Pariseau returns for visit
This weekend may be bittersweet for Reagan Pariseau, but she’s only looking at the sweet part.
The Arizona State senior and Central Valley grad makes her last Washington trip with the Sun Devils’ women’s basketball team this week and she plans to enjoy it.
“It’s bittersweet for sure,” the 5-foot-5 guard said. “Not a lot of kids even get to play at home like I do every year. It’s fun to be in your hometown, play in front of your family and friends. I’m sad it’s the last time, but at the same time it’s been fun. It’s a blast.”
Pariseau tends to look at the season the same way. After a magical run last season, the Sun Devils were ranked 12th in the preseason. They haven’t come up with a big win against any of the six ranked teams they’ve faced and are 11-7 overall, 4-2 in the Pac-10.
“The record we have now is not up to our standards,” she said. “I’m not going to lie, it’s a little disappointing and frustrating. But at the same time, there are a lot of games left to be won. We have to keep playing and adjusting, trying to get better every day.”
Slow starts have hurt the Sun Devils. Eighth-ranked Cal raced to a 16-0 lead last Thursday and held on for a 64-51 win. Pariseau saw positives, although seventh-ranked Stanford rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to win 60-56 on Sunday.
“It felt like we made the improvements we’ve been talking about for so long,” she said. “We came out firing from the get-go. That felt good, like the Sun Devil basketball we know. The best thing is to build on it, take a step forward, not backward.”
ASU plays at Washington on Thursday night, practices at CV on Friday and plays at Washington State on Saturday afternoon.
Pariseau, who graduates this spring with a major in kinesiology but will consider overseas basketball, is going to savor the trip, just like she has enjoyed her career since following former Spokane Stars teammates Emily Westerberg (CV) and Aubree Johnson (Post Falls) to Arizona.
“Once Emily and Aubree were being recruited, when I first heard about Arizona State, I knew it was something special,” she said. “They were on the brink of breaking into a top national team and I wanted to be part of it – not to mention the great weather and ASU is a great school. It was the total package.”
With Westerberg and Johnson as senior co-captains, ASU went 31-5 last year and reached the Elite Eight.
“The natural progression is to take the next step, but we haven’t done that,” Pariseau said. “You can’t let it get you down. You have to realize it’s a new year, a new team. … I miss (them) as teammates and friends, but they’re on to the next chapter of their lives.”
Now Pariseau and junior guard Briann January (Lewis and Clark High) are team leaders. Pariseau’s big issue has been the first injuries of her career, two concussions and a sprained ankle. She missed a couple of games but is back in the starting lineup. She has started 81 of 117 career games, averaging about four points with an outstanding assists-to-turnovers ratio of 279-172.
“I couldn’t be happier,” she said. “The success I’ve been part of, making the NCAA (tournament) every year, a lot of student athletes can’t say that. I think it’s pretty special.”
Tip-ins
There is another homecoming in the West Coast Conference when Portland and Tara Cronin (Gonzaga Prep) visit Gonzaga on Saturday. Cronin is averaging 4.5 points in 12.8 minutes with three starts and has a 32-17 assists-to-turnovers ratio and 18 steals. … GU is 5-0 since Heather Bowman returned after missing five games with a broken hand. She needs one more game to officially lead the conference in scoring (19.4) and rebounding (8.6). … Portland coach Jim Sollars‘ first chance to set the conference record for wins (130) comes against his former assistant, GU coach Kelly Graves. … No. 8 Cal at No. 7 Stanford, which features the last three Pac-10 Player-of-the-Year winners, is on FSN at 2 p.m. Saturday. … Talisa Rhea, a freshman from Alaska, set an Oregon State record with eight 3-pointers against WSU on Saturday. Cougar Katie Appleton moved into eighth on the Cougars’ 3-point list (95). … Idaho State’s Natalie Doma scored 48 points last weekend to boost her career total to 1,964, tying Les Rohs of the men’s team for the all-time school record. She is 207 points behind Shannon Cate’s all-time Big Sky record. Doma also became the fourth player with 1,000 career rebounds and is 39 away from passing former Eagle Brenda Souther for third (1,044). … Idaho sophomore Katie Madison has 13 double-doubles and 17 20-plus scoring games in 43 career games. … Vandals coach Mike Divilbiss has 390 career wins, 80 at UI. … The Western Athletic Conference has three top 20 rebounders, led by Tanya Smith of Hawaii, ninth nationally at 11.2. … Home teams are 11-4 in WAC games. … Nevada started 3-0 in the WAC for the first time. … Sophomore Selena Levitt (CV) has started every game, averaging 5.9 points in 25 minutes, for 15-2 Eastern Oregon, which was ranked in the top 20 in the latest NAIA poll. Alyssa Garro, a freshman from Pullman, is averaging 1.6 points in 7.6 minutes. … It took a 3-pointer from freshman Angie Bjorklund (University) with less than 4 minutes remaining against Kentucky for Tennessee to extend its streak to 318 games with a 3. In the next game Bjorklund took just three shots and didn’t score, prompting a comment from Vols’ coach Pat Summitt: “We will watch it on tape. She is playing too many minutes not to be hunting for shots. She is a shooter, that’s why she is in the lineup. Angie better find her some shots.”