NEVADA WOLF PACK (2-3)
vs. NORTHERN IOWA (2-1)/ vs. TBA
~ GAMES 5-6~
Friday, November 28, 2008 * 5 p.m. (PT) * Lawlor Events Center * Reno, Nev.
Friday, November 29, 2008 * TBA (PT) * Lawlor Events Center * Reno, Nev.
RADIO: Fox Sports 1450 AM; Ben Deach, play-by-play; pregame 15 minutes before tip off
INTERNET: Live stats and live streaming video (nevadawolfpack.com)
SERIES HISTORY: Nevada is 0-1 against Northern Iowa, 0-2 against Alabama and has never faced Louisville.
LAST MEETING: Nevada fell to Northern Iowa 70-53 during the 1996-97 season and the Pack lost to Alabama 76-63 in the last meeting between the two schools during the 2005-06 season.
About These Games
Nevada will host the John Ascuaga's Nugget Classic November 28-29 at Lawlor Events Center. This season will mark the seventh season the Pack, who has an all-time record of 7-5 in Nugget Classic play, has hosted the Nugget Classic. Nevada has won two Classic titles, in 2005 and 2007. This year’s field will feature Northern Iowa, #7 Louisville and Alabama. Nevada will play Northern Iowa on Friday at 5 p.m. while Louisville will take on Alabama at 7 p.m. The consolation game is Saturday at 5 p.m. followed by the championship game at 7 p.m.
About the Nevada Wolf Pack
Nevada went 1-1 over the weekend, falling on the road to UNLV, 66-53, before beating St. Mary’s, 99-91, at home. Against UNLV, Dellena Criner and Brandi Jones each scored 15 for Nevada while Cherlanda Franklin added a career-high 13 rebounds.
Against St. Mary’s, the Pack scored the most points since the 1986 season as five Nevada players scored in double figures, Dellena Criner, Johnna Ward, Brandi Jones, Cherlanda Franklin and Marissa Hammond.
Nevada returns four starters and 12 letterwinners from last season’s team that recorded an 18-12 overall record. Nevada’s returning starters include seniors Dellena Criner, Brandi Jones and Cherlanda Franklin and junior Marianne Lombardi. Criner was named the WAC Preseason Player of the Year in the coaches poll and was also named to the first team in both the media and coaches polls while Jones was named to the Preseason All-WAC second team in the coaches poll. As a team, the Pack was picked fourth in the conference in both the WAC media and coaches poll.
Nevada enters the 2008-09 season under first-year head coach Jane Albright. Albright spent the previous five years as the head coach of Witchia State. During her 24-year career as a Division I head coach, Albright has led her teams to nine NCAA Tournament appearances.
Follow the pack
On the Air (Fox Sports Radio 1450 AM): All 29 of Nevada’s regular-season games will be heard on Fox Sports Radio 1450 AM. Twenty-seven of Nevada’s games this season will be called by Don Marchand while two, the Nugget Classic Games, will be called by Ben Deach.
Live Stats: All of Nevada’s home games this season and select road games will have live stats and be available online at the following link.
http://www.nevadawolfpack.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml
Live Streaming Video: All of Nevada’s home games this season and select road games will have live streaming video and can be found at the link below.
http://www.nevadawolfpack.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml?&&&DB_OEM_ID=10000
About the Northern Iowa Panthers
Northern Iowa is 2-1 this year and is coming off a 67-52 victory over Western Illinois Tuesday night. Nicole Clausen leads the team in points averaging 15.3 ppg while KK Armstrong is averaging 14.4 ppg. Kim Wypsizynski leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.0 boards per game.
As a team the Panthers are averaging 66.0 ppg while its opponents are averaging 68 ppg. Northern Iowa is shooting 40 percent from three-point range and 62 percent from the free throw line. The Panthers average 32 boards per game while its opponents average 37.
Northern Iowa is coached by Tanya Warren who is in her second season.
About the Louisville Cardinals
About the Louisville Cardinals
The Cardinals are ranked seventh in the AP poll and eighth in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. Louisville is 4-0 this season and beat Utah on the road 59-48 on Tuesday night. Two-time All-American Angel McCoughtry leads the team averaging 18.3 ppg and 10.3 rpg. Candyce Bingham averages 13.3 ppg while Deseree Byrd averages 10.3 ppg.
