Berkeley, CA

NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Comes to Berkeley
http://www.calbears.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30100&ATCLID=209964964

BERKELEY, Calif. – Fourth-seeded California and fifth-seeded Texas head a field of four teams coming to Berkeley this weekend when the University of California plays host to first- and second-round games in the 2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship.


WESTERN KENTUCKY LADY TOPPERS—Bowling Green, KY

In their first year in Conference USA, the Western Kentucky finished first in Conference USA league play and then earned the automatic bid to the NCAAs by winning the league tournament. WKU got into the NCAA last season as the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Champion. The Lady Toppers ended this season at 30-4. They have a 12 game winning streak going into Friday’s game with Texas.

WKU and Texas have not played since 01/11/1990. Texas leads the series 4-2. WKU booked those four losses with wins in the first and last games played. The first two were smack in the middle of Texas’ heyday in CWBB: 1985 and 1986. That 92-90 WKU win on March 22, 1985 on WKU's E.A. Diddle Arena kept the Longhorns from the chance to advance to the Final Four held in Austin that year. The following year, the two met in the Final Four semis with Texas winning 90-65 as Texas would celebrate the first undefeated season in NCAA WBB history a game later.

WKU head coach Michelle Clark-Heard is an WKU alumni, having played there from 1987-90. Her three seasons as head coach of her alma mater has seen her win two conference tournament titles and reach the NCAA twice.

Chastity Gooch (# 30, 6-0 Sr. F) is the leading scorer for WKU at 17.0 ppg. Second is Alexis Govan (# 21, 5-10 Sr. G/F) with an average of 16.7 ppg. The third player averaging in double figures at 11.0 ppg is Kendall Noble (# 12, 5-11 RS Soph. G). Three players average over 50% from the field: Gooch (233-455; 51.2%); Noble (127-251; 50.6%) and Bria Gaines (# 11, 5-3 Soph. F/C) who has connected on 63-116 for a team high 54.3%. Govan (206-419; 49.2%) joins Gooch as the two players that have attempted at least 400 FGs. No one has more than Tashia Brown’s (# 10, 6-1 Fr. F) 271 attempts. Govan (37-101; 36.6%); and Micah Jones (# 5, 5-8 Jr. G; 47-149; 31.5%) are the main 3pt threats for the Lady Toppers. Gooch (32-80; 40.0%) and Noble (29-75; 38.7%)have the highest percentages from BTA. Four players (Gooch, Govan, Noble and Jones) get to the FT line at least 3 times a game. A fifth, T. Brown, averages over 2 FT attempts a game. Jones has the best FT percentage at 83.8% with five others over 70%: Gooch, Govan, Ileana Johnson (# 24, 5-6 Sr. G), Ivy Brown (# 23, 6-1 Fr. F) and Jaiveonna Norris (# 34, 6-0 Fr. F).

The three primary rebounders for WKU are Noble (7.3 rpg), Gooch (6.9 rpg) and Govan (5.9 rpg). Noble (152) and Jones (128) have broken the century mark in assists. The top two shot blockers are Gooch (1.3 bpg) and Noble (0.8 bpg). Noble (3.1 spg) tops WKU in this category with five others averaging just over one steal a game.

The Lady Toppers have played 34 games this season entering the game against Texas. Gooch and Jones have started every game. T. Brown and I. Brown have played in every game. Govan (32 games) and Noble (33 games) have started in every game they have played in. Johnson has started 28 of 33 games. Gaines has played in 33 games while Jalynn McClain (# 33, 6-0 Jr. F) has seen action in 32 games with 3 starts. T. Brown (5) and I. Brown (1) have the other six starts. Gooch (31.4 mpg), Govan (32.0 mpg), Noble (33.4 mpg) and Jones (30.9 mpg) are the iron women for WKU. Others seeing the court for double digit mpg averages include T. Brown, Gaines, Johnson and I. Brown. McClain comes for an average of 9.3 mpg. There are nine players in the rotation but most of the rotation comes at the fifth spot with four player averaging 30+ mpg.

