Sports
 

Ladies run with the 'Pack

By Christian Schmidt
The Daily Cougar

The Lady Cougars are on a roll. 

With three consecutive victories under their belt, the Cougars will head to Raleigh, N.C., to participate in the 2002 North Carolina State Invitational, hosted by the Lady Wolfpack.

Houston will face Florida in the opening round at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

Houston has won its last three games and is 4-2 in the season. 

The Lady Cougars have a tough stretch coming up with games against Georgia, Texas A&M and Alabama in the next few weeks. Winning some games against top competition will help Houston immensely should it be fighting for a postseason berth in a few months.

Junior guard Chandi Jones leads the Cougars in nearly every major statistical category. Jones is averaging 26.5 points per game, 7.5 rebounds per game, has 20 assists and 26 steals, all team leading. She is also averaging more than one block per game.

Sophomore guard Shondra Bush didn't seem to have suffered any ill effects from an ankle injury that happened Sunday. Against Texas-El Paso, Bush scored 17 points and 11 rebounds, recording the first double-double of her career. She is averaging 14.2 points per game this season.

The Lady Gators are 5-1 this season, their only loss coming in overtime against California-Santa Barbara. 

Freshman forward Bernice Mosby leads the Lady Gators in scoring with 13 points per game. Freshman guard Sarah Lowe is averaging 12 points per game.

Florida is coached by Carolyn Peck, who formerly coached the WNBA's Orlando Miracle and won a NCAA championship in 1999 with Purdue. 

Peck is in her first year at Florida and is 62-12 in her career.

In the second round, Houston will face either North Carolina State or Washington Saturday at either 4 or 6 p.m.

North Carolina State is 2-3 in the season but has won two of its last three. 

The Lady Wolfpack is led by junior center Kaayla Chones, who is averaging 18.2 points per game.

Washington is 4-1 this season, its only loss coming to Texas Tech. 

The Lady Huskies have a very deep team with balanced scoring coming from a number of players.

They have three players averaging more than 10 points a game, and nine players are averaging more than 10 minutes a game. 

Junior guard Giuliana Mendiola leads the Huskies with 16.8 points per game.

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