Women's Basketball Travels to Los Angeles
January 6, 1999
Corvallis, Ore. -
SCHEDULE: OSU (9-2, 1-1) at UCLA (9-4, 1-0), Jan. 8 OSU (9-2, 1-1) at USC (5-6, 1-1), Jan. 10 SITES: OSU-UCLA, Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA OSU-USC, Lyon, Los Angeles, CA TIMES: OSU-UCLA, 7:00 p.m. PST OSU-USC, 2:00 p.m. PST RADIO: Live over KLOO (1340 AM) in Corvallis TV: NonePROBABLE STARTERS OSU (9-2, 1-1) STARTERS: F-Tammy Arnold, 6-3, JR, 10.0, 6.2 F-Felicia Ragland, 5-9, FR, 6.5, 4.3 C-Sissel Pierce, 6-4, JR, 12.2, 6.6 G-Chassie Wiersma, 5-11, FR, 7.1, 3.7 G-Cherrith Wiersma, 5-9, FR, 4.8, 2.5
UCLA (10-4, 2-0) F-Marie Philman, 6-0, JR, 11.1, 4.6 F-Maylana Martin, 6-3, JR, 17.7, 10.3 C-Janae Hubbard, 6-4, JR, 13.6, 8.2 G-Erica Gomez, 5-9, JR, 7.4, 2.4 G-LaCresna Flannigan, 5-7, SO, 10.7, 3.4
USC (5-6, 1-1) F-Tashara Carter, 6-0, SO, 7.0, 5.4 F-Tiffany Washington, 6-2, JR, 8.3, 6.5 C-Adrain Williams, 6-4, SR, 16.0, 9.8 G-Tiffany Elmore, 5-10, FR, 12.9, 4.2 G-Camille Norwood, 5-8, FR, 1.8, 0.9
RADIO: All regular season Oregon State womens basketball games, home and away, will be carried live over KLOO (1340 AM). Air time is 6:45 p.m. for the OSU-UCLA game and 1:45 p.m. for the OSU-USC game with KEXs Nate Lundy calling the action.
RANKINGS: Oregon State received eight votes on the AP poll last week, but did not receive any votes this week. UCLA is ranked 10th on AP and 11th on the USA Today poll. USC is not ranked.
STREAKS: (Overall) Oregon State is currently on a one-game winning streak overall. The Beavers seven-game winning streak, the longest since the 1995-96 season, was snapped by Stanford last Saturday. OSU posted an 8-1 preseason record, the same preseason record recorded by the 1995-96 team. This years OSU team lost its second game of the season to Colorado State, currently ranked ninth in the nation, while the 1995-96 edition also lost its second game of the season to a ranked team, Connecticut. (Home) OSU is on a one-game Gill Coliseum winning streak. The Beavers have won 36 of their last 52 (.692) games played at Gill Coliseum. Over the last six seasons OSU is 54-21 (.720) at Gill Coliseum. (Road) OSU is on a four-game road winning streak. (Pac-10) OSU is on a one-game Pac-10 winning streak, having defeated California 54-52 on Monday. The Beavers have lost 12 straight Pac-10 road games. The last OSU Pac-10 road victory was over Washington State, 67-60, in 1996-97.
NON-CONFERENCE RECORD: Oregon State has an all-time non-conference record of 215-103 (since 1977) for a .676 percentage.
SPOELSTRA RECORD: Judy Spoelstra (Oregon State, 83) is in her fourth season as OSUs head coach. Spoelstra is 46-48 (.489) in four seasons at OSU and she is 144-116 (.554) in 10 seasons as a collegiate head coach, her first six being at Montana State.
SPOELSTRA RADIO SHOW: Coach Spoelstra will have a live one-hour radio show during the season on Tuesday nights over KLOO (1340 AM) with Nate Lundy serving as the host. The next show will air live from 6 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 12, at the Headline Cafe at 3rd and Jefferson in Corvallis.
JANUARY SCHEDULE: The Beavers January schedule follows:
Jan. 8 at UCLA 7:00 PST Jan. 10 at USC 2:00 PST Jan. 15 WASHINGTON STATE 7:05 PST Jan. 17 WASHINGTON 1:05 PST Jan. 21 at Arizona State 6:00 PST Jan. 23 at Arizona 6:00 PSTDOUBLE-DOUBLES: Sissel Pierce picked up her first double-double of the season and sixth career double-double with a 16 point, 10 rebound performance at Idaho State. Freshman Chassie Wiersma got Beaver career off to a fast start in 1998-99 by producing a double-double (16 points and 12 rebounds) in her first collegiate game in OSUs 71-67 victory over San Diego State. The Beavers added a pair of double-doubles while winning their own Corvallis Gazette-Times Classic Tournament. Freshman Felicia Ragland added her first collegiate double-double against Eastern Washington and Tammy Arnold followed with her first OSU double-double in the championship game against UC Irvine.
