OCR Text |
Show Take Note: Aggie senior Jennifer Twitchell will be the only Aggie to represent her team at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships March 9-10. I Friday, March 9,2007 797-1761 sports@statesman.usu.edu WAC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT Down p Line SportsNotesj^il Win sets up showdown with Nevada Lady Wildcats advance to Behind Carroll's 24 points and 13 boards, Aggies march on scoring early on by senior BY Srni HAWKINS forward Chaz Spicer, who Sports Editor added points. Spicer LASCRUCES, N.M. - I t finished10the game with 20 was an expensive ticket to points and eight rebounds the mainland for Hawaii while converting on 7-of-8 fans to watch their team free-throw shooting. lose in the first round of the Commenting on Spicer s WAC Tournament, as USU performance, Morrill said, won, 73-70, on Thursday. "Well, he's been playing well Hawaii had a chance to offensively. tie the game 1 —^^^^^mm When he gets in the final it going, we're seconds of the going to go game and send to him. We it into overfelt we had Final Results _ time, but Matt an advantage Lojeski's shot when they USU 73 was just off, went small. and the Aggies HAWAII^ -70 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ We kept going advanced to to him and he the second round of the responded. WAC Tournament in Las "Its really what I expectCruces, N.M., where they ed to be honest with you. will face Nevada. a senior and his career "That's the kind of type of He's is winding down, and I game you would expect from expected him to step up like a four-five match-up and the this, and I'm sure he expectkind of game I expected," ed that of himself." said USU Head Coach Stew But Spicer wasn't the only Morrill. "(It was) very physiplayer on the court to score cal with lots of ebbs and at least 20 points. Carroll flows. We made it interestfinished with 24 points ing at the end with missed while Lojeski and Nash free throws and lack of rebounding. That was a very scored 20 and 22 points good win for us, a very good respectively. Lojeski and Nash proHawaii team." vided a nine-point run at the The Aggies started the end of the first half to tie the game off with 3-point shots score at 36. The duo continby senior forward Durrall ued their high-scoring attack Peterson and junior guard throughout the second half Jaycee Carroll, but Hawaii to steal the lead from the responded with two of Aggies at one point. their own - one by Bobby The Warriors matched Nash and the other by Matt the Aggies in almost every Gibson. From there on out, it statistical category and had was neck and neck with the multiple opportunities to largest Hawaii lead being seize the win, but couldn't five points and the largest get their inside game going for the Aggies being eight well enough to provide the points. extra edge required to win. Nash provided much of Hawaii has a veritable the momentum and scoring arsenal of threats both attack for the Warriors in inside and outside, but the the first half as he scored 13 Aggies were able to conpoints, nine of which were tain two of their top playoff 3-point baskets. The ers to fewer than 10 points. Aggies struggled to contain Hawaii's Gibson, who scored him as he would find an 20 points on the Aggies open shot from the outside when they visited the island, wings. was limited to just nine The Aggies responded to points and shot 33 percent his attack with high scoring by Carroll, who had 12 points in the first half. He • SHOWDOWN was joined in double-digit see page 9 semifinals Fri. MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Chelsey Warburton scored 30 points and grabbed seven rebounds Thursday to lead Weber State to a 77-67 victory over Portland State in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference women's basketball tournament. Third-seeded Weber State (17-13) advances to play No. 2 Idaho State in a semifinal game Friday at 5:30 p.m. Weber State used a 130 run, including six points by Laura Porter and five by Warburton, to take a 6145 lead on a free throw by Porter with 7:43 remaining The Wildcats led by as much as 69-47 on a jumper by Warburton with 4:55 remaining. Kelsey Kahle scored 11 of her 24 points during a 19-4 run that saw sixth seed Portland State (12-18) pull to 73-66 on two free throws by Kahle with 36 seconds left. Weber State made all four of its free throws in the final 34 seconds. Sara Tbomi and Porter added 14 points each for Weber State. Claire Faucher added 15 points, eight assists