Jan. 11, 2004
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Briefly
Entering WCC play with the conference's top record and the most non-conference victories since the 2000-01 season, the Lions dropped their WCC opener for the first time in four seasons. LMU fell victim to a hot Gonzaga squad, as the Zags' 57.1 second half field goal percentage was too much for the Lions.
Up Next
After weather altered the Lions' weekend schedule, LMU traveled to Portland for a Monday evening match-up. But getting there once again was not easy: flights in and out of Spokane were canceled due to extreme fog on Sunday, so the Lions found themselves boarding a bus for the six-hour ride to Portland. There, LMU will play its final contest of the WCC-opening road swing before returning to Los Angeles to host San Diego and Santa Clara on Thursday and Saturday, playing four WCC contests in eight days.
Kate Murray Named WCC Player of the Month
Loyola Marymount women's basketball senior Kate Murray has been selected as the West Coast Conference's Player of the Month, the conference announced today. For the month of December, Murray led the Lions (9-4) in points per game, field goal percentage, free-throw percentage, and assists. Playing for a team that had three athletes receive WCC Player of the Week honors in December alone, the Lions' guard/forward led the Lions to the top WCC standing heading into conference play this weekend. Murray, the WCC Player of the Week on December 15, ranks first on the team in points per game (14.8), field goal percentage (.504), minutes (31.8), free throw percentage (.857), and assists (36). She also averaged a .471 three-point field goal percentage and 5.3 rebounds per game, and tallied 15 steals and 4 blocks. Murray enters WCC play ranking third in the conference in scoring average, second in both field goal and three-point percentage, and first in assist/turnover ratio (1.89). The Tigard, Oreg., native was a key performer as the Lions won a program-record eight straight games. In the win over Cal Poly, Murray scored 18 points and added six assists and five rebounds en route to earning WCC Player of the Week honors. She scored 21 points twice in the Lions' first 12 games and earned Marina del Rey Marriott Beach Classic All-Tournament team honors, as the Lions qualified for their second tournament title game this season. Murray now ranks in the top ten in 12 of LMU's 13 all-time career statistical categories.
The Pilots' Progress (5-8, 1-0 WCC)
With Saturday's win over preseason favorite Pepperdine, the Pilots snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Waves dating back to the 1997 season. Portland improves to 5-8 overall, 1-0 in the West Coast Conference. Portland is led by Khalila O'Rielly-Williams who averages a conference second-best 15.1 ppg. O'Rielly-Williams is also second in steals (2.73 spg), sixth in rebounding (6.9 rpg), and seventh in field goal percentage (.472). Ashlee Orndorff has been a huge addition to the Pilots, leading the team in double-doubles and averaging 11.5 points and 7.2 rebounds. The Pilots have now won their last three conference home openers and lead the all-time series with the Lions 23-10.
