Women’s notebook
Women’s notebook
Pac-10
League play begins next week, starting with the Bay Area schools going to Los Angeles on Wednesday. WSU plays its final tune-up today against visiting Northwestern State and plays at Oregon on Thursday. … Cal, which was shooting 43 percent through nine games last year, is at 49.5 percent. USC has upped its free-throw shooting from 60.6 percent to 77.5 percent. … League teams had a 34-8 home record heading into the final week of non-league games, which featured eight home games. … ASU’s Emily Westerberg was seventh in the league in scoring at 16.1 per game and just became the 17th Sun Devil to surpass 1,000 points for her career. … ASU is playing Texas Tech outside at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamond Backs, on Monday. Tennessee played there on Dec. 27, 2000, drawing 16,282 fans.
West Coast
The league was 24th in the RPI last season but is No. 9 so far this season. Pepperdine leads the way at 75th. … Saturday’s game against No. 21 Marquette was Gonzaga’s fifth against Top 25 teams. … San Diego had the best start in school history, going 5-0 in November. … Portland, which won four games last season, is 7-4 this year, led by freshman Laiken Dollente, second in the league in scoring at 16.3. … Heidi Heintz, a freshman from Central Valley, had her first double-figure game for San Francisco last Sunday with 11 points against Boise State. Through nine games, Heintz was averaging 4.8 points and 3.1 rebounds in 17.1 minutes off the bench. … Freshman Heather Bowman was just the seventh Gonzaga player to score at least 31 points in a game. The 32-point outing against Eastern ties current assistant Jennifer Mountain for sixth on the all-time list.
Big Sky
With a 5-4 record, Montana State is off to its best start in 11 years. … Northern Colorado faces No. 3 Oklahoma today. … Joanna Chadd of Eastern is fourth in the league in scoring but is the top senior at 16.1. Montana sophomore Mandy Morales leads at 20.6. EWU’s Katy Baker is second in rebounds but is the top sophomore at 7.8. ISU junior Natalie Doma leads at 9.0. Morales also leads the league in assists at 5.7. … The Eagles lead the league in rebounding at 41 a game, including 15 on the offensive end. … The Big Sky is No. 24 in the RPI out of 29 conferences, even with Montana checking in at No. 12. The Grizzlies are 28th in strength of schedule. Eastern is 306 in the RPI, 289 in strength of schedule out of 335 teams. … Unlike the men, the women start league play the first week of January.
Western Athletic
Idaho freshman Katie Madison leads the league in scoring (19.3) and rebounding (9.6). Teammate Jessica Summers is third in assists (3.14) and fourth in rebounding (7.7). … Boise State (7-3) entered the past week with a four-game winning streak and was the only team above .500. … Fresno State senior guard Jasmine Marshall has left the team to be with her husband, Richard Marshall, who plays for the Carolina Panthers. … Louisiana Tech’s Dec. 30th game against LSU is the Katrina Relief Classic.
Dave Trimmer