OSU-UCLA SERIES: Oregon State and UCLA have played 31 times previously and the Bruins hold a 21-10 edge in the overall series, including a current winning streak of five games. The last Beaver victory was 82-70 at Gill Coliseum in 1996. The last time OSU defeated UCLA in Los Angeles was 83-62 in 1994. Since then, the Beavers have lost four straight at Pauley Pavilion.
OSU-USC SERIES: USC leads the overall series 21-7, including a current one-game winning streak overall. The Trojans have won three straight in Los Angeles. The last Beaver victory in Los Angeles was 69-56 in 1995. OSU and USC split last years series with the Beavers winning 57-52 at Gill Coliseum and the Trojans winning 80-68 in Los Angeles.
3-POINTERS: Oregon State is shooting .322 as a team from 3-point range, having connected on 39 of 121 attempts, including a 6 of 9 shooting game at Montana in its best effort of the season. The Beavers are on a streak of 47 straight games in which they have made a 3-point shot. OSU had a school record streak of 71 straight stopped by Arizona State on 1/25/97 at Corvallis. Guards Syesha Thomas (3-6), Chassie Wiersma (3-6), Vanessa Morris (13-32) and Cherrith Wiersma (7-20) are the leaders in 3-point shooting percentage for the Beavers. Vanessa Morris has shot the most 3-pointers (32) and made the most (13).
BLOCKED SHOTS: Junior center Sissel Pierce has blocked a short in nine of 11 games this year and leads OSU with 20 on the season. Sissel has 76 career blocks, which places her seventh on the Beavers all-time chart. Her next stop on the career chart is Debbie Dalluge, who is in sixth place with 89. OSUs career and season top 10 lists follow:
CAREER 1-Carol Menken-Schaudt (1979-81)143 2-Tanya Mothershed (1982-85) 128 3-Jan Martin (1980-83) 116 4-Brenda Arbuckle (1984-87) 115 5-Judy Shannon (1991-92) 92 6-Debbie Dalluge (1985-89) 89 7-Sissel Pierce (1997) 76CLIMBING THE 3-POINT CHART: Junior guard Vanessa Morris continues her climb up the OSU charts of career 3-point shots made and attempted. Morris is currently fourth in career 3-point attempts (190) and fourth in career 3-point shots made (62). Morris needs to make eight more 3-pointers to move up another notch on the career chart. Nicole McAllister is third in made 3-pointers (68) and in 3-point attempts (224). Career charts follow for 3-pointers:SEASON 1-Carol Menken-Schaudt (1981) 69 2-Carol Menken-Schaudt (1980) 52 3-Jan Martin (1983) 50 4-Brenda Arbuckle (1985) 47 5-Judy Shannon (1991) 46 Judy Shannon (1992) 46 Sissel Pierce (1998) 46
CAREER ATTEMPTS 1-Anette Mollerstrom (1993-96) 309 2-A.J. Dionne (1993-96) 289 3-Nicole McAllister (1995-98) 224 4-Vanessa Morris (1997) 190CAREER MADE 1-Anette Mollerstrom (1993-96) 113 2-A.J. Dionne (1993-96) 96 3-Nicole McAllister (1995-98) 68 4-Vanessa Morris (1997- 61
ASSIST RATIO: Oregon State has recorded assists on 160 of its 271 field goals made, a percentage of .590. Cherrith Wiersma is the team leader with 40, followed by Tammy Arnold (21), Vanessa Morris (20) and Chassie Wiersma (19).
TURNOVERS: Turnovers were a nemesis for OSU last year, but the Beavers have made constant improvement during the current season.. OSU has had less turnovers than its opponents in its last five of its last six outings. The Beavers averaged 23.8 a game and had a negative 3.15 turnover margin per game last year. Oregon State is taking much better care of the basketball this year as the Beavers are currently averaging 21.0 turnovers a game. Point guards Cherrith Wiersma (40 to 33) and Syesha Thomas (18 to 16) are the only Beaver players with a positive assist to turnover ratio. OSU is forcing an average of 22.5 turnovers a game and currently have a plus 1.5 turnover margin. DEFENSE: Defense has been the key to Oregon States success so far this season. The Beavers are 9-2 on the season and in all nine victories, OSU has held opponents to under a .400 shooting percentage from the field. Colorado State shot .583 against the Beavers and Stanford shot .525 in OSUs only defeats. The Beavers are averaging 11.0 steals a game, led by Felicia Ragland with 17 steals. A total of six OSU players have more than 10 steals. The Beavers have a team total of 52 blocked shots, an average of 4.7 per game, led by Sissel Pierce 20. OSU opponents are shooting .382 from the field and averaging 60.0 points per game. The Beavers rank third in the Pac-10 in scoring defense and second in field goal shooting defense. OSU is forcing an average of 22.5 turnovers a game.