LMU Drops First WCC Opener in Four Seasons
Loyola Marymount women's basketball dropped its first conference opener in four seasons to a hot Gonzaga team 70-54 in The Kennel. The Lions (9-5, 0-1 WCC) entered the West Coast Conference schedule with nine victories, the most since the 2000-01 season, but failed to recover from a 57.1 percent second half field goal effort from the Zags (9-6, 2-0 WCC). Despite playing on a still sore ankle after injuring it a week ago against Colorado State, Mary Turner ignited the Lions early, scoring three of LMU's first five points. The Lions were down by two at 9-7 with 11:51 remaining in the first, but had already forced six Bulldog turnovers. LMU forced a momentum shift starting with a key defensive rebound by Turner that led to a jumper by senior Kate Murray. Murray's jumper with 8:41 left in the first period cut the Gonzaga lead to one at 14-13. On the Lions' next possession, senior Raelen Self hit a three-pointer to put LMU up 14-16. At the defensive end of the court, the Lions forced a shot clock violation and WCC block leader Adrianne Slaughter came up with a huge block on back-to-back Bulldog possessions. Sophomore Rachel Ziemann hit a three-pointer of her own to put LMU up by five, and Murray kept the Lion run going by picking up another LMU steal and forcing Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves to take a timeout. The Bulldogs kept in close in the first, thanks in part to Shannon Mathews, who scored 11 points, including three three-point field goals. But a second Self three-pointer and a last-second turnaround jumper by Turner sent the Lions to the locker room with a three point 26-29 lead. LMU held the Bulldogs to a 36 percent field goal effort in the first, while forcing 12 turnovers. Gonzaga came out of halftime scoring the first five points of the second half. But a Turner jumper with 16:47 left in the game equaled the junior's season-high of 13 points and gave the Lions the 31-33 lead. The Bulldogs took off on a 19-6 run that would put them up by as many as ten after a nine-for-14 effort from the field in the first nine minutes of the second half. Junior Jacquelyn Woods gave the Lions a boost with a three-point play, after hitting a jumper and the free-throw after the foul. But Gonzaga's lead extended to fifteen with 6:26 left in the game. Murray hit her second three-pointer of the game to keep with Lions within 13 with just over four minutes left in the game. But Gonzaga's Ashley Anderson scored ten in the second half to lift the Bulldogs to the 70-54 win. Turner led LMU with 13 points. Jasmin Matthews added a three-for-three night from the field for the Lions. Gonzaga entered conference play this weekend as the only team in the WCC with a current winning streak and continued it on Thursday when they beat preseason favorite Pepperdine by 31. The Lions had won seven of the last nine meetings with the Zags, but have dropped the last two in the Kennel.
Program Record Watch
Following the match-up with Gonzaga, senior Kate Murray continued to climb LMU's all-time career statistical rankings. Murray moved into a tie for eighth place in games played (106), third in field goals (483), and sixth in blocks (47). She also passed former teammate Rosa Bernasconi (1998-2002) to move into seventh on LMU's all-time career assist leaders with 281 assists. Murray is the only LMU player to rank in 12 of the 13 all-time career statistical categories. Senior Raelen Self needs just one assist to hit the 200 assist milestone. She currently ranks tenth in assists.
Murray and Ziemann Selected to Marriott Beach Classic All-Tournament Team
The Lions' Kate Murray and Bianca Ziemann were selected to the 2003 Marina del Rey Marriott Beach Classic All-Tournament team for their effort against Northwestern and No. 4 Duke. Murray and Ziemann led the Lions to their second tournament championship game of the season. Murray scored 27 points on the weekend, including a 3-for-6 three-point effort. Ziemann, the reigning WCC Player of the Week, totaled 29 points. The Huntington Beach, Calif., native put on a three-point show against Northwestern, hitting four of six three-point attempts en route to the 63-45 LMU win. It was the second all-tournament team for Ziemann, who also received the honor at the Furama Thanksgiving Classic. Melissa Culver of Northwestern, Sharema Dean of Hampton, and Duke's Monique Currie and Alana Beard joined Murray and Ziemann on the all-tournament team.
Ziemann Receives WCC Player of the Week Honors
Loyola Marymount University sophomore Bianca Ziemann was named the West Coast Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week as announced today by the conference office. The Huntington Beach, Calif., led the Lions to a 63-45 win over Northwestern on Day 1 of the LMU Marina del Rey Marriott Beach Classic last Sunday afternoon. The win marked LMU's sixth straight home win dating back to last season, the Lions remain a perfect 5-0 in Gersten Pavilion so far this season. Ziemann finished the night against the Wildcats tied for the game's leading scorer with 16 points. She shot 5-of-8 from the floor, 4-of-6 from beyond the arc and 2-for-3 from the free-throw line. The four three-pointers set a new career game-high for Ziemann who also collected five rebounds, two assists and two steals. This week marks the third time in the month of December a Lion was selected as the WCC women's basketball player of the week.
