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November 21, 1998

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Alke Dietel scored 27 points and Tricia Lamb added 21 as the Washington State women scored an 88-70 basketball win over Vermont in the title game of the Howard Bank Classic Saturday at Patrick Gymnasium.

Dietel picked up the most valuable player trophy and Lamb, who scored 54 points in two games, was named to the all-tourney team as WSU ran its record to 2-0. Yvonne Volkman added 13 to the WSU output, while Dietel grabbing 10 rebounds.

Vermont (2-1) got almost all their scoring from three players. Karalyn Church led the Catamounts with 24 points and 16 rebounds. Libby Smith added 19 and Christie Lauzon scored 11 for Vermont.

"Mentally we did a great job of not losing our focus and concentration," Cougar head coach Harold Rhodes said. "Our best player was whistled for three fouls early in the game, but we still hung in there."

"Conditioning was a key for us," Rhodes added. "We stayed close and then put them away because we were a much better conditioned team."

Dietel scored 15 of her 27 points in the first half and also dished out three assists in each half. The Cougars trailed early 12-9 and found themselves down by four points 30-26 with just over seven minutes to play in the opening half.

The Cougars responded by outscoring Vermont 15-3 over the final seven minutes of the half for a 41-33 lead. Dietel scored five, Volkman and Katie Nyseth four each during the run.

Vermont responded to WSU's charge by going on a 11-2 run to open the second half that produced a 44-43 lead, but for the rest of the half it was all WSU.

Volkman's layin gave the Cougars the lead 45-44 and started a string of 12 straight points by WSU. Dietel scored twice and Lamb hit a trey as WSU jumped to a 55-44 lead with 14 minutes to play. Six minutes later WSU found itself in command 69-49, thanks in part to six of Lamb's 15 second-half points. The closest the host club in the final eight minutes was 15 points.

"We tried zone early in the second half to stay out of foul trouble (Lamb and McNeely three each and 13 total in the first half), but they hit some threes and Church got lose for some put-backs, so we went back to playing aggressive man-to-man defense."

WSU's defense forced Vermont to turn the ball over 20 times, compared to WSU's 11 turnovers.

"Katie Nyseth gave us big time minutes," Rhodes added. "She had just three turnovers and put a lot of pressure on the ball, which took Vermont out of its game."

WSU's next game will be at home Tuesday (Nov. 24) against Wyoming.

WSU (88) - Alke Dietel 9-21 5-5 27, Katie Nyseth 1-3 4-6 6, Tricia Lamb
9-15 1-1 21, Cathy McNeely 2-8 0-0 4, Sheri Quinton 3-7 1-2 7, Victoria
Harrod 1-1 3-6 5, Niki Castle 0-0 0-0 0, Jennifer Kerns 2-6 1-3 5, Yvonne
Volkman 5-9 2-4 13, Romie DeAnda 0-0 0-0 0, Team 32-70 17-27 88.

Vermont (70) - Libby Smith 6-13 3-4 19, Christie Lauzon 3-7 4-4 11, Karalyn
Church 11-24 2-4 24, Melissa Dodge 1-4 2-2 4, Tanisha Coleman 3-8 2-2 8,
Lulie Conrad 1-7 2-5 4, Jen MacAulay 0-1 0-1 0, Team 25-64 15-22 70.

Halftime - WSU 41, Vermont 33.  3-point goals - WSU 7-21 (Dietel 4-8,
Nyseth 0-1, Lamb 2-6, McNeely 0-3, Kerns 0-2, Volkman 1-1), Vermont 5-12
(Smith 4-7, Lauzon 1-4, Church 0-1).  Fouled out - McNeely.  Rebounds - WSU
41 (Dietel 10), Vermont 47 (Church 16).  Assists - WSU 22 (Dietel 6),
Vermont 14 (Church 4).  Steals - WSU 8 (Lamb, Volkman 3), Vermont 4 (Church
2).  Turnovers - WSU 11 (Nyseth 3), Vermont 20 (Lauzon 5).  Total Fouls -
WSU 22, Vermont 21.  Technical - None.  A-1,650.