The Lady Toppers will go small with 6-3 Gaines the tallest starter. 6-4 Ruta Savickaite (# 15, Soph. C) has gotten into 15 games and averages 5.9 mpg. She is the only other player over 6-1 on the roster and may see action if Gaines gets into foul trouble. WKU only gets off about 1.5 more shots a game that the other three but are the best shooting team of the four in total FGs, 2pt FGs and 3pt FGs. WKU will rely heavily on Gooch, the Conference USA player of the year to lead the scoring. Noble, the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year, likely will be assigned to whoever they consider to be Texas’ biggest offense perimeter threat.

Lady Topper Basketball Postseason Guide Now Available Online
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/wky/sports/w-baskbl/auto_pdf/2014-15/release/release_20150317aaa.pdf

WKU Heads to Cal to Take on Texas in NCAA Tournament
http://www.wkusports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/031615aaa.html

LOOKING BACK: The First Time the Lady Toppers and Texas Squared Off on the Hardwood
http://www.wkusports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/031815aaa.html


CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS—Berkley, CA

Cal (23-9) tied for third in the league standings with Stanford with identical 13-5 league records. Cal lost in the PAC12 tournament finals by 61-60 to Stanford.

The Golden Bears have a trio of players averaging double figures in scoring: Reshanda Gray (# 21, 6-3 Sr. F) averages 17.5 ppg. Brittany Boyd (# 15, 5-9 Sr. G) checks in at 13.3 ppg. Mikayla Cowling (# 3, 6-2 Fr. F) is the top bench scorer at 10.1 ppg.

Boyd (150-364; 41.2%), Gray (200-354; 56.5%) and Mercedes Jefflo (# 10, 5-10 Sr. G; 118-308; 38.3%) are the primary shooters for Cal. Cowling (131-268, 48.9%), Gabby Green (# 33, 5-2 Fr. G; 81-242; 33.5%) and Courtney Range (# 24, 6-3 Soph. F; 88-201; 43.8%) are the other three that will most likely be shooting. Green (33-119; 27.7%) and Jefflo (36-115; 31.3%) are the 3pt shooters for the Golden Bears. Boyd (22-65; 33.8%), Cowling (23-68; 33.8%) and Range (21-57; 36.8%) are other threats from BTA. Penina Davidson (# 12, 6-3 Fr. F) has the best 3pt percentage among those players that have taken at least 10 treys at 41.7% (10-24). Gray (160-231; 69.3%) and Boyd (91-151; 60.3%) have taken over half of Cal’s 580 FTs. Gray and Cowling (27-39; 69.2%) have the best FT percentage on the team.

Gray (7.2 rpg) and Boyd (7.7 rpg) provide a potent inside-outside rebounding duo. Green (5.7 rpg), Range (5.5 rpg) and Cowling (4.9 rpg) provide plenty of support on the boards. Boyd’s 212 assists are double that of Green who is second with 105. Gray tops Cal with 32 blocks. Boyd’s 94 steals are second in the conference. Jefflo (48) and Green (45) rank second and third on the squad in steals.

Gray (32-32), Boyd (31-31), Jefflo (32-32) and Green (32-32) have started in every game they have played in. Cowling (31-24) has 24 starts with Range starting nine of 25 games she has action in. Davidson is the only other player to see action in more than 24 games. At 12.1 mpg, Davidson has the lowest mpg average among the base rotation of seven players. Four pull heavy duty minutes: Boyd (34.1 mpg), Cowling (30.7 mpg), Jefflo (32.7 mpg)and Green (33.2 mpg). Range checks in at 24.0 mpg.

Gray and Boyd are the main scorers for Cal with three others providing support: Cowling(10.1 ppg), Jefflo (9.5 ppg) and Range (8.7 ppg). A weak point for Cal is their FT shooting at 63.1%. Their two most prolific FT shooters average 65.7% combined. Their top two subs are 6-3 forwards. Their guards, Boyd, Jefflo and Green, infrequently come out of the game as all three average over 32 mpg.

Tournament Center—Berkley, CA.
http://www.calbears.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30100&ATCLID=209968054

Cal To Face Wichita State In NCAA First Round at Haas
http://www.calbears.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30100&ATCLID=209964863

 

WICHITA STATE SHOCKERS—Wichita, Kan.