REBOUNDING: Oregon State continues to be a strong rebounding team. The Beavers have out rebounded their opponents by a margin of 3.1 per game, which ranks third in the Pac-10. OSU has produced 168 offensive rebounds, compared to 153 by its opponents.
NOTES: Oregon State is currently on a four-game road winning streak, and the last time the Beavers won four straight on the road was during the 1995-96 season when OSU won five games in a row on the road...The Beavers came from being down at halftime in three straight road games--Montana, Idaho State and Portland--to win...OSU topped the 100-point mark against Eastern Washington on November 27, winning 100-54...it was the first time since 1995 that the Beavers have topped the century mark...OSU defeated California 101-76 at Corvallis in 1995 for its last 100-point game...it was the 10th time in history the Beavers have topped the 100-point barrier...in the latest Pac-10 statistics (through 1/4/99), Oregon State ranks in the upper half of most statistical categories, except free throw percentage, where the Beavers are last at .585...OSU is third best rebounding team in the Pac-10...the Beavers are fourth in field goal percentage (.439) and fifth in 3-point field goals (.322)...OSU was third in scoring defense (60.0) and second in defensive field goal percentage (.382)...Sissel Pierce is tied for second in the Pac-10 in blocked shots with 1.82 per game...Pierce is 16th in scoring and is tied for seventh in rebounding at 6.6 per game, and 10th in field goal shooting .519...teammate Tammy Arnold is 13th in rebounding (6.0)...Cherrith Wiersma is seventh in assists at 3.91 per game...Vanessa Morris is third in 3-point shooting (.406) and third in free throw shooting at .808.
CAREER HIGHS: Reda Kakeranaite had a career high 17 points vs. California and Syesha Thomas had a career high 8 assists vs. California...Sissel Pierce just missed her second double-double of the season with 14 points and 9 rebounds vs. California.
HEAD COACH JUDY SPOELSTRAS COMMENTS
ON PLAY VS. STANFORD AND CAL: "I am very pleased with our kids for getting a split during the weekend series. Some of our players needed to learn how physical they needed to be in the Stanford game. I think we turned around in 48 hours and did some things differently and handled some situations better against California. In any Pac-10 weekend you have to be able to bounce back very quickly and prepare for the next practice for the next game and, for the most part, we did a good job of that."
ON PERFORMANCE OF KAKERANAITE AND BROSTERHOUS OFF THE BENCH: "Redas athleticism definitely helps her in the Pac-10. She is a player that has good reaction and anticipation skills. That is where a lot her game comes from. She gets a few offensive rebounds and runs the floor very well. She drives to the basket very well and is willing to play hard on both ends of the floor. People tend to look at the stats and say she had a great game, but I am more impressed with her defensive effort in guarding Cals shooters out there. I thought Reda did a great job of following the game plan to a letter. Ericka has been more focused every day in practice and is doing better and better at approaching practices like games and preparing herself for games. Once we get her to a level of using her athleticism all over the court, offensively and defensively, she is going to be an outstanding player. Her contribution against California was huge, she really stepped up her game."
HAS YOUR DEPTH PAID OFF: "I think it has really paid off. It has certainly sent a message to all 11 of our players that they have to be prepared and ready to play. On any given night, our starters know there are people on the bench who can come in and get it done. That increases the level of intensity on our team. The thing that we are going to battle all year is the fact that every Pac-10 team can put more experience on the floor than we can."
ON UCLA AND USC: "They are both really good ball clubs. UCLA is obviously off to a great start and has a lot of confidence. UCLA also has a lot of weapons. They are big, fast and strong. We need to do the little things better and we cant afford to make mistakes against UCLA. USC will be tough at home. They (USC) has a lot of athleticism on their team and they are a good team. We lost a close game at their place last year and our kids will be excited about playing USC. Any where we go in the Pac-10 we will have a lot of new kids stepping into those arenas."