and five rebounds for Portland State while Stephisha Walton added 14 points. Portland State took a 16-13 lead on a jumper by Walton with 9:27 left in the first half. Weber State answered with a 15-0 run, including nine points by Warburton, to take a 26-18 lead on a 3pointer by Tuomi with 4:51 remaining. Game Over 61-year old rookie masher found alive USU's JAYCEE CARROLL slides by Hawaii defender Bobby Nash (33) Thursday afternoon, Carroll scored a game-high 24 points and pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds to lead the Aggies to a win and a second-round matchup with the Nevada Wolf Pack tonight at 6 p.m. Late collapse sends Lady Ags home advancement to the next round of tournament play to take on New Mexico State University. LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Nevada The Aggies shot a season-high is well known for their ability to 51.2 percent from the field on the steal the ball, but what USU wasn't night compared to Nevada's 33.8 expecting was for them to steal the percent. USU pulled down the show in the final minutes of the same number of rebounds as the game. Wolf Pack at 34. The Aggies even shot better than Nevada from After being up by as much as 11 points, the sixthbeyond the arc. But seeded Aggies didn't Nevada had somescore in the final thing USU didn't 5:45 of the game - creating scoring and fell 61-60 to opportunities off Final Results the third-seeded turnovers, and that Wolf Pack during made all the differNEVADA 61 the first game of ence. USU 60 the WAC Basketball "You have to value Tournament in Las the ball," Pebley Cruces, N.M., on Wednesday. said. "That means rebounding "This is heartbreaking," Head and not turning the ball over. We Coach Raegan Pebley said of the turned the ball over too many loss, "but it's something that's times." going to help our program be betThe Wolf Pack only had eight ter. Most of these kids that were in steals the entire game but 21 times the game tonight will be back next off Aggie turnovers for points comyear, and they'll learn that no lead pared to the Aggies' nine points off is sacred in tournament. No game turnovers. The unbalanced ratio is a guarantee win for anyone. We set the stage for a come-fromhad the lead for 39 minutes and 20 behind victory for Nevada. seconds, so it's heartbreaking." Not only did Nevada take Had USU won this game, it advantage of lucrative turnwould have marked the first time overs, but they made good use of in three decades that the women's rebounding to gain second-chance team has made it past the first shots. Pebley said a deciding factor game of a conference tournament. in the game was the control of the And up until the final minutes of boards. the game, it looked like the Aggies "I promised our players at halfmight just pull off that feat. time that if they won the rebound But then a series of turnovers created by poor passes and tight • COLLAPSE Nevada defense provided the Wolf Pack with the victory and an . see page 9 BY SCTI-I H A W K I N S Staff Writer Game Over Tyler Laison/tmlar$on@ccusu.edu AGGIE GUARD TAYLOR RICHARDS drives by Nevada defender Tract Graham (10) Wednesday night in Las Cruces, N.M. Though the Aggies held a lead for the majority of the game, the Wolf Pack pulled out a 61-60 victory to stay alive in the WAC tournament. TAKOTNA, Alaska (AP) — A missing 61-yearold rookie musher in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was located Thursday afternoon hours after officials started to search for the woman thought lost along a treacherous stretch of trail. Deborah Bicknell of Juneau was spotted from the air on a trail through Ptarmigan Pass, a route formerly used in the race, said race spokesman Chas St. George. "It appears she took the wrong trail," St. George said. She was seen driving her dog team 18 miles from the Rohn checkpoint. "That would be a pretty good indication that she's all right," St. George said. Sandy Bicknell, the musher's husband, was with Iditarod officials in Anchorage when he received the news that she had been spotted. He said he was relieved. He had no other information on his wife. Raven's Lewis replaced by McGahee (AP) - Willis McGahee is in place as Jamal Lewis' replacement in Baltimore. The day after Lewis signed with the Cleveland Browns, the Ravens obtained McGahee from Buffalo for three draft picks — a third and a seventh in this year's draft and a third in 2008. "We're getting a dynamic back who has potential," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. |