Wichita State (29-4) won their third straight Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Tournament. The Shockers are on a 12 winning streak going into their game with Cal Friday night.


WSU is the third to have three double digit scorers: Alex Harden (# 24, 5-11 Sr. G/F) averaging 16.8 ppg; Jamillah Bonner (# 5, 5-8 Sr. G) at 13.0 ppg and Michaela Dapprich (# 44, 5-10 Jr. G/F) scoring 12.4 ppg. Five players have taken 1642 of WSU’s 1884 FG attempts (87.2%). Harden (211-429, 49.2%), Bonner (145-372, 39.0%), Dapprich (165-347, 47.6%), Alie Decker (# 21, 5-10 RS Soph. F; 99-236, 41.9%) and Kelsey Jacobs (# 13, 6-2 RS Sr. F; 110-258, 42.6%). Harden’s 49.2% tops the team. The Shockers have three players that average over 3 3pter attempts a game: Bonner (26-121, 21.5%), Michaela Dapprich (35-106, 33.0%) and Decker (67-161, 41.6%). Decker is the top sniper from BTA in number of 3s made, attempted and percentage. Harden and Bonner are the most active in getting to the FT line. They do an excellent job converting once they get there as Harden makes 80.9% (106-131) and Bonner 76.3% (87-114). Decker (19-22, 86.4%) has the top FT percentage. Jacobs (52-66, 78.8%) and Michaela Dapprich (44-62, 71.0%) are other threats from the FT line.


Harden (5.9 rpg), Michaela Dapprich (5.8 rpg), Jacobs (5.2 rpg) and Bonner (4.9 rpg) are the top rebounders for the Shockers. Harden (110 assists) and Jacobs (101 assists) are the top distributors. Jacobs has 35 blocks to rank first for WSU. Harden is second with 30. Brittney Martin (# 20, 6-3 Soph. C) is third with 25 blocks. Harden’s 104 steals leads a group of five with at least 40 steals.


WSU has basically a six player rotation. Harden has 32 starts in 32 games. Bonner has 31starts in 31 games. Michaela Daprrich and Jacobs have 33 starts in 33 games. Decker has 28 starts in 33 games. Jaleesa Chapel (# 25, 5-9 Soph. G) has two starts in 32 games. Kayla White (# 12, 5-8 Soph. G) has seen action in 21 games with five starts. Aundra Stovall (# 3, 5-2 Fr. G) has one start in the 27 games she has played in. Moriah Dapprich (# 43, 6-0 Soph. G/F) has appeared in 25 games. Harden, Bonner, Michaela Dapprich, Decker and Jacobs are the starters. Chapel is the primary sub with Martin the seventh player. Harden averages 36.6 mpg. Jacobs is at 33.1 mpg. Michaela Dapprich puts in 32.2 mpg. Bonner averages 31.5 mpg while Decker is at 31.3 mpg. Chapel averages 15.9 mpg while Martin is at 7.7 mpg.


Harden was named the 2015 Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year while teammate Bonner was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Year. Jacobs at 6-2 and 6-3 Martin are the tallest players on the squad. While Decker is listed as a F, she is 5-10. G/Fs Harden and Michaela Dapprich are both 5-10. Decker is their top 3pt shooter so they will stretch the posts outside to cover Decker. Harden is the primary offensive threat on the Shocker team. She leads the team in FGs made & attempted, FG%, FTs made and attempted, is second in FT%, is the leading rebounder, tops the team in assists and steals and is second in blocks. The only weak points seems to be 3pt shooting as she is only 11-49 for 22.4% for the season.

