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All they want for Christmas
By Maureen Mullen, Special to CNNSI.com A win against a top 25 powerhouse looks to be at the top of every Christmas list in Pac-10 women's basketball this season. While the conference women are continuing to rack up wins against less-renowned clubs, they are struggling to tally wins against college basketball's big dogs. No team feels the weight of a tough Christmas break schedule more than Stanford. After a looking promising in a close loss over Tennessee last Sunday, the Cardinal faced nothing short of a disaster when in took the floor against No. 8 Purdue two days later, getting crushed 60-90. With games against No. 23 Utah and No. 22 Oklahoma coming up this week, the Cardinal wouldn't mind adding a few winning ornaments to its tree to beef up its record and prestige before Conference play begins. The Women of Troy faced some similar difficulties in their pre-holiday match-ups against Baylor and No. 10 Texas Tech. While the return of freshman Aisha Hollans from injury has given USC some fresh offensive firepower, the newcomer's 28 points between the two games wasn't enough to overcome either of these tough squads in the Lonestar State. Like the Cardinal, things don't get any easier for the Women of Troy as they face No. 3 Notre Dame on December 28. Oregon certainly knows what it is like to face top-ranked opponents, playing perhaps the nation's toughest schedule this season. The comforts of home were long overdue for the Ducks, who returned home after three road losses against ranked opponents, to post a comfortable win over UC-Santa Barbara. Jenny Mowe led Oregon with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Her season mark of 68.3 percent from the field is on record to break both the Oregon and Pac-10 single-season record at this stage in the game. "I feel like we turned things around," Mowe said. "We came into the game feeling like the season might be going down the tubes. We practiced hard and it showed in our game. The attitude was that we would not lose to this team. I decided before the game started, I would block out, rebound and really be a presence in the key."
Tournament triumphsBoth Washington and Arizona put up impressive performances in holiday tournaments this past week. The Huskies posted their fifth and sixth straight wins to capture the Seattle Times Classic Title. Meanwhile in tropical Puerto Rico the Wildcats went 2-1 for Runner-up honors in the San Juan Shootout.Freshman Giulana Mendiola continued to put up impressive performances for Washington this week, averaging 18.5 points in their two wins over James Madison and Loyola Marymount. Mendiola's performance was good enough for tournament MVP honors. Teammates Megan Franza and LeAnn Sheets joined her on the all-tournament team. Perhaps it was the setting, or the fact that exams were finally complete, whatever the cause, Arizona looked to be on the top of its game this weekend. After just narrowly missing an upset against No. 9 Auburn, falling 69-66, the Wildcats came back to post an impressive 64-point victory over Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and another win over Nebraska. "I thought the Auburn contest was really a great game. We played hard and showed a lot of poise while playing a quality top 10 team," said coach Joan Bonvicin. " Reshea Bristol played well, and our bench really stepped up. This was a great team effort. We came up short, but this experience will only make us better." The Wildcats were playing without the ammunition of leading scorer, freshman Veranda James who was forced to remain in Tucson to tend to academic concerns. With all five starters, including James averaging double figures in the scoring column and at least five boards per game, Bonvicini's Wildcats promise to be one of the top conference competitors this year. Bruin's lifted by multi-sport stars While sophomore Nicole Kaczmarski is no longer returning to the Bruin ranks after announcing her transfer to Georgia, UCLA has received some mid-season talent that will hopefully boost its vanquished record. Kristee Porter first hit the court for the Bruins in this week's losses to Old Dominion and Ohio State after helping the UCLA volleyball squad reach the NCAA regional final. Porter posted 19 points and 13 rebounds over the two games this week, giving the Michelle Greco -one-woman-scoring-effort a much-needed break. In addition to basketball and volleyball, Porter was a Pac-10 qualifier for UCLA track team in the triple jump. Freshman Whitney Jones joins Porter on the multi-sport front. Jones joined the basketball squad after starting for the national runner-up Bruin soccer team at midfielder this fall. She is still finding her game, coming up with an impressive 11-point performance against Old Dominion on 3-for-4 shooting.
Injury reportOregon's Brianne Meharry sat out in the Ducks win over UCSB with a severe ankle sprain sustained in the Utah Contest. Meharry has provided a strong inside presence for Oregon all season, however has struggled with foul trouble fouling out of four contests. She is slated for tentative return in Oregon's December 30 game against San Francisco.
ASU shoots for attendance recordComing off a 80-44 win over Cal State Northridge, the Sun Devils host No. 2 Tennessee on December 27 in the AstraZeneca Hoops for Cure Classic. The game is slated to be played at the Bank One Ballpark and will be broadcast on national television. 13,500 tickets have been sold and distributed for the Classic that will almost certainly break the ASU attendance record of just over 5,000. The game is being played to benefit breast cancer research, and television personality Rosy O'Donnell is the spokesperson for the event. The roof of the Bank One Ballpark will be retracted, allowing for the first ever outside women's college basketball game.
Maureen Mullen is a reporter for The Stanford Daily, the student newspaper of Stanford University.
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