OSU PLAYER NOTES:
TAMMY ARNOLD: Tammy set out 1997-98 after transferring from Connecticut...she got her OSU career off to a bang with 16 points and 8 rebounds against San Diego State in the season opener...Tammy had an outstanding tournament for OSU in the Gazette-Times Classic and was named to the all-tourney team and was the MVP of the tourney after posting her first OSU career double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds in the championship game against UC Irvine...Tammy had two solid road games at Montana and Idaho State, combining for 25 points, 14 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and 2 steals...she continues to make big plays in the clutch and has been OSUs most consistent player thus far in the season. (SEASON NOTES)--Tammy is OSUs second-leading scorer with an 10.0 average and the second leading rebounding lead at 6.0...she is tied for second on the team in steals with 16...she is shooting .635 from the foul line and .379 from the field...she is leading OSU in minutes played with 27.4 per game average...she has scored in double figures in six of 11 games...she is second on the team in assists with 21.
ERICKA BROSTERHOUS: Ericka has played fantastic basketball for OSU as a backup center behind Sissel Pierce and at power forward...she has scored in all 11 games, including a career high 10 points at Montana with an outstanding second-half performance, and 10 points at Portland State in her last outing...she also picked off a season-high 6 rebounds in the Montana game. (SEASON NOTES)--Ericka is shootings .500 from the field and has scored 75 points (6.8 ppg) and pulled down 36 rebounds (3.3), blocked 10 shots, picked off 10 steals, while averaging 16.8 minutes per game...she is OSUs sixth-leading scorer.
REDA KAERANAITE: Reda, a junior college transfer, had her best outing of the season against California with a career-high 17 points...she also had a great outing at Colorado State and nearly pulled off a double-double as she produced 8 points and 11 rebounds...a poor showing the free throw line (3-8) stopped her from getting a double-double...Reda had a fantastic game off the bench at Portland, scoring 10 points and hitting 5 of 7 shots from the field...she helped to ignite OSUs second half comeback against Portland...she had another great outing at Portland State with 12 points off the bench... (SEASON NOTES)--Reda is averaging 7.5 points a game and 3.8 rebounds per game...she is OSUs third-leading scorer...she is shooting .486 from the field, but only .343 from the foul line...she has scored in double figures four of 11 games...she has great ability to drive to the basket and has tremendous quickness.
VANESSA MORRIS: Vanessa finished the 1998-99 season with six straight free throws made and she had a streak of 14 straight made, before missing her first attempt at Idaho State...she was eighth in the Pac-10 in free throw accuracy at .745 in 1998-99, and she has started this season even hotter...she is currently third in the Pac-10 at .808...(SEASON NOTES)-After a slow start from a shooting standpoint this season, Vanessa has found her eye once again...she had a fantastic shooting game at Montana when she scored 13 points off the bench in 15 minutes, hitting 4 of 6 attempts from the field, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range...Vanessa had another strong outing off the bench against Portland State, leading OSU in scoring with 13 points while hitting 3 of 5 from 3-point range...she has scored in double figures in back-to-back games once and three times this season...she is shooting only .328 from the field overall, but she is .406 from 3-point range and is leading OSU at the foul line with a .808 mark (21-26)...she is OSUs fifth-leading scorer (6.9)...(CAREER NOTES)--Vanessa is currently fourth on OSUs career list for 3-point field goal attempts with 190 and fourth on the career list with 61 made from 3-point range...Vanessa is shooting .743 from the charity stripe (133-179) and .321 from 3-point range...she has 153 career assists and 84 career steals.
SISSEL PIERCE: Sissel was bothered with a sore knee through the entire preseason and was very limited in preseason practice time...as a result, she started the season with limited minutes and her performance during preseason was no where near where she left off after her sophomore year...Sissel posted her first double-double of the season, a 16 point, 10 rebound game at Idaho State, and she was one rebound shy of a second straight double-double at Portland with 10 points and 9 rebounds and in her latest game with California with 14 points and 9 rebounds. (SEASON NOTES)-- Sissel had a string of 10 straight double figure scoring games stopped in the season opener with San Diego State when she was held to 7 points...she had her strongest outing of the season in the championship game of the Corvallis Gazette-Times Classic, scoring 22 points and pulling down 9 rebounds in 29 minutes to earn a berth on the all-tourney team...Sissel was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week following OSUs 59-55 victory over Long Beach State...in that game, Sissel hit all 7 shots from the field and both free throws and had 2 blocked shots...Sissel has scored in double figures in eight of 11 games....she is leading OSU in scoring and rebounding with a 12.2 scoring average and 6.6 rebound average...she has blocked 20 shots in seven games, the second best mark...she has blocked a shot in nine of 11 games...she is shooting .519 from the field...she is averaging only 20.3 minutes a game, while nursing a sore knee. (CAREER NOTES)--Sissel had a string of nine straight games in which she had blocked a shot stopped against Eastern Washington...she has blocked a shot in 16 of her last 18 games...she has 76 career blocks, which puts her seventh on OSUs all-time list...Sissel is shooting .540 (222-411) in her career and she has tallied 533 career points and 321 career rebounds...she has scored in double figures in 29 of 56 career games...she has scored in double figures in 18 of her last 20 games...Sissel has blocked a shot in 37 of 56 career games.
