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By Seth Doria
Arizona Daily Wildcat
May 13, 1998

Women's hoops give fans a show in best season ever


[Picture]

Chris Richards
Arizona Daily Wildcat

UA head coach Joan Bonvicini gives a triumphant hug to assistant coach Denise Dove after a Jan. 12 victory over Stanford. Bonvicini and the team surged onto the court after the last second win, which broke Stanford's 48-game Pacific 10 Conference winning streak.


The debate has raged for a while, which is better, women's or men's basketball?

The strategy or the acrobatic dunks.

As the debate goes on, all that matters is if the fans are having fun.

Ask any fan about this season's women's basketball team, they'll tell you they had fun. They saw some of the most intense, hard-working, hard-fouling basketball a women's team has ever produced in Tucson.

Who wouldn't enjoy seeing a redshirt freshman sink a desperation trey to beat Stanford, a team that hadn't lost a Pac-10 game in four seasons?

And who wouldn't enjoy seeing head coach Joan Bonvicini, usually dignified in her approach to coaching, spin around and stomp her feet as her team beat Oregon, 68-48.

After senior DeAngela Minter was beat on a last-second shot that cost the Wildcats a win at Oregon, she was prepared for the rematch.

So was the team, eventually finishing with a 23-7 record and the school's first berth in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen.

But what now?

The prospects looked dim at first. Gone is Adia Barnes, the best women's player in UA history. Gone is 6-4 center Marte Alexander, who ranked second on the team in both rebounds and scoring. Also gone is Mikko Giordano, Bonvicini's main bench post threat.

Bonvicini and recruiting coordinator Denise Dove went out and signed two junior college All-Americans to go along with two high school players who averaged over 25 points a season last year and another 6-foot-3 post threat from Houston.


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