Pac-10 preview

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By Seth Doria
Arizona Daily Wildcat
November 21, 1997

As the Wildcats attempt to improve on their best season ever, they will face some serious competition throughout the Pacific 10 Conference schedule. Here is a breakdown in order of predicted finish.

Leading the way, as usual, is Stanford, who has won an astounding 45 straight conference games since a 78-73 loss against Oregon State in Corvallis midway through the 1994-95 season.

The Tara Vanderveer coached Cardinal, who opens the season ranked fourth nationally, returns three senior starters in Olympia Scott, Naomi Mulitauaopele and Vanessa Nygaard along with top reserves Milena Flores and Heather Owen.

Scott averaged 16.2 points and 7.8 boards a game last year and starting all 36 of Stanford's games.

The Cardinal will receive an extra boost in December when All-American Kristin Folkl joins the team after finishing play with Stanford's volleyball team. Folkl led the team in rebounding last season with 8.2 per contest.

UCLA is expected to greatly improve upon its mediocre 13-14 (7-11 Pac-10) record from last year. The Bruins return redshirt sophomore guard Erica Gomez, who was the Pac-10's freshman of the year in 1995-96 but missed all of last season due to a knee injury.

Gomez will join Maylana Martin, who led the team in scoring as a freshman last year with 17.9 rebounds a game.

Martin spent the summer leading the U.S. Junior National Team to its first championship ever.

Along with Martin and Gomez, fifth year coach Kathy Oliver returns sophomore Carly Funicello and senior Tawana Grimes, both of whom started every contest last season.

Top reserves for the Bruins include Melanie Pearson and Aisha Veasley.

After a slow start last season, Washington finished strong with eight wins in its last 10 contests and earned a berth in the NCAA tournament before bowing out in the first round.

Second year head coach June Daugherty installed a full court trapping defense and after a period of adjustment, the Huskies are primed to make a run at the Pac-10 title.

Led by a trio of juniors in Jamie Redd, Malinda Lynch and Amber Hall, Washington plays a tough non-conference schedule including games against 23rd-ranked Kansas and No. 24 Texas.

Redd, a point guard, was the team's top producer last year, leading the team in scoring (20.5), steals (58) and assists (112). She was also third in rebounding with 6.2 per contest.

Hall, an excellent defender, anchors the Huskies post after leading in rebounding (11.2) and blocks (24).

After setting a Pac-10 record for fewest points allowed in a season (1,726), Oregon might have to wait a while before the team jells after losing three of its top players, including leading scorer and rebounder Arianne Boyer.

The Ducks have six freshmen on the roster to go along with a star in the making Jenny Mowe, a 6-foot-5 center. Mowe averaged seven points and four rebounds, but led the team in blocked shots with 30 while averaging just 14.5 minutes a game.

"I'll be disappointed if Jenny is not sitting at the Kodak All-American table at the end of the year," head coach Judy Runge said.

Veterans Lisa Bowyer and Natalie Hughes should contribute more and freshmen Karen Piers and Angelina Wolvert will be first off the bench.

USC finished 20-9 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season, but lost three main contributors including WNBA first pick Tina Thompson.

Head coach Chris Gobrecht, in her first year, will have to rebuild without 53 percent of last year's offensive output and 48 percent of their rebounds.

Junior guard Kristin Clark is the lone returning starter. She is joined by redshirt sophomore Erica Mashia and junior Adrian Williams.

Clark averaged 11.4 points per game and led the team in steals with 78.

Washington State will have a hard time improving upon last year's 10-17 (4-14 Pac-10) record and eighth place finish in the conference.

The Cougars, led by Harold Rhodes in his 16th year, start the year with relatively few changes from last season, with the exception of last year's leading scorer, Kristin Erickson (12.7 ppg), who graduated last May.

Any hopes the Cougars may have of turning its fortunes will lie on the shoulders of Jade Hyett (6.4 ppg, 123 steals) and Yvonne Kunze (12.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg).

California is on the rise after coming off a 6-21 (2-16 Pac-10) season.

Head coach Marianne Stanley took Old Dominion to three national championships and was part of Stanford's 1996 run to the Final Four.

Now Stanley has the 14th-best recruiting class, along with sophomore two-sport star Paige Bowe and Jennie Leander.

Leander tallied six double-doubles while averaging 13 points and 8.6 rebounds per game last season.

Arizona State should struggle again, loosing its top rebounder, top scorer and top shot blocker from a team that stumbled to a 9-19 (3-15 Pac-10) record.

ASU's head coach, Charli Turner Thorne, will rely on senior guard Stephanie Freeman, who averaged 7.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, to anchor a team that features almost twice as many newcomers (8) than players returning (5).

Bickering and poor team chemistry hurt an average Oregon State team last season as they managed five conference wins, but head coach Judy Spoelstra said her team has come together for the 1997-98 campaign.

Spoelstra returns four starters from last year, including senior guard Monika Watts, who led the team with 53 steals.

OSU needs to learn to handle the ball better though, as it committed a Pac-10 most 705 turnovers last year, an average of 27 per game in contrast to Stanford's 16.