WBB: Shockers Face Cal Friday in NCAA Tournament
http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=61195&SPID=2852&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=209964947&DB_OEM_ID=7500


WBB: 29 Wins, Top 40 RPI, Top 37 AP Rank and More
http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=61195&SPID=2852&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=209962371&DB_OEM_ID=7500




TEXAS LONGHORNS—Austin, TX

Horns are the only team in this quartet not to have three double digit scorers. They are led by Kelsey at 10.9 ppg and Ariel at 10.0 ppg. Horns have five players that have taken 200+ shots: Kelsey (153-278; 55.0%), Ariel (80-213, 37.6%) and she has done this in seven to eight fewer games than the rest, Brady (77-218; 35.3%), Empress (79-224, 35.3%) and Brooke (75-206, 36.4%). Imani (85-158, 53.8%) and Brianna (73-163, 44.8%) are the other two players to have reached triple digit FG attempts. Kelsey’s 55.0% and Imani’s 53.8% from the field top the Horns. Brady (34-105, 32.4%) and Brooke (35-100, 35.0%) are the only two Horns to reach 100 3pt attempts. Third on the team is Krystle at 16-55 (29.1%). Celina’s 36.8% on 14-38 treys puts her at the head of the line in shooting from BTA. Ariel provides a fourth threat from BTA at 32.7% (16-49). No active player has reached 80 FT attempts. Nneka still leads in this category with 93 FTs attempted in 17 games. What the Horns have are seven players that have attempted between 41 and 78 FTs for the season. Ariel has the highest percentage and most FTs made at 84.2% (64-76). Three others in that group hit over 70% of their FTs. Brady has gotten to the FT line the most, 78 times, making 57 for a percentage of 73.1%.


Imani (6.6 rpg) and Kelsey (6.3 rpg) are the top rebounders for Texas. Four others average between 4.6 (Brianna) and 3.2 (Brady). This has allowed Texas to maintain a 9.7 edge in rebounding. Five players average between 3.1 apg (Brady) and 1.3 apg (Brianna). Ariel tops the team in steals with an average of 1.3 spg. Brady, Brooke and Brianna all average under one steal a game. While ten players have at least one block, this is really the Imani (48) and Kelsey (44) block show.


Horns have had nine of 14 players start at least five games. Kelsey has started 31 of 31 games. Brooke has been the only player to play in all 32 games. Kelsey, Ariel, Brady, Brianna and Brooke (KA and the 3 Bees) have started eight of the last nine games. The only game that quintet did not start was Senior Night when Krystle started in place of Brooke. This starting lineup has gone 6-2. Nine players make up the main rotation with Tasia and Nekia also having played in 23 and 18 games, respectively. The personnel question is whether Nekia will be released to play after being sidelined by a knee injury for several games at the end of the regular season and all of the Big 12 tournament. Five players average over 20 mpg but none more than Brady’s 29.5 mpg. Five others, including Nekia, average at least 12 mpg.


While the Horns struggled in the middle of the season, they played well in the last nine games, finishing 7-2. In the post, Kelsey made 60.3% of her shots (7 attempted per game) even with making only 6-20 in the last two games. Imani was at near her season average, making 53.7% of 7.4 attempts per game. Brianna, playing primarily in the post, hit 40.4% of her shots. Our guards did much better from BTA in that nine game stretch. Brady was 15-31 (48.4%). Krystle hit 42.1% from BTA (8-19) while Celina connected on 42.9% (6-14). Ariel also improved her shooting from BTA, hitting 36.0% (9-25). Even with Brooke (6-21, 28.6%) and Empress (2-7, 28.6%) suffering from a slight slump , as a group, they hit on 46 of 117 for 39.3%. well over their season average of 30.9%.


Women's Basketball preview: vs. WKU - NCAA First Round
http://www.texassports.com/news/2015/3/18/WBB_0318152829.aspx


Video: NCAA First Round news conference
http://www.texassports.com/news/2015/3/19/WBB_0319152522.aspx


AAS: Texas, Western Kentucky have a basketball history
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/sports/college-basketball/texas-western-kentucky-have-a-basketball-history/nkZ62/#e75ff063.3503856.735676


Starting lineups—based on last game played:

Texas__________________WKU__________________Cal____________________WSU
Kelsey (6-5 Soph. C)____Govan (5-10 Sr. G/F)___Cowling (6-2 Fr. F)_____Jacobs (6-2 Sr. F)
Ariel (5-11 Fr. G)_______Gooch (6-0 Sr. F)________Gray (6-3 Sr. F)_______Decker (5-10 Soph. F)
Brady (5-11 Jr. G)_______Jones (5-8 Jr. G)________Jefflo (5-10 Soph. G)__Bonner (5-8 Sr. G)
Brooke (5-4 Fr. G)______Noble (5-11 Soph. G)___Boyd (5-9 Sr. G)______Harden (5-11 Sr. G/F)
Brianna (5-9 Soph. G)___Johnson (5-6 Sr. G)____Green (6-2 Fr. G)_____Dapprich (5-10 Jr. G/F)