Murray Named WCC Player Of The Week
Senior guard/forward Kate Murray was named West Coast Conference Co-Player of the Week as announced December 16 by the conference office. Murray has been the Lions' leading scorer all year and was averaging a team-high 15.9 points per game at the time of the selection. The Tigard, Oreg., native propelled the Lions' to their sixth straight win, which tied a school record, against Cal Poly. Murray scored 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the floor while also adding six assists, five rebounds and one steal in the win over the Mustangs. Murray led the Lions' scoring efforts in six of the first eight games of the season, including the win over UNLV which set a new LMU record for consecutive wins. She was also the front runner on cleaning up the boards in three of LMU's first seven games.
Win Streak Set
Victories over Cal Poly (67-66), UNLV (76-64), and IUPUI (66-63) improved the Lions' win streak to eight straight after dropping its season opening game at NC State. The eight wins gave LMU its longest winning streak in program history. The old mark of six consecutive wins, was reached twice since the programs inception (1988-89 and 2000-01).
Getting Noticed
The Lions hard work and non-conference record did not go unnoticed early in the season. LMU received votes in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll. The December 15 poll was the first national recognition for the Lions this season.
Record Setting Night
The Lions set the stage early on for a record setting night against UC Riverside earlier this season hitting its first three field goals of the game from long distance. LMU went on to hit another nine long range field goals bringing the team total at the end of the night to 12, a new single-game record for the Lions. Five different Lions helped break the old record of 10 which was set back in 1999 at Colorado State and then matched again in 2002 against Santa Clara. Sophomore Jenni Smith was the leader collecting four of the 12 three-pointers. Senior Kate Murray and freshman Amanda Patton followed with three each while senior Raelen Self and sophomore Rachael Ziemann each chipped in one.
Slaughter Hits Milestone Mark
With her first basket of the game against UNLV, senior Adrianne Slaughter reached the heralded 1,000 career points plateau. The 6-foot-2 center becomes 10th player in Lion history to reach that milestone. She currently sits in 8th on the all-time scoring list at LMU.
The Wilhoit File
Head Coach Julie Wilhoit, a two-time WCC Coach of the Year recipient, enters her eighth season at the helm of the women's basketball program at LMU. She led the Lions to back-to-back winning seasons in 2000 and 2001 while entering the season with an impressive 30-9 record in Gersten Pavilion since 2000. Under her direction, LMU set new school records for single-season overall wins (21) and single-season conference wins (10) in 2000-01. She led the Lions to a 21-10 overall record, a 10-4 mark in conference play, to within a game of LMU's first ever regular-season conference championship, to their first appearance in the WCC tournament championship game and to their first ever postseason game that year. She was the first LMU women's basketball coach to earn the top coaching nod in 1999-00, the first to have earned it in consecutive seasons at LMU and only the second coach in WCC history to garner the award in two straight years. She was named the fourth head coach in the program's history on June 30, 1995. Wilhoit came to LMU after a two-year stint at the University of Pittsburgh-Bradford. With the Lions, she entered the 2003-04 season holding a 98-135 (.421) overall record and 39-79 (.331) record in West Coast Conference play. Wilhoit began her 16th year as a head coach owning a 219-205 (.517) overall record.
Lions' Audio Network
This 2003-04 season, check out the LMU women's basketball team on the Lions' Audio Network. Thanks to an agreement with Yahoo! Sports, more than 110 LMU games will be aired live via the Internet throughout this season. Every women's basketball game will be broadcast over the internet on LMULions.com thanks to the Yahoo! Sports agreement. Adding to the quality of the broadcast, Yahoo! Sports will bring its state-of-the-art technology to the Lions' Audio Network. To ensure the best product for our listeners, the Yahoo! Sports partnership is a subscription-based program. Live programming is a hallmark of every major athletics program in the country and LMU's commitment is an example to our student-athletes and fans of our continuing efforts to Build Champions!
-GO LIONS-