1997-98 Pac-10 Coaches' Preseason Poll

(in predicted order of finish)

1. Stanford
2. Arizona
3. UCLA
4. Oregon
5. Washington
6. USC
7. Oregon State
8. California
9. Arizona State
10. Washington State

Women's AP Top 25

1. Tennessee (33)	 
2. Louisiana Tech (5)	
3. Old Dominion		
4. Stanford		 
5. North Carolina		
6. Connecticut		
7. Illinois	
8. Texas Tech		
9. Florida		 
10. Vanderbilt		
11. Iowa
12. Virginia		 
13. Georgia		 
14. Arizona		
15. Alabama 
16. Western Kentucky	 
17. Stephen F. Austin
18. Colorado	
19. Duke		 
20. Auburn		 
21. Nebraska
22. Tulane
23. George Washington
24. Kansas
25. Texas

Others Receiving Votes: Wisconsin 64, Arkansas 53, Marquette 39, Oregon 31, UCLA 27, Drake 26, Colorado State 22, North Carolina State 19, Purdue 18, Notre Dame 17, Northwestern 14, Washington 12, Iowa State 6, Clemson 4, Indiana 4, Lousiana State 4, Montana 4, Maryland 3, New Mexico 2, DePaul 1, Michigan State 1, Toledo 1.

Arizona Women's Basketball 1997-98 Schedule

DAY    	 DATE     OPPONENT                            LOCATION          TIME/RESULT

Thurs.  Nov. 6   RED/BLUE GAME (Ex.)                 Tucson, AZ        	7:00 p.m.
Mon.    Nov. 10  KILSYTH AUSTRALIA (Ex.)             Tucson, AZ         7:00 p.m.
Sun.    Nov. 16  MYJAVA SLOVAKIA (Ex.)               Tucson, AZ        	2:00 p.m.
Sun.    Nov. 23  UC-SANTA BARBARA                    Tucson, AZ        	2:00 p.m.
Mon.    Dec. 1   at Northern Arizona                 Flagstaff, AZ      7:00 p.m.
Fri.    Dec. 5   COPPER BOWL CLASSIC                 Tucson, AZ
                 	Wichita State vs. Nebraska                      6:00 p.m.
                	Arizona vs. Northeastern                        8:00 p.m.
Sun.    Dec. 7   COPPER BOWL CLASSIC                 Tucson, AZ
                	(Fox Sports Arizona ~)
                 	Consolation Game                                1:00 p.m.
                 	Championship Game                               3:00 p.m.
Wed.    Dec. 10  TEXAS A&M                           Tucson, AZ       	7:00 p.m.
Sat.    Dec. 20  vs. Purdue                          Ind., IN           4:30 p.m. EST
                 	(at Market Square Arena)
Mon.    Dec. 29  at Louisiana Tech Dial Classic	     Ruston, LA
                 	Arizona vs. Baylor                              5:30 p.m. CST
                 	Alcorn State vs. Louisiana Tech                 7:30 p.m. CST
Tues.   Dec. 30  at Louisiana Tech Dial Classic      Ruston, LA
                 	Consolation Game                                5:30 p.m. CST
                 	Championship Game                               7:30 p.m. CST
Fri.    Jan. 2   at UCLA * (Fox Sports West2)        Los Angeles, CA    7:30 p.m. PST
Sun.    Jan. 4   at USC *                            Los Angeles, CA    2:00 p.m. PST
                 (Fox Sports West2 - taped delay)
Thurs.  Jan. 8   WASHINGTON STATE *                  Tucson, AZ        	7:00 p.m.
Sat.    Jan. 10  WASHINGTON *                        Tucson, AZ        	1:00 p.m.
Mon.    Jan. 12  STANFORD *                          Tucson, AZ        	7:00 p.m.
                 (Fox Sports Arizona)
Sat.    Jan. 17  at Arizona State *                  Tempe, AZ         	2:00 p.m.
                 (Fox SportsNet)
Thurs.  Jan. 22  at Oregon *                         Eugene, OR        	7:00 p.m. PST
Sat.    Jan. 24  at Oregon State *                   Corvallis, OR      7:00 p.m. PST
Thurs.  Jan. 29  CALIFORNIA *                        Tucson, AZ         7:00 p.m.
Sat.    Jan. 31  at Pac-10/Big 12 Challenge          Lubbock, TX
                 	Arizona vs. Kansas                              3:00 p.m. CST
                 	Stanford vs. Texas Tech                         5:30 p.m. CST
                 (ESPN2)
Thurs.  Feb. 5   at Washington *                    Seattle, WA         7:00 p.m. PST
Sat.    Feb. 7   at Washington State *              Pullman, WA         1:00 p.m. PST
Sat.    Feb. 14  ARIZONA STATE *                    Tucson, AZ          7:00 p.m.
                 (Fox Sports Ariz.) 
Thurs.  Feb. 19  OREGON STATE *                     Tucson, AZ          7:00 p.m.
Sat.    Feb. 21  OREGON *                           Tucson, AZ        	7:00 p.m.
Thurs.  Feb. 26  at California *                    Oakland, CA         7:30 p.m. PST
                 (at Kaiser Arena, Oakland)
Sat.    Feb. 28  at Stanford * (Fox SportsNet)      Palo Alto, CA       1:00 p.m. PST
Thurs.  Mar. 5   USC *                              Tucson, AZ        	7:00 p.m.
Sat.    Mar. 7   UCLA * (Fox SportsNet)             Tucson, AZ          4:00 p.m.

* Indicates Pac-10 contest
~ Arizona's game only on Dec. 7 will be broadcast
HOME GAMES IN CAPS
All times local to site and subject to change.