TEAM STATISTICS:________Texas(22-10)_WKU(30-4)__Cal(23-9)____WSU(29-4)
SCORING_________________2178_________2583________2225________2125
Points per game_________68.1__________76.0_________69.5_________64.4
Scoring margin__________+9.7_________+14.2________+7.3_________+13.4
FIELD GOALS-ATT________816-1925____962-2109____855-1936____820-1884
Field goal pct____________42.4%________45.6%_______44.2%________43.5%
FG made per game______25.5__________28.3_________26.7_________24.8
FG att. per game________60.2__________62.0_________60.5_________57.1
2 POINT FG-ATT_________690-1517____782-1541____706-1460_____672-1401
2-point FG pct___________45.4%_______50.7%________48.4%_______48.0%
2-pt FG made per game_21.6_________23.0__________22.1_________20.4
2-pt FG att. per game___47.4_________45.3__________45.6_________42.5
3 POINT FG-ATT________126-408_____180-568_______149-476_____148-483
3-point FG pct__________30.9%_______31.7%_________31.3%_______30.6%
3-pt FG made per game__3.9_________5.3___________4.7___________4.5
3-pt FG att. per game___12.8________16.7__________14.9__________14.6
FREE THROWS-ATT______420-612_____479-703______366-580_______337-444
Free throw pct__________68.6%______68.1%________63.1%________75.9%
F-Throws made per game_13.1________14.1_________11.4__________10.2
FTs attempted per game__19.1________20.7_________18.1__________13.5
REBOUNDS_____________1359_______1320_________1259__________1141
Rebounds per game______42.5_______38.8__________39.3__________34.6
Rebounding margin______+9.7_______+1.3_________+0.8__________+1.0
ASSISTS__________________484________527__________529___________439
Assists per game_________15.1________15.5_________16.5__________13.3
TURNOVERS______________518________508__________491__________422
Turnovers per game______16.2_______14.9_________15.3__________12.8
Turnover margin__________-0.9_______+5.2_________+0.8_________+6.1
Assist/turnover ratio______0.9________1.0__________1.1___________1.0
STEALS___________________236________378_________268___________327
Steals per game__________7.4________11.1_________8.4___________9.9
BLOCKS__________________150_______143__________125__________118
Blocks per game__________4.7________4.2__________3.9___________3.6
Winning Streak____________-0-________12___________-0-___________12
Home record______________15-2______14-1_________11-4_________17.0
Road record_______________4-7________12-3_________9-4___________8.3
Neutral record_____________3-1________4-0__________3-1___________4.1
ATTENDANCE_____________57549______28974_______40147________42854
Home games-Avg/Game__17-3385____15-1932_____15-2676______17-2521


Ave. Score by Period:__1st_________2nd_________OT___________2OT________Ave.
Texas___________________33.2________33.7_________0.9___________0.3_________68.1
WKU____________________37.8________37.5_________0.7___________-0-_________76.0
Cal_____________________33.8________35.6_________0.2___________-0-__________69.5
WSU____________________30.0________34.4_________-0-___________-0-__________64.4



The Texas vs WKU game will be nationally televised on ESPN2 with Melissa Lee (play-by-play) and Mary Murphy (analyst) on the call. The Cal vs WSU will follow about 30 minutes later.


Game time will be four PM CST.

 

ESPN: Albany Regional breakdown

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/tournament/2015/story/_/id/12510667/albany-regional-breakdown

Well, I would like to disagree with Charlie but we have had games with 12 TOs and ones with 22 TOs in the last nine games. The thing is that we have shown that a large number of TOs doesn't mean a loss. In that nine game stretch, the games where we had 22, 20 & 20 TOs, we won. In our two losses, we had 17 (WVU) and 15 (BU) TOs.