As a team, Louisville averages 69.5 ppg while holding its opponents to 48.5 ppg. The Cardinals shoot 45 percent from the floor, 27 percent from three-point range and 69 percent from the free throw line. On average, Louisville outrebounds their opponents by an average of nine rebounds per game.
Louisville is coached by Jeff Walz who is in his second season.
About the Alabama Crimson Tide
Alabama is 3-1 this year and beat Alabama State 75-47 Tuesday night. The Crimson Tide is led by Tierney Jenkins who averages 11.0 ppg and Katie Hancock who averaged 8.8 ppg. Hancock also leads the team in rebounding, averaging 7.8 rebounds per game.
As a team, the Crimson Tide is averaging 65.8 ppg while holding its opponents to 55.8 ppg. Alabama shoots 38 percent from the floor, 21 percent from three-point range and 61 percent from the free throw line.
The Crimson Tide is coached by Wendell Hudson who is in his first year.
News and Notes
- If Nevada and #7 Louisville both win their opening games of the Nugget Classic and meet in the final, Louisville will be the highest ranked opponent Nevada has ever faced while a member of the Western Athletic Conference.
- The Pack has faced La Tech when they were ranked #8 and #11 and the Pack faced #9 Cal earlier this year in Berkeley, Calif.
- Dellena Criner recorded a double-double against St. Mary’s (14 points and 13 assists) and was two rebounds short of a triple double.
- Dellena Criner’s 13 assists were a career high passing her previous career high of eight. Her 13 assists is fifth on Nevada’s single-game list. Laura Ingham (2001-03) holds the single-game record for assists with 17 set in 2002 against UTEP.
- Dellena Criner has made the most free throws of any player in the conference (24) and has attempted the most free throws in the WAC (27).
- The 99 points the Pack scored in the 99-91 win against St. Mary’s were the most points Nevada has scored since the 1985-86 season when Nevada beat U.S. International 104-97.
- The program record for most points in a game is 109 as the Pack beat Cal State Hayward 109-74 on November 26, 1982.
- The 91 points allowed by Nevada is the most points the Pack has allowed since the Pack allowed 108 in a 108-72 loss to nationally-ranked La Tech on February 5, 2005.
- Cherlanda Franklin recorded a career-high 13 rebounds against UNLV passing her previous career best of 12 set in January of 2007 at Utah Valley University.
- The Pack’s loss to BYU on November 18 marked the first time Nevada has dropped below .500 since the 2006-07 season when Nevada was 7-8 on January 8, 2007.
- Nevada never led in the game versus BYU marking the first time Nevada hasn’t led in a game since January 2, 2008 when Nevada played at Utah Valley State.
- Nevada opened the season with five games in 10 days which started with Nevada’s home opener against Eastern Washington on November 14 and ended November 23 versus St. Mary’s. During that span the Pack went 2-3.
- Dellena Criner has recorded two 20-point games this season against Eastern Washington and BYU.
- The Pack has out-rebounded four of its five opponents this year, Eastern Washington, BYU, UNLV and St. Mary’s and the Pack holds a 214-203 advantage on the boards.
- Johnna Ward made a season-high four three-point shots against Cal and finished the game with a team-leading 14 points.
- The Pack shot a season-high 41.5 percent from the floor versus St. Mary’s.
- Nevada’s game against #9/9 Cal marked Nevada’s first game against a ranked opponent since the 2003-04 season when the Pack played #11 La Tech.
- Nevada is 14-4 at Lawlor Events Center dating back to the beginning of the 2007-08 season.
- Shavon Moore recorded her second career double-double against Eastern Washington scoring 10 points and adding 10 rebounds. She recorded her first career double-double last year at UC Riverside.
- Moore tied her career high in rebounds recording 10 versus Eastern Washington.
- Nevada has had two games this year in which the Pack has made more free throws than its opponents have taken. In Nevada’s win over Eastern Washington, the Pack made more free throws (21-of-29) than Eastern Washington attempted (7-of-11) while in Nevada’s win over St. Mary’s the Pack went 25-of-33 from the free throw line while the Gaels went 12-of-20.
