NEVADA (14-13, 8-6 WAC)
at IDAHO (12-13, 9-5 WAC)
GAME 28 ~ Western Athletic Conference Play
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 ~ 7 p.m. (PT) ~ Cowan Spectrum ~ Moscow, Idaho
RADIO: Fox Sports 1450 AM; Don Marchand, play-by-play; pregame 15 minutes before tip off
INTERNET: Live stats (www.govandals.com)
SERIES HISTORY: Idaho leads the all-time series, 14-12.
LAST MEETING: Nevada beat Idaho in Reno, 69-53, on February 19, 2009.
About This Game
Nevada will look to snap its two-game losing streak when the team travels to Idaho on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game against the third-place Vandals. While Idaho holds a 14-12 advantage in the overall series, Nevada has won the last six meetings between the two schools.
Nevada, who is tied for fifth place in the WAC with an 8-6 record, is 4-9 on the road this season and is 3-4 on the road in WAC games this year.
About the Nevada Wolf Pack
As a team Nevada is averaging 62.0 points per game while its opponents are averaging 61.1 points per game. The Pack is shooting 38.3 percent from the floor, 29.3 percent from three-point range and 66.4 percent from the free throw line.
The Pack averages 12.2 assists per game, 39.6 rebounds per game, 10.0 steals per game and 14.0 made free throws per game.
Nevada shot a season-high 48.9 percent from the floor but fell at Fresno State, 65-53. Dellena Criner led Nevada with 13 points while Shavon Moore added 12 and Kayla Williams scored 10. Moore also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Fresno State, who leads the nation in three pointers made with 9.9 per game, made 11 against Nevada.
Nevada had three players score in double figures but Nevada fell at Boise State 75-74. Johnna Ward led Nevada with 19 points while Shavon Moore added a career-high 16 and Cherlanda Franklin scored 14. Franklin also recorded a team-high nine rebounds for Nevada.
The Wolf Pack is coached by first-year head coach Jane Albright who has a 14-13 record at Nevada.
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-four of Nevada’s games this season will be called by Don Marchand while five, the Nugget Classic, the Lady Griz Holiday Classic games and the game at Fresno State on Feb. 28, 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 Idaho Vandals
Idaho is 12-13 overall and is in third place in the WAC with a 9-5 record. Idaho played one game over the weekend, winning at Hawai`i, 63-60.
Derisa Taleni leads three Vandal players scoring in double figures with 14.4 points per game. Yinka Olorunnife is second (13.0) while Shaena Kuehu is third (10.2). Olorunnife also leads the team in rebounding averaging 11.1 rebounds per game while Taleni is second averaging 6.1.
As a team Idaho shoots 38.5 percent from the floor, 30.2 percent from three-point range and 69.0 percent from the free throw line. The Vandals average 9.2 assists per game, 37.5 rebounds per game, 11.6 made free throws per game, 8.3 steals per game and 16.7 turnovers per game.
Idaho is coached by Jon Newlee who is in his first year at Idaho. He has a career record of 105-95 in seven seasons.
Last Time Versus Idaho
RENO, Nev. - Idaho led by seven, 18-11, with 13:04 left in the first half before a layup by Kayla Williams cut the Vandals’ lead to one, 21-20, with 8:30 remaining in the first half. Idaho pushed its lead back to seven, 29-22, with 2:28 left in the half as the Vandals went into the half leading, 31-27.
Idaho opened the second half hitting back-to-back three pointers to extend its lead to 37-27. Cherlanda Franklin’s layup with 9:55 remaining in the game gave Nevada its first lead of the night, 48-47. After Franklin’s layup, the Pack went on a 15-4 run to pull away from the Vandals as Nevada extended its lead to 65-51. A pair of free throws by Dellena Criner with under a minute to play helped Nevada post the 69-53 win.
Brandi Jones grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and Kayla Williams recorded a career-high seven rebounds for Nevada as the Pack outrebounded the Vandals by 20, 43-23. Bre`Anna Henry finished the game with a season-high six points and three rebounds in 18 minutes.
News and Notes
- Although Idaho leads the all-time series 14-12, Nevada has won the last six meetings between the two schools and has won nine of the last 10 meetings.
- Nevada is 4-9 against Idaho on the road with its last loss in Idaho coming during the 2005-06 season when the Pack fell 69-56.
- Freshman Kayla Williams went 5-for-5 from the floor against Fresno State and finished with 10 points marking the third time in her career she has shot 1.000 percent from the floor.
- Forward Cherlanda Franklin has recorded 199 career steals and is on pace to become the fourth player in history to record at least 200 career steals. She would be the first forward to record at least 200 career steals.
- Four of Nevada’s losses this season have been by three points or less (62-59 vs. Hampton, 63-60 vs. Fresno State, at NMSU, 54-51 and 75-74 at Boise State).
- Nevada’s 74 points scored at Boise State marked the most points Nevada has scored this season in a loss.
- Johnna Ward scored in double figures in four straight games for Nevada from February 13 - February 22. Ward has recorded nine double-digit scoring games this season and has 17 career double-digit scoring games.
