Weber State University Athletics
'Cats Hit the Road Monday at UC Irvine
12/14/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Wildcats win fourth straight with victory over BYU
Weber State won for the fourth straight time after knocking off the BYU Cougars 65-54 Wednesday at the Dee Events Center. It was the first win over BYU since December 1994, breaking a ten-game losing streak to the Cougars. A crowd of 1,921 fans attended the game, including around 1,500 local elementary and middle school students who attended the game as part of Field Trip Day. That crowd is the second most in school history.
Weber State (5-3) will now head out on the road for four straight games, beginning Monday when they play at UC Irvine.
Ahkiah Hunter beats Cougars with career-high
The star of Wednesdays game was senior Ahkiah Hunter who posted a career-high 25 points in the win. Hunter was 10-17 from the field and also added five rebounds and three assists in leading the Wildcats to the win. This season the Huntington Beach, California native is averaging 12.3 points per game, second best on the WSU squad and she has scored in double figures five times. She also tied her career-high with two three-pointers in the victory.Ali Thorderson also posts career-high against BYU
WSU sophomore Ali Thorderson finished Wednesday's game with 16 points, breaking her career-high. The Highlands Ranch, Colorado native was 5-7 from the field, including 3-5 from three-point land. She has now scored in double figures in each of the last three games and is averaging 7.1 points per game. Thorderson scored just five points in 15 games played as a freshman last season.
Tuomi moves up career scoring and free throw lists
WSU senior scored 14 points in Wednesday's win and in the process moved into 13th place on the Weber State career scoring list. She passed Chelsey Warburton, who graduated last season, and now has 1,110 career points in 98 games at Weber State. Tuomi is tied for 4th in the Big Sky in scoring at 16.1 points per game. She now needs 13 more points to pass WSU head coach Carla Taylor for 12th all-time and needs 17 more to pass current WSU assistant coach Stephanie Stanger-Hale for 11th all-time.Despite shooting just 1-11 from the field in Wednesday's win, Tuomi was a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line. That 12-12 mark is tied for the third best free throw percentage in Weber State single-game history. It is also tied for a Dee Events Center record for percentage. Tuomi has now made 18 straight free throws and in her last four games she is 30-32 from the line. She currently ranks fifth in the Big Sky in free throw percentage at .840.
Sara also moved into the WSU all-time top ten for career free throws passing Stanger-Hale for tenth on the all-time list. Tuomi has 286 career free throws in her career at Weber State.
Career game for Karlee Wegith in win over Cougars
Freshman Karlee Weight was a key contributor in Wednesday's win. The Springville, Utah native set career-highs of points, rebounds, and minutes in helping the Wildcats beat BYU for the first time in 13 years. Karlee finished with six points on 3-3 shooting and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds while playing 26 minutes in the game. This season Weight has played in seven of WSU's eight games. Before Wednesday's game she had just eight points and ten rebounds all season before posting six and eight in the win.
?Cats now 4-0 at home for first time in 13 years
WSU just wrapped up a three-game homestand where they were 3-0, beating Eastern Michigan, Colorado State, and BYU. The Wildcats are 4-0 at home this season and 0-2 on the road. They are also 1-1 in neutral games. This marks the first time the ?Cats have started a season 4-0 at home since the 1994-95 season, which is also the last time they beat BYU. They started that season by winning their first eight games at home in route to a 10-3 home record. Ironically the 4-0 start that season also included home wins over Colorado State at BYU.
Dating back to last season Weber State has won seven straight games at the Dee Events Center.
Turnovers continue to tell result
Weber State committed 12 turnovers in the win over BYU and the Cougars had 20 turnovers. This season WSU is now a perfect 5-0 when committing fewer turnovers than their opponents and they are 0-3 when they have more turnovers.
School all-time record now exactly .500
Wednesday's win over BYU was the 918th game in Weber State women's basketball history. It was also the 459th all-time win. The Wildcats are now exactly .500 all-time with a 459-459 all-time school record. The ?Cats began playing Division I basketball during the 1974-75 season.
Wildcats head to California Monday
Weber State will open the first of four games away from home and will look for their first road win this season when they play at UC Irvine Monday, December 17 in Irvine, California. The game with the Anteaters will begin at 8:00 p.m Mountain time from the Bren Events Center. There will be no Weber State radio at the game but UC Irvine will broadcast the game live on their website - ucirvinesports.com, as well as providing live stats for the game.
Quoting WSU head coach Carla Taylor
"Wednesday's game was a great win for our team and our university. The crowd support we had was fantastic and really made a difference for our team. We have been improving from where we started the season and I'm pleased with our effort the last few games. Now that we are heading out on the road we need to stay focused and worry about one game at a time. "
About UC Irvine
The Anteaters of UC Irvine will play at Loyola Marymount Saturday afternoon, before taking on Weber State on Monday night. Heading into the weekend the Anteaters are 4-5 on the season. They lost their first three games, won their next three, and are coming off a loss to UNLV last week.
UC Irvine has already played two teams from Utah and two Big Sky Conference teams. The Anteaters lost at Utah and Utah Valley in November but had wins over Sacramento State at home and at Eastern Washington in late November. So far this season the Anteaters are led by senior Stephanie Duda who is averaging 11.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game.
UC Irvine is coached by Molly Tuter who is in her fourth season. She entered this season with a 23-57 career record.
All-time series
This will only be the second meeting ever between the two schools. They played December 21, 1987 in Irvine, California and the Anteaters won the game 84-46. But, that game was later forfeited by UC Irvine for use of an ineligible player and the win went into the record books as a Weber State victory. The Wildcats are 16-16 all-time against teams currently in the Big West Conference.
Looking ahead
After Monday's game the ?Cats will stay on the road for three more games. WSU will play its final game before Christmas on Friday, December 21 when they play at Utah. They will next play December 29-30 at the UTSA Wells Fargo New Year's Classic in San Antonio, Texas.
