Jan. 31, 2005
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A 20 Year Reunion Worth Attending
Twenty years ago, the University of Iowa and Ohio State packed Carver Hawkeye Arena to make women's basketball history. On February 3, 1985, the Hawkeyes shattered the NCAA and Big Ten Conference attendance records when 22,157 fans squeezed into the 15,500 seat venue. The Hawkeyes lost the game to Ohio State, 56-47. The 20-year-old mark is currently the 10th highest attendance total in League history, as it is technically listed at 14,821 -- the amount of paid attendance. The 22,157 total attendance mark is still over 5,000 more than the League's official top-mark of 17,142, set on January 20, 2002, when Wisconsin traveled to Minnesota.
Big Ten Rivals Square Off Sunday on FSN Television
This Sunday, Penn State travels to Purdue for a 1 p.m. CT tip-off in a game which will be televised live on FSN Chicago and tape delayed on FSN Detroit, FSN North and FSN Ohio. Prior to Sunday's game, Purdue hosts Illinois on Thursday, while Penn State travels to Michigan. Ohio State, which is tied with the Lady Lions for the Conference lead, will play its lone game of the week on Sunday at home against Indiana.
Big Ten Nearly Lands Six Teams in Coaches Top 25 Poll
In last week's national polls (AP / USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Coaches Poll), the Big Ten was just seven votes shy of being represented by six teams in the Coaches poll, while four squads were ranked by the AP. Ohio State was No. 3/3, while Minnesota was No. 10/12 and Michigan State was No. 11/11. Penn State jumped back into the polls for the first time since November 28 at No. 22/23, while Purdue was ranked No. 24 by the Coaches and was receiving votes along with Iowa in the AP poll. The Hawkeyes fell seven votes shy of the No. 25 spot in the Coaches poll.
Five League Squads Rank Among Nation's Top 15 RPI
In the latest WBCA/Summerville RPI Ratings, the Big Ten ranks third in Conference RPI average (.588) and fifth in overall RPI (.581), while five League teams rank among the nation's top 20. Ohio State holds an overall RPI rating of .657, which is fifth best in the nation, followed by No. 6 Michigan State (.655). Penn State (.637) is 12th, while Minnesota (.630) ranks 16th and Iowa (.625) is 19th. In overall strength of schedule, Penn State is third at .660, while Northwestern (.635) is 11th and Purdue (.630) is 14th.
Welcome to the "Club"
This past week, seven Big Ten student-athletes turned in impressive outings that earned them membership into career-point clubs. Penn State's Tanisha Wright eclipsed the 1,800-point mark, while Minnesota's Janel McCarville and Penn State's Jess Strom surpassed the 1,600 and 1,300-point marks, respectively. Illinois' Tiffanie Guthrie and Northwestern's Sarah Kwasinski joined the 1,200-point club, while Michigan State's Lindsay Bowen (1,100) and Kristin Haynie (1,000) each had milestone weeks as well.
A Grand Old Milestone
Thirteen Big Ten student-athletes are currently members of the 1,000-point club, including three -- Indiana's Cyndi Valentin, Iowa's Jamie Cavey and Michigan State's Kristin Haynie -- that eclipsed the mark in the past two weeks. The following is a list of the current players who have accomplished the feat in their career and one Big Ten student-athlete who is quickly approaching the 1,000-point mark.
Player, School ... Total
Tanisha Wright, PSU ... 1,830
Janel McCarville, MINN ... 1,609
Angelina Williams, ILL ... 1,466
Caity Matter, OSU ... 1,375
Jess Strom, PSU ... 1,302
Tabitha Pool, MICH ... 1,276
Tiffanie Guthrie, ILL ... 1,213
Sarah Kwasinski, NU ... 1,210
Kelli Roehrig, MSU ... 1,179
Lindsay Bowen, MSU ... 1,117
Cyndi Valentin, IND ... 1,044
Jamie Cavey, IOWA ... 1,035
Kristin Haynie, MSU ... 1,010
Liz Shimek, MSU ... 937
Big Ten Women's Basketball Attracting More Fans in 04-05
Big Ten Women's Basketball is attracting more fans nationwide than last year. Currently, the League boasts an all-game total of 655,898 fans through 173 games, which is over 48,000 better than last season's 173-game total. The Conference is also ahead of its record-breaking marks for home attendance, which were set last year.
Six League Teams Rank in Top 25 in Attendance
In the latest unofficial attendance rankings compiled by the University of Wisconsin, six Big Ten teams average in the nation's top 25. Purdue is fifth with an average of 8,406, while Penn State (8,137) is sixth and Minnesota (7,979) is seventh. Wisconsin (5,858) ranks 14th, followed by No. 18 Michigan State (5,081) and No. 23 Iowa (3,933). Ohio State ranks just outside the top 25 in 29th at 3,639.