Frankly, I am more concerned about our guards making their shots, allowing our posts to be actively involved in scoring than I am about TOs.

 

16 hours to tipoff!

 

Cal women's basketball: Will lack of depth be an issue in NCAA tournament?
http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_27747589/cal-womens-basketball-will-lack-depth-be-an


WKU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Final goal for WKU is an NCAA win-- Lady Tops look today for first NCAA win since 2000
http://www.bgdailynews.com/sports/wku/final-goal-for-wku-is-an-ncaa-win/article_2aebca5e-7fe4-57a7-b065-37e804a17567.html

Cal offers more stars for Wichita State women to negate
http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/article15413678.html?brand=mcd

 

TV coverage maps for Friday and Sunday.
http://espn.go.com/womens-college-b...men-ncaa-tournament-first-round-coverage-maps

 

"We identify what the other team likes to do, and then it is our job as a stingy defense to take away what they like to do.”

That scares the hell out of me. We are not a team that does well when needing to adjust. I hope we play lights out for 40 mins.

Go Horns! #40acres40minutes

 

If our guards play like they have the past nine games, there will a lot for WKU to try to take away. Someone will be open. And don't forget that our D is not exactly wet tissue paper.

 

I was annoyed to read on some WBB website that they were picking WKU because they didn't think we could handle Chastity Gooch. I can't remember the site. We have the ability to take away stuff, too. Moreover, President Obama is picking WKU over us, I saw on the news last night. That was unnerving. How much time does he spend researching women's basketball? I hope not too much.

 

You can safely bet that BO does not know what is going on here. One of his most favorite phrases that he likes to say to the audience is "I did not really know anything about "xxxx" until I saw it on TV yesterday." ...

 

Every game you play a team tries to take away what you like to do, for us it's obviously our inside game. Every team that we have played has tried to do that, whether it's by playing a zone or sagging man to man. Like BabHorn said, our guards will have to play well. On defense we've played a lot teams like them either in conf or out that try to pull our bigs away from the basket. The guards and more importantly our bigs will need to do a good job of moving their feet on the perimeter. Simply put, if our guards play well will probably win the game, if they don't we won't.

 

Yes, but this is the first time I have heard a team claim that they have invented a new style of defense to do that. That's a bold claim. Makes me nervous...

 

I can assure you there is not a new style of defense that they have invented. They will probably play some man, some type of zone, and probably some junk defense. But those are things that we have seen all year. I'm not saying that we will play well against it, but it won't be a new defense that they've invented.

 

At this point in the game, there is nothing "NEW" to be invented. However, coaches may be innovative in the way that they implement things that have been long established.

 

Let's do this ladies!!!!! 40 min til game time!!!!

 

4 seed Duke sneaks by 13 seed Albany54-52 on a Rebecca Greenwall 3pter with about 15 seconds left. Albany missed a last second 3 that would have given them the win. Way it’s looking, Duke is going to have a lot of trouble with Miss. State.

35 minutes to tipoff!! Go, Horns! Time to flatten the Lady Toppers.

 

shoot, shoot, ESPN2 showing whiparound coverage. Hope we get and stay with the Texas game. TWC shows the Texas game on obscure channel 395 which has pretty faded colors compared to ESPN2.

 

7 seed Dayton 78 defeats 10 seed Iowa State 66

2 seed Baylor 77 over 15 seed Northwestern St 36

Big 12 starts out 1-1 with Texas up next.

 

alright, here we go!!
Let's go, Horns!

 

ESPN coverage map said whole game to be broadcast in state of Texas

I'm counting on you, DVR!

 

Imani starting in place of Kelsey.

 

Coach going with experience as both Celina and Empress start.

 

We need to calm down and slow down.

 

Brady needed to take the three. We've got to show some balance.

 

I'm hating the white shoes that everyone but Imani is wearing. Why change it up now?

 

Stop forcing it inside.

 

dang, need to take our time passing the ball.

 

I'm getting nothing but the South Carolina game on Direct TV. Bummer.

 

good god, we have forgotten how to pass the ball.

 

What's the deal with our guards, desperately trying to get it inside with such terrible passes.