- During that span, Johnna Ward also led the Pack in scoring in three of the four games (12 at New Mexico State, 12 at La Tech and 19 at Boise State).
- Freshman Kayla Williams made her first career start for Nevada against Boise State. Williams finished with five rebounds in 16 minutes.
- Shavon Moore recorded a career-high 16 points for Nevada at Boise State, all of which were scored in the second half. Moore’s previous career high was 15 points at UC Riverside on December 9, 2007 as a freshman.
- Nevada swept its conference series against San Jose State, has split conference series with La Tech, New Mexico State, Boise State and Utah State and lost its conference series with Fresno State.
- Nevada has shot 40 percent or better from the floor in 14 games this season including the past three games. Nevada shot a season-high 48.9 percent at Fresno State on February 27.
- The Pack is 8-5 in games this season in which the team shoots at least 40 percent from the floor.
- Nevada had three players score in double figures in back-to-back-to-back games for Nevada. Against Idaho Dellena Criner scored 19, Kayla Williams scored 11 and Johnna Ward added 10. At Boise State, Ward scored 19, Shavon Moore scored 16 and Cherlanda Franklin added 14. At Fresno State Criner scored 13, Moore 12 and K. Williams 10.
- Dellena Criner recorded two assists at Fresno State and has 352 career assists which ranks third all-time behind Laura Ingham (second, 2001-03, 385) and Carissa Meyer (first, 1994-99, 391).
- Freshman Kayla Williams recorded her fourth career double-digit scoring game with 10 points at Fresno State. Williams scored a career-high 15 points against Louisville on November 28, 2008.
- Kayla Williams recorded a career-high seven rebounds for Nevada against Idaho. Williams’ seven rebounds are the most rebound by a Pack freshman since Jen Gross recorded eight rebounds against Boise State on January 19, 2008.
- Nevada has played four home games in front of at least 1,000 fans this season. The third-best crowd in program history (2,661) watched Nevada play Fresno State. Other top crowds this season include: 1,623 vs. La Tech; 1,397 vs. Idaho and 1,179 vs. Utah State.
- Dellena Criner, who recorded 19 points versus Idaho, has recorded seven 20-point games this season. For her career, she has recorded 22 20-point games and two 30-point games including a career-high 33 at Boise State in 2008.
- In Nevada’s eight WAC wins the team is shooting 64.3 percent (126-196) from the free throw line while the team is only shooting 58.5 percent (62-106) in the team’s six conference losses.
- Nevada is averaging 68.6 points per game in its 14 wins while only averaging 54.8 points per game in the team’s 13 losses.
- With two regular season conference games remaining, Nevada is two wins away from tying the program record for most WAC wins. The Pack won 10 conference games during the 2006-07 season as Nevada finished WAC play 10-6.
- The program record for most conference wins in a season is 10 set as both a member of the WAC (10-6 in 2006-07) as a a member of the Big Sky Conference (10-4 in 1997-98).
- Cherlanda Franklin has recorded 37 blocks this season and has moved into fourth all-time with 97 career blocks. April Bankston (2001-05) is third all-time with 102 and Katie Golomb (1998-02) is first all-time with 121.
- Nevada is 10-3 at home this season and Nevada is 22-6 at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2007-08 season.
- Dellena Criner has recorded 1,553 career points and is fourth on Nevada’s all-time list. She became just the fourth player in history to record at least 1,500 career points. Dawn Pitman (1986-1990) is third all-time with 1,654 career points.
- Nevada has held five opponents this season to 50 points or under this season. The Pack has held four of its five opponents to 50 points or under during a span from January 14 - February 1, 2009.
- Cherlanda Franklin, who recorded a career-high seven blocks against Fresno State, is tied for second in the single-game record for blocks in a game. The record for blocks in a game is eight set by Katie Golomb in 2001.
- Nevada went undefeated (6-0) during the month of January marking the first time in program history a team went through a month undefeated.
- The Pack has outrebounded or tied its opponents in rebounding in 18 games this season including the last eight straight from January 8 - February 6. The Pack has outrebounded its opponents in the following games: Eastern Washington, BYU, UNLV, St. Mary’s, Northern Iowa, #7 Louisville, Santa Clara, vs. La Tech, vs. New Mexico State at Utah State, at Hawai`i, at SJSU, vs. Boise State, vs. SJSU, vs. Fresno State, at NMSU, vs. Idaho, at Fresno State.)
- Brandi Jones, who recorded one steal at Boise State, has recorded 211 career steals. Jones became just the third player in program history to record at least 200 career steals. She joined teammate Dellena Criner, the all-time leader in steals (260) and Traci Graham (237 steals, 2003-05).
- First-year head coach Jane Albright became the all-time winningist first-year head coach with the Pack’s win over San Jose State on February 1. Albright, who is 14-13 this season, passed Julie Hickey who recorded 12 wins (12-15 overall) during her first season as head coach during the 1982-83 season.
