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Show " THE UNIVER rrv JOURNAL· SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY· THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1998 SU to play in Cougar Classic SUU renews an old rivalry this weekend when the 'Birds travel to Provo, Lo compete in Brigham Young University's Cougar Classic. The 'Birds, who arc now 4-4, open the tournament against former American West Conference mate Cal State Northridge tomo rrow at 5:35 p .m . in the Marriott Center The ' Birds will be looking to extend a modest twogame winning streak when they face the the Matadors. SU won its Mid-Continent Conference opener last Thursday, a 65-53 decision over Youngstown State, and followed that with a 78-68 win at Idaho State Monday. SU will meet either Louisiana Tech or BYU in the to urnament's second round, Saturday night. Cal State Northridge brings a four-game winning treak into the tournament. The Matadors won a pair of games in Hawaii's PowerBar Invitational last week, topping Hawaii 89-79 and getting by Coppin State 75-59. Prior to those wins, the Matadors had hack-to-hac k wins over San Diego and Southern California College. "This is always a tough tournament. This is a great opportunity for us to compete against a team [Northridge] we used to have q uite a rivalry with, then to play either a BYU team, which has made tremendous s trides the past two seasons, o r a Louisiana Tech team which looks like one of the top teams in the Sun Belt Conference this year," said SU Ilead Coach Bill Evans. This will he the 18th meeting in the series between Cal State Northridge and SU . The ' Birds own a 13-4 edge in the series, including a 57.54 win rhe last time the teams met in 1995. That win came at ~orthridge in the opening round of the 1995 American West Conference tournament in the conference's final season ; SU went on to win the tournament for the second consecutive year. SU and llYU have met twice during SU '1, fou r-year era, with both meetings coming in the Cougar Classic. Brigham Young has won both match-ups, including an 82-67 win the last time the teams met. If SU meets Louisiana Tech in the second round, it will be the first-eve r meeting between the two teams. Through the first six games of the season, SU's opponents shot 19 1 free throws to 95 for the 'Birds, over twice as many. In the last two games, however, SU has auempted 46 free throws to 27 for the opposition. The ' Birds shot 22 against Youngstown State, while the Penguins attempted just six and at Idaho State the 'Birds went to the line 24 Limes, compared to 21 fo r the Bengals. The ' Birds are convening 75 percent of their free throws o n the season , hut have hit just 30 of 48 in the last two games. "We've been playing well the lase couple of games. Gelling a win in our conference opener [vs Youngstown St.] was important, and the win at Idaho State proved to our guys they can win on the road and that tbey can overcome adversity. Both of those lessons should pay off this weekend and as the season progresses," said Evans. Tyson Hancock continues to lead the Mid-Con in scoring, with a 17 .3 points per game average, but Kenyau a Clyde (15.8) dropped to third in the league after his five-point effort against Youngstown State. Clyde is the league's second-leading rebounder, at 8.3 caroms per game, just behind Youngstown 's David Brown , at 8.4 rpg. Clyde is also second on the Mid-Con blocked shots list, with 16 over eight games, just behind Valpo's ZOran Viscovic, who has 18 through nine games. In Monday's game against Idaho State, SU fought off a vicious second-half Dengal au ack to take a 7868 non-confere nce victory. SU led by I I at the half and stretched the advantage to 45-26 with 16:38 remaining. Idaho Stale continued its comchack, rying the game at 54, hut the Bengals weren ' l able co take the lead as the ' Birds then hit six straight free throws. "I'm just happy to get out of here like we did," said Evans. "Idaho State made a great run at us, they were playing well on both ends of the Ooor, but it's a credit to our guys that they were ahle to step up and get it done." The ' Birds return home to host California Baptist in the Centrum, Dec. 19, and then travel to Las Vegas Nev., for a matchup with UNLV Dec. 28. Tarvish Felton slammed and jammed against Youngstown State. The 'Birds travel to Provo thi.s week to play in the annual Cougar Classic at BYU. Women face Idaho State The SU women 's basketball team travels to Pocatello, Idaho, for its 29th game against Idaho State tomorrow at 7:35 p .m. at Holt Arena . Idaho State leads the overall series 23-6 after sweeping both meetings with the ' Birds. SU has lost eight of its last nine games in Pocatello and has dropped 14 of the last 17 meetings with Idaho State on the basketball court. "Idaho State beat us twice last year. ISU has two veteran guards in [Theresa] Mallak and [Angela] Munger who played well against us last year. Pocatello is a very tough place to play. We arc going to have to play good defense and rebound if we want to win this game, said Coach Joe Hillock. SU center Melissa llines was named the MidContinent Conference's Player of the Weck for recording double-doubles last week against Youngstown State and Oakland. Hines scored 14 points and pulled down 11 boards in an 87-78 win over Youngstown State. Against Oakland, Hines scored a career-high 26 points and tied a career-high with 12 rebounds. Hines scored eight of su·s final 13 points to ensure an 87-78 victory over Oakland. Hines ~ averaged 20.0 points and 11.5 rebounds in those two ~ games, while shooting just under 63 percent from the Q, field . ~ SU's Megan Lofthouse was a perfect 4-4 from threepoint land in the 'Birds' win over Oakland. In league > play, Lofthouse is 6-8 and for the season and I0-22 from behind the arc, both of which leads the team. Four 'Birds are averaging double figure points totals through seven games. Lofthouse is SU's leading scorer, averaging 14.1 points a game off the bench. Forward tt s ,. . ______________________.! SU guard Alt Gressman p u ts up a j umper against Oakland. The lady 'Birds head to Pocatello for a matchup against Idaho State. . . ---- ..... ·-· ·-······· · Sunny Myers is second at 12.4 points a game, while Hines ( 11 .4 ppg) , and Pratt (10.6 ppg) arc third and fourth, respectively. SU boasts the two best free throw shooters in the conference. Senior Alycia Adams is a perfect 19-19 and Lofthouse is second , hitting on 37 of 42 attempts Junior Jaycee Webste r is third on the team at 14- 16 and is one free throw away from qualifying fo r the conference rankings. SU had three players record double-doubles against Youngstown. Lofthouse had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Hines scored 14 points and pulled down I t hoards and Pratt poured in 12 points and recorded a team-high 14 rebounds. SU is 49-72 against teams currently in the Big Sl..1' Conference. The ' Birds have faced each conference member at least twice. Head Coach Joe Hillock is 2-5 all-time against the Big Sky, including a 76-68 loss at Northern Arizona earlier this season . SU will play another Big Sl..1' foe in Weber tace on Dec. 28. SU has three playc~ Of! the top-IO conference rebound list. Pratt is third in the conference averaging 9.0 rebounds per game, while llines is seventh at 7.9 rpg and Lofthouse is nfoth at 6.4 rpg. As a team, SU is first in the conference in scoring margin, third in scoring offense, third in fi eld goal defense, and second in rebound margin. The ' Birds return home to play two home games before the Christmas b reak against Montana Tech, Dec. 19, and Nevada-Las Vegas, Dec. -21. The Montana Tech game is slated for 5:15 p .m., while che UNLV game starts at 7:35 p .m . Both games will be played at the Centrum Arena. ..... ................. . ... . - . . ·- ···-------- ......... . ..... ........ .. -- ... . . 1• |