FELICIA RAGLAND: Felicia started against Colorado State (OSUs second game of the season) for her first collegiate start as a freshman...she has started 10 straight games and she produced her first career double-double, 14 points and 11 rebounds, in her second start against Eastern Washington...Felicia is coming off her best all-around game against California where she made two clutch 3-pointers in the final four minutes of the game. (SEASON NOTES)--Felicia is OSUs seventh-leading scorer with 6.5 average...she is shooting .671 from the field and .261 from 3-point range...she has pulled down 47 rebounds, including 19 offensive boards, for a 4.3 average, third best on the team...she has 17 steals and 14 assists...she has scored in double figures two times, including her last outing against California. 6-6-6
LEI SALEA: Lei had her game of the season against UC Irvine...she scored 4 points and pulled down 5 rebounds in the championship game of the Corvallis Gazette-Times Classic...(SEASON NOTES)--Lei has played in 10, started one game, and has averaged 11.1 minutes a game...she has scored 14 points and pulled down 19 rebounds, added 3 steals and 2 blocked shots and has played strong defense...(CAREER NOTES)--Lei has played in 36 games and started 5 in her OSU career...she has produced 84 points, 102 rebounds, 18 assists and 22 steals, while shooting .492 from the field...she is averaging 2.3 points and 2.8 rebounds a game.
SYESHA THOMAS: Syesha had the best scoring game of her career against Eastern Washington, scoring a career-high 11 points and 4 steals...she had a very strong performance at Portland when she gave the Beavers a huge spark off the bench and scored 5 points, including a 3-pointer, but it was her defense and pushing the ball up the court at point guard that stood out...Syesha had a career high 8 assists in OSUs win over California in a career-long 30-minutes played (SEASON NOTES)--Syesha has played in all 11 games and is currently the backup point guard to Cherrith Wiersma...she has scored 29 points and is shooting .526 from the field, and .500 (3-6) from 3-point range...she has 18 assists and 7 steals, while averaging 12.9 minutes a game...(CAREER NOTES)--Syesha has played in 33 games in her OSU career and has scored 35 points and has had 41 assists and 13 steals.
TANESHA WADE: Taneshas best game this season has been against Eastern Washington when she contributed 4 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal...(SEASON NOTES)--Tanesha has played in eight games and started one, San Diego State...she did not play on the Montana and Idaho State road games due to illness...she is averaging 1.8 points and 1.4 rebounds a game in 64 minutes of action...(CAREER NOTES)--Tanesha has played in 33 career games and started 5...she is averaging 4.2 points and 2.9 rebounds a game, while shooting .565 from the field.
CHASSIE WIERSMA: Chassie got her OSU career off with a great start, producing a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) in her very first collegiate game...Chassie added 15 points and 8 rebounds against Colorado State...Chassie added 17 points, 4 assists and 4 steals on OSUs road swing to Montana and Idaho State. (SEASON NOTES) --Chassie has started all 11 games this season...Chassie has scored in double figures four times...she is OSUs fourth-leading scorer, averaging 7.1 points and 3.7 rebounds...Chassie also has 19 assists, 16 steals and 4 blocked shots...she has been a consistent shooter all year and is hitting .492 percent of her shots from the field and is shooting .500 (3-6) from 3-point range and .682 (15-22) from the foul line...she has had only one bad shooting game this season, a 1-7 game at Portland.
CHERRITH WIERSMA: Cherrith, along with her twin sister Chassie, has made a big impact as a Beaver...Cherrith has been OSUs starting point guard as a freshman and has started all 11 games...she had her best two back-to-back games on OSUs road swing to Montana and Idaho State...she scored 18 points, had 9 assists and 4 steals...she had a season and career high 10 points vs. Idaho State, all coming in the first five minutes of the second half when the Beavers started the half on a 15-0 run to overcome a four-point half-time deficit...she hit all four of her 3-point attempts on the road trip...(SEASON NOTES)--Cherrith is second on the team in minutes played, averaging 267.3 minutes per game...she is averaging 4.8 points per game and leads OSU with 40 assists...she has 16 steals...she is shooting .409 from the field, .350 from 3-point range and .833 from the foul line, plus has played great defense...she has committed only 33 turnovers as a point guard.
