The eighth annual Holiday Classic brings some of the top women's basketball talent in the nation to Provo Wednesday and Thursday.
Wednesday's games begin at 5 p.m. with Mississippi taking on Siena and BYU playing Gonzaga at 7 p.m. Thursday's consolation game is at 2 p.m. with the championship starting at 4 p.m. All games are free to the public.The Cougars are 4-4 on the season after playing six of their first eight games on the road against some tough opponents. They dropped their first game to Oregon State, then beat CS Northridge, Nebraska, Pacific, and Montana State, before losing to Montana, Texas, and Southwest Texas. Four Cougars are scoring in double figures: Debbie Dimond (14.8), Thais Kidd (12.8), Behka Stafford (11.6), and Nikki Eyre (10.8). Dimond is tops in rebounds (7.8).
"We just have to be more consistent," said Cougar coach Jeanie Wilson. "We've had a hard time putting two good games together and we'll need to do that in the Holiday Classic.
"We're struggling right now with leadership - either no one takes the lead or everyone tries to. Mostly it's that everyone does and we don't have enough followers. So I've appointed two players to be team leaders and told the others to back off a bit."
Gonzaga got off to a 4-0 start against Idaho, Whitworth, Lewis & Clark, and Eastern Washington, before dropping their last two games to Washington State and Washington. Ivy Sapranski leads the Bulldogs in scoring (16.2) and Juanita Rivera tops them in rebounding (7.8).
Mississippi (9-2), was ranked 23rd in the preseason polls but was unranked as of last week. Playing in a pre-Christmas tournament in Puerto Rico, the Lady Rebels defeated 15th-ranked Purdue in the semifinals before losing to 19th-ranked Western Kentucky in the finals.
Siena is also off to a fast start, winning games against Central Connecticut, Hartford, Vermont, and Dartmouth and dropping a close contest to Holy Cross. The Saints are led by Liz Lops (17.2 ppg and 10.2 rpg).