- Junior Megan Cherry recorded a career-high five points against Eastern Washington, passing her previous personal best of four points. She also played a career-high 13 minutes at UNLV.
- Dellena Criner has recorded 208 career steals and became just the second player in history to record at least 200 career steals. Traci Graham (2003-07) is first in Nevada’s career record book with 237 career steals.
- Nevada returns four of its top five scorers from last season (Dellena Criner, 16.1 ppg; Brandi Jones, 8.8 ppg; Shavon Moore, 7.4 ppg and Cherlanda Franklin, 7.0 ppg). Nevada lost senior Mikail Price, who was second on the team in scoring last year with 9.3 ppg.
- In addition the Pack returns its top two rebounders in Cherlanda Franklin (5.2 rpg) and Brandi Jones (5.0 rpg).
- Cherlanda Franklin set the single-game record for steals in a game recording 11 against Hawai`i.
- After scoring 17 points against La Tech on Jan. 24, Dellena Criner scored her 1,000th career point for Nevada. Criner, who has recorded 1,205 career points, is just the eighth player in history to score at least 1,000 career points.
- Nevada ended last season first in the conference in steals (371) and third in scoring defense (64.8 ppg).
- Seven players (Bre`Anna Henry, Jennifer Gross, Johnna Ward, Brandi Jones, Mikail Price, Dellena Criner and Cherlanda Franklin) played in all 30 games last season, and all of those players with the exception of Price are returning this season.
- Dellena Criner has scored in double-figures in 24 of the last 31 games dating back to the start of the 2007-80 season. For her career the senior point guard has recorded 54 double-digit scoring games including 16 20-point games and two 30-point games.
- Dellena Criner ended last season as one of just two players in the WAC to have recorded at least 30 points in a game last season and she scored the most points in a game (33) of any player in the conference last season. Her 33 points are the most by a Pack player since Kate Smith (2000-03) scored 36 points in a win over Air Force on January 8, 2000.
- The Pack had four players record a double-double last season, Marianne Lombardi Shavon Moore, Cherlanda Franklin and Brandi Jones. Lombardi recorded her first career double-double against Stephen F. Austin while Moore recorded her first career double-double at UC Riverside. Franklin recorded her third career double-double against Utah Valley University while Jones recorded her second career double-double against Hawai`i.
- Nevada shot a season-high 57.1 percent (28-of-49) from the field in the Pack’s win over Utah State on February 2, 2008.
- Nevada attempted a program-record 44 free throws in the Pack’s win over New Mexico State on January 26, 2008. Nevada made 35 free throws in the game, one away from tying the program record for free throws made in a game (36 vs. San Jose State in 1995).
- Nevada did not drop below .500 all of last season. The Pack was at .500 twice last season (1-1 and 2-2) but Nevada remained above .500 since November 22, 2007. Nevada had a season-high .750 winning percentage on December 30, 2007 when the team was 9-3 and on January 17, 2008 with a 12-4 record.
Albright One Win Away From Career Victory Number 400
Nevada head coach Jane Albright is one win away from career coaching victory number 400. Albright, who is entering her 25th year as a Division I college coach, has the most overall career victories of any coach in the WAC and is currently ranked 39th in the NCAA record book for most career Division I wins.
Nevada Versus Ranked Opponents
Since joining the WAC in 2000, Nevada has played five games versus top-25 opponents, with four games coming against WAC opponent La Tech and one game coming in non-conference play at Cal during the 2008-09 season. Nevada played La Tech twice during the 2002-03 season when the Lady Techsters were ranked 11th and the Pack played La Tech twice during the 2003-04 season when the Lady Techsters were ranked 8th in the country. Nevada is 0-4 all-time against top-25 opponents since joining the WAC.
The Pack fell at #9/9 Cal on November 16, 2008. In addition to facing #9/9 Cal this season, Nevada could also face #7/8 Louisville in the Nugget Classic on November 29.
Team Captains
Senior point guard Dellena Criner and senior forward Cherlanda Franklin have been named team captains as voted on by their teammates.
