah State
Northern Colorado @ Pacific
Sac State vs Fresno State

Sunday
Montana State @ Washington State