- Dellena Criner has made the most free throws of any player in the conference (139) and has attempted the most free throws in the WAC (170). She also leads the league in assists (4.48 apg) and is second in steals (2.30 spg).
- Both Brandi Jones and Cherlanda Franklin both cracked the top-10 in career rebounding. Franklin (575 career rebounds) is seventh all-time while Jones (570 career rebounds) is ninth all-time. Katie Golomb (1998-02) is eighth all-time with 571.
- Nevada’s game against New Mexico State, where Cherlanda Franklin recorded 15 rebounds and Brandi Jones grabbed 11, marked the first time since March 8, 2005 that the Pack had two players finish the game with double-digits in rebounds (Amber Young 11 rebounds and Jessica Preslar 10 rebounds).
- Five players have led for been tied for the team lead in rebounds this season. Cherlanda Franklin has led Nevada in rebounding 12 times, Shavon Moore 10 times, Brandi Jones eight times, Dellena Criner once and Marissa Hammond once.
- Four players have also led or been tied for the team lead in scoring this season. Dellena Criner has led the team in scoring 18 times, Brandi Jones five times, Johnna Ward three times and Cherlanda Franklin once.
- Nevada has had two games this season with five players scoring in double figures. Brandi Jones scored 14 points, Cherlanda Franklin added 13 points while Marissa Hammond scored 11 and Johnna Ward and Dellena Criner each scored 10 in Nevada’s win at Santa Clara. Nevada also had five players in double figures in Nevada’s win over St. Mary’s (Brandi Jones 17; Johnna Ward 17; Dellena Criner 14; Cherlanda Franklin 14 and Marissa Hammond 11).
- Nevada has had six 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. Nevada also attempted more free throws (23-of-28) than #7 Louisville took (14-of-16) and the Pack made 16 free throws against Santa Clara while the Broncos only attempted 14. The Pack made 22 free throws at Hawaii while the Rainbow Wahine only attempted 21 free throws. Nevada made 26 free throws on 41 attempts versus San Jose State while the Spatrans made 2-of-6.
Criner Named a Candidate for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award
Senior point guard Dellena Criner has been selected as one of the 30 national candidates for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
The award is presented annually to the presented annually to an NCAA Division I student-athlete in nine sports. The award is based on criteria focusing on the “Four C’s” of classroom, character, community and competition, the award winners will be selected by national balloting of head basketball coaches, national media and college basketball fans.
Criner is a four-year starter for the women’s basketball team. She is a team captain this season and has become one of the best players in program history. This season she was named WAC Preseason Player of the Year and became Nevada’s all-time leader in steals against Utah State on January 14. She has started all 27 games this year and leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.6 points per game.
During her career, Criner has participated in numerous community service events during her career including the Renown Pediatric unit, Race for the Cure and Habitat for Humanity.
Criner has maintained a 3.01 cumulative GPA in accounting and has been named to the WAC All-Academic Team all three years. Criner is the only nominee from the WAC.
Criner is the third student-athlete at Nevada to be named a Lowe’s Senior CLASS candidate in the past year. Women’s basketball player Andrea Sitton was a candidate last season while soccer player Patrice Godwin was named a candidate this fall.
Collect all 14 University of Nevada Basketball Player Trading Cards
At each home game this season, fans will have the opportunity to collect trading cards featuring each member of the 2008-09 team. Each player will have a trading card night and after the game that player will be available at the marketing table in front of the band to sign their cards. A game-by-game list is below:
Date Game Player(s)
11/28/08 Northern Iowa Kayla Williams, Brittany Woodard
11/29/08 #7 Louisville Megan Cherry
12/21/08 UC Riverside Amanda Johnson
1/8/08 La Tech Marissa Hammond
1/10/08 New Mexico State Marianne Lombardi
1/30/09 Boise St. Kayla Williams, Brittany Woodard
2/1/09 San Jose State Johnna Ward
2/6/09 Fresno State Shavon Moore
2/8/09 Utah State Nicole Williams
2/19/09 Idaho Jennifer Gross
3/7/09 Hawai`i Dellena Criner, Brandi Jones, Bre'Anna Henry, Cherlanda Franklin
Albright Records Career Victory Number 400
Nevada head coach Jane Albright recorded her 400th career victory on November 28 as Nevada beat Northern Iowa. 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. To date, Albright has recorded 411 career wins. She has earned 14 at Nevada, 48 at Wichita State, 161 at Wisconsin and 188 at Northern Illinois.
Nevada Versus Ranked Opponents
Since joining the WAC in 2000, Nevada has played six games versus top-25 opponents, with four games coming against WAC opponent La Tech and two games coming in non-conference play this season at Cal and versus Louisville. 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 1-6 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 beat #7/8 Louisville in the Nugget Classic on November 29.
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 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 05 and 06, indoor track and field in 01 and 02, baseball in 07, men’s golf in 07, soccer in 06 and 08 and women’s golf in 01.
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 closeout the regular season at home Hawai`i on March 7 at 2 p.m. on Senior Day.
