2000-2001 Women's Basketball Season Summary

In his fourth season at the helm of BYU's women's basketball team, Head Coach Trent Shippen and his staff guided the Cougar women to its first post season victory since the 1981-82 season. The 15-point 78-63 win over Oregon State in the 2001 WNIT extended the team's record to 19-12.

In the next round of the WNIT, the BYU team traveled to Honolulu, to meet up with former WAC foe Hawai'i. In that contest the Cougars came just four-points shy of another win before falling to the Rainbow Wahene 73-77 in overtime, thus ending the season at 19-13 and giving Trent Shippen a 72-48 (.600) record in four years.

The Cougar team also fared well in last year's MWC Tournament, advancing to the title game for the second straight year. This time it was Colorado State who picked up the crown and an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament. BYU lost to CSU by three, 56-59. With the Cougars strong showing in the tournament, three players were named to the All-Tournament Team. Lisa Osguthorpe, Caroline Beus and Erin Thorn were honored in the 2000-01 EAS MWC Women's Basketball Championships. Thorn was also named to the 2000-01 All-Mountain West Conference First Team. She was joined by teammate Stacy Jensen on the Second Team. Freshman Julie Whetten was named the conference's Newcomer of the Year.

In conference action, the Cougar women compiled an 8-6 record, and a third place tie along with New Mexico and UNLV. At the Marriott Center the record was 5-2 in MWC games with the two losses coming at the hands of instate rival Utah and an eight-point loss to New Mexico 70-78. BYU compiled a 10-4 record in all games on its home floor.

The Cougar team finished first in the conference in scoring offense (976 pts, 69.7 avg), first in 3-PT field goals made (98, 7.00 avg), first in 3-PT field goals percentage (.395, 98-248) and first in assists (16.29 avg, 228).

Individuals who toped the stats in MWC games included Erin Thorn, first in 3-PT field goals made (40, 2.86 avg), third in scoring (205, 14.6 avg), and fifth in assists (52, 3.71 avg). Caroline Beus was fifth in offensive rebounds (39, 2.79 avg) and ninth in rebounding (5.5 avg). Jennifer Leitner was fourth in blocked shots with a (.92 avg) and tied teammate Beus in rebounding, also in ninth place. Stacy Jensen was third in MWC stats in assists with (61, 4.36 avg). Lisa Osguthorpe finished the year in eighth place in steals and ninth in blocked shots.

All-American Erin Thorn finished her sophomore season as the team's leading scorer with an average of 15.5 points and 4.5 rebounds a game. Senior center Caroline Beus was the squads' top rebounder with an average of 5.9 boards a game followed closely by sophomore Jennifer Leitner with a 5.4 average. Leitner came on strong during conference action after recovering from foot surgery that had sidelined her for the first half of the year. Junior guard Stacy Jensen topped the list in the assist category with an average of 3.78 a game.

Other significant team highlights in 2001-02 included compiling an 11-2 record when the Cougars were leading at the half. They tallied an 16-6 record when making five or more 3-pointers and went 11-4 when the Cougars outrebounded opponents.

In coach Shippen's final season at the helm of the women's program, the team also picked up big wins against UCLA, Washington State, Gonzaga, Weber State, Marquette and SMU.