Criner is a four-year starter for Nevada and has earned several all-conference honors during her career including being named WAC Defensive Player of the Year last season and being named the WAC Preseason Player of the Year this season. She has led the team in scoring the past two seasons and last season became just the eighth player in program history to score at least 1,000 career points.
Franklin is a three-year starter for the Pack and was named to the WAC All-Defensive team last season. She led the team in rebounding last season, averaging 5.2 rebounds per game. She also set the program single-game record for steals in a game with 11 in Nevada’s win over Hawai`i on January 12.
Nevada Newcomers
Nevada’s roster features four newcomers, three high school players and one transfer. Amanda Johnson (Oceanside, Calif./El Camino HS) earned four varsity letters in basketball, two in track and field and one in cross country and won three Avocado League Basketball Championships from 2005-07. Kayla Williams (Sparks, Nev./Reed HS) lettered four years in basketball and won three High Desert League Championships. She also won a Zone Championship in 2007. Brittany Woodard (Sacramento, Calif./Christian Brothers HS) lettered four years in basketball and four years in volleyball. She won a section championship in basketball in 2008 and won three section championships in volleyball (2006-08). Sophomore Ashley D`Andrade attended Hope International University in Fullerton, Calif. from 2006-07 where she played basketball for the Royals.
2008-09 Schedule to Feature Post Season Opponents
Nevada will face five teams that advanced to postseason play last season and depending on tournament results could face six. The Pack will face four teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season, Cal, Fresno State, UC Santa Barbara and Montana. Nevada will also take on conference foe Boise State, who advanced to the WNIT in 2008. Depending on the results of the Nugget Classic, Nevada could also face Louisville, who advanced to the Sweet 16 last season.
Ticket Information
Individual Tickets:
$7 per adult
$4 per Youth (12 and under) and Senior (65 and older)
$4 groups of 10 or more
Season Tickets:
Enjoy prime seats on the floor for all home women’s basketball games for $50 for the entire season (limited availability). General Admission for all other seats is $35. Pack Parties of 10 or more fans are only $4 each ticket.
Tickets can be purchased at the door starting 1 hour prior to the game at Lawlor Events Center. Group tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance by calling 775-682-6905.
Nevada to Host 2009 and 2010 WAC Basketball Tournaments
The University and the Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority (RSCVA) will play host to the tournaments at the 11,536-seat Lawlor Events Center, located on the university campus in Reno. The 2009 tournament will be played March 10-14, and the 2010 tournament will run from March 9-13. This will mark the third and fourth times that Nevada will serve as host to the WAC’s basketball tournaments with the event being held in Reno in 2005 and 2006. The University of Nevada has played host to a total of 14 WAC Championships since joining the conference in 2001, including the volleyball tournament five times from 2002-06, basketball in 2005 and 2006, indoor track and field in 2001 and 2002, baseball in 2007, men’s golf in 2007, soccer in 2006 and 2008 and women’s golf in 2001.
Seats for Schools
The goal for the “seats for schools” program is to provide two (2) Wolf Pack Women's Basketball season tickets to every single elementary school and middle school in the Washoe County School District. These tickets will be used by principals to give to deserving teachers at their schools throughout the year.
We will be able to provide these tickets through angel donations. Thus, we are asking people to support our teachers by purchasing season tickets ($70 per school - just $35 per season ticket) and donating them to the Board of Regents.
For more information contact Jerry Cail at 682-6908.
Bicycle Giveaways
Beginning with the Nevada/Eastern Washington game on Friday, there will be a bicycle given away at each Nevada home game this season. Fans in middle school and under can sign up each home game by the Nevada band for a chance to ride away on a new bike. For more information contact Holly Aycock at 682-6961.
Criner, Jones Earn Preseason All-WAC Honors
Senior point guard Dellena Criner was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year in the Coaches Poll and was also named to the First Team. Senior guard Brandi Jones was named to the second team in the Coaches Poll. Criner was also named to the First Team in the Media Poll. As a team, the Pack was picked fourth in both polls.
Upcoming Schedule
Nevada will travel to Southern California to take on UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, December 4 at 7 p.m. The team will play at UCLA on Sunday, December 7 at 2 p.m. Nevada will play a third consecutive game on the road, taking on Santa Clara on Thursday, December 18 at 7 p.m.