Four League Stars Named to Midseason Wooden Watch
Four Big Ten student-athletes have been selected among the top 20 women's basketball players to the Wooden Award Midseason All-America Team selected by the John R. Wooden Award National Advisory Board. Michigan State's Lindsay Bowen, Minnesota's Janel McCarville, Ohio State's Jessica Davenport and Penn State's Tanisha Wright were named to the second annual Midseason Team on January 24. In March, the Wooden Award Committee will release the official voting ballot, consisting of the top 10-15 players. See page eight of the release for more details.
Penn State's Strom Sets Big Ten Free-Throw Record
With her 15-of-15 performance from the free-throw line against Minnesota on Sunday, Penn State's Jess Strom joined 22 other League players who have recorded a perfect 1.000 percentage at the line in a minimum of 11 attempts. Strom's performance was the best by any player on the list, bettering Northwestern's Megan Chawansky's 14-of-14 streak against Ohio State on January 11, 1998. Strom is the first Big Ten standout to hit 15 free throws in a game since Purdue's Shereka Wright went for a Big Ten record 16 against Penn State on January 16, 2003. Strom's 15-of-15 mark is the second best in the nation this season, behind Idaho's Leilani Mitchell's 20-of-20 mark versus UC Santa Barbara on January 8.
Ohio State's Davenport Records 30-30 Last Week
Jessica Davenport posted a career high 36 points last week at Wisconsin, which marked the most points scored by a Big Ten student-athlete since Michigan's Jennifer Smith had 37 versus Charlotte on December 3, 2003. After her 32 points against Illinois on Sunday, the Buckeye center became the first Big Ten player to record back-to-back 30-point games since Minnesota's Lindsay Whalen when she scored 31 at Virginia (12/29/03) and 32 at home versus Michigan (1/1/04). Davenport is also the first to record 30 points in consecutive Big Ten games since Penn State's Kelly Mazzante scored 33 at home against Iowa (1/9/03) and 31 at Northwestern (1/12/03).
Big Ten Ranks Among NCAA Leaders
In the latest NCAA report (1/25/05), issued each week on Tuesdays, seven student-athletes and seven teams rank in the top 15 in their respective categories. Ohio State's Caity Matter is 10th overall with a .458 three-point field goal percentage, while Michigan State's Lindsay Bowen ranks 12th at .447. The Spartans' Kristin Haynie is 12th with 3.5 steals per game, while Ohio State's Jessica Davenport ranks 15th with 2.8 blocks per game. Penn State's Tanisha Wright is 13th with a 20.2 scoring average. Ohio State's Brandie Hoskins is 13th in field goal percentage at .592, followed by Iowa's Jamie Cavey in 14th at .588. Ohio State is second in field goal percentage (.515), while Penn State ranks second in free throw percentage at .786, followed by OSU in fourth at .772.
League Scoring Title Narrowing to Three Player Race?
At the halfway point of the Conference season, three Big Ten student-athletes have begun to pull away in their chase for the League's scoring title. Currently, Ohio State sophomore Jessica Davenport leads the Conference with 21.1 points per game, while Penn State senior Tanisha Wright (20.4) and Illinois senior Angelina Williams (19.8) follow. The last Buckeye to lead the League in scoring was Katie Smith with 21.2 ppg during the 1994-95 season. The following year, Ashley Berggren netted 27.5 ppg for Illinois, marking the last time an Illini player has led the Conference in scoring. Wright is looking to return the title to State College after Kelly Mazzante won the crown in 2000-01 (19.7), 2001-02 (25.1) and 2002-03 (22.2), before being dethroned by Purdue's Shereka Wright (21.4) last year.
Wolverines Join National Sports Celebration
The Michigan women's basketball program will be an active participant with National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) when the Wolverines host Minnesota on February 6 (2 p.m.) at Crisler Arena. The 2005 NGWSD celebration will take place on February 9 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., with the celebration game taking place three days earlier in Ann Arbor, Mich. NGSWD is sponsored and supported by six national organizations which serve girls and women, including Girl Scouts of the USA, which is partnering with Michigan through Girl Scout of the Huron Valley Council to bring this event to Ann Arbor.
Celebrating 10 Years of the Big Ten Tournament in Indy
Celebrating its 10th year of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, the League office will highlight 10 great Tourney moments throughout the season, which began on the first day of Conference play, December 30. Over the 10-week period, bigten.org will feature a new moment every Thursday leading up to March 3 -- the opening day of the 2005 Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. For this week's moment, check out bigten.org or page nine.
