Men's Basketball | Women's Basketball
Bernie Balikian
Men's
Basketball Coach
Bernie Balikian begins his first year at the helm of the
LeTourneau University men's basketball program. A Southern
California native, Balikian received his BA in Biology from Point
Loma Nazarene College in San Diego, Calif., in 1987. He went on
to receive his MA degree in Exercise Physiology from San Diego
State University. Balikian also serves as administrator of the
Solheim Recreation and Activity Center at LeTourneau.
He played his basketball at Venice High in Los Angeles, then played two years at Santa Monica City College (Calif.), and finished his playing career at Point Loma Nazarene.
Balikian began his coaching career as a Junior Varsity coach and varsity assistant at St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, Calif. He moved on to his alma mater at Venice High, before returning to Point Loma as an assistant. After a four-year stint, Balikian made a 2,500-mile move to Mt. Vernon Nazarene College in Mt. Vernon, Ohio -- inheriting a 6-26 program that had never had a winning season.
Within five years, he achieved back-to-back 23-win seasons. The next stop was Hillsdale, Mich., in 1990 where he took over a 10-18 team and turned it into a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Champion within five years.-- advancing to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.
Balikian, 43, resides in Longview, Texas, with his wife of 16 years, Karen, and their three sons Russell (12), Riley (9) and Casey (4). (top of page)
One thing Bernie Balikian would like to establish is consistency -- and that's just in the head coaching position. He is the third coach in as many years to take the reins of the LeTourneau University Yellow Jackets' program. Which might go a long way in explaining only one winning season and one postseason appearance in the last 12 years.
Also new this year is a conference. The Yellow Jackets have joined the American Southwest Conference, a NCAA Division III Conference.
Balikian's background lends itself to building, or re-building, programs. In three years at Mt. Vernon Nazarene (Ohio), he went from seven wins to back-to-back 23-win seasons which ended in the NAIA District Semifinals.
Within three years after arriving at Hillsdale College (Mich.) he had the program on the winning track, and in the fifth year he won the conference tournament and played in the NCAA Division II National Tournament. He hopes to work the same magic at LeTourneau.
To begin with, Balikian has two full-time starters, two part-time starters and another who started early in the season but sat out the rest of the 9-20 season with an injury. Point guard Brian Pace and 6-4 forward Patrick Cyrus are back for their third season and both were productive a year ago. Also back is 6-4 Todd Culver, the lone senior, and 6-4 junior Joe Young. The Yellow Jackets tallest player, 6-8 Steve McDaniel, returns after starting early then going down with an ankle injury. Cyrus was third on the team in scoring last season with 13.7 points per game, and first in rebounding at 6.8 rebounds per game. He also led the team in blocked shots (17) and was second in steals (50).
Pace, who led in steals (136) and three-point shooting percentage (.481), averaged 7.1 points per game. Culver, one of the most aggressive players on the team, averaged 8.8 points and 5.3 rebounds, while Young averaged 3.9 points and 3.0 rebounds. (top of page)
Men's 1998-99 Schedule & ResultsRECORD: OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL ALL GAMES........... (5-19) (3-10) (2-9) (0-0) CONFERENCE.......... (1-9) (1-4) (0-5) (0-0) NON-CONFERENCE...... (4-10) (2-6) (2-4) (0-0) DATE OPPONENT W/L SCORE ATTEND ------------ -------------------- --- ----- ------ Nov 23, 1998 at Wiley College L 71-88 - Nov 27, 1998 MESSENGER W 96-28 - Nov 28, 1998 NATIONAL CHRISTIAN LOT 80-81 - Dec. 3, 1998 SCHREINER COLLEGE L 61-83 - Dec 5, 1998 MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR L 59-72 - Dec 11, 1998 NATIONAL CHRISTIAN LOT 83-87 - Dec 30, 1998 at McMurry University L 70-101 417 Jan 7, 1999 at Southwest Adventist W 81-78 - Jan 9, 1999 SUL ROSS STATE W 79-69 - *Jan 12, 1999 at Mississippi College L 42-70 1350 Jan 14, 1999 WILEY COLLEGE L 67-97 - Jan 16, 1999 at East Texas Baptist L 66-89 - *Jan 21, 1999 UNIV. OF THE OZARKS L 73-80 - *Jan 23, 1999 AUSTIN COLLEGE L 70-81 277 *Jan 28, 1999 UT-DALLAS W 85-80 - *Jan 30, 1999 UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS L 45-58 - Feb 2, 1999 at Dallas Christian W 105-64 - *Feb 4, 1999 at Univ. of the Ozarks L 87-96 - *Feb 6, 1999 at Austin College L 63-89 377 *Feb 11, 1999 at UT-Dallas L 65-91 - *Feb 13, 1999 at University of Dallas L 73-75 217 *Feb 16, 1999 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE L 65-70 - Feb 18, 1999 EAST TEXAS BAPTIST L 60-77 - Feb 20, 1999 at National Christian L 93-98 - * Denote ASC Game |
Men's Team Statistics TEAM STATISTICS LETU OPP
--------------------------------------------------------
SCORING....................... 1739 1902
Points per game............. 72.5 79.3
Scoring margin.............. -6.8 -
FIELD GOALS-ATT............... 594-1478 722-1518
Field goal pct.............. .402 .476
3 POINT FG-ATT................ 239-725 136-392
3-point FG pct.............. .330 .347
3-pt FG made per game....... 10.0 5.7
FREE THROWS-ATT............... 312-480 322-484
Free throw pct.............. .650 .665
REBOUNDS...................... 861 934
Rebounds per game........... 35.9 38.9
Rebounding margin........... -3.0 -
ASSISTS....................... 316 345
Assists per game............ 13.2 14.4
TURNOVERS..................... 463 434
Turnovers per game.......... 19.3 18.1
Turnover margin............. -1.2 -
Assist/turnover ratio....... 0.7 0.8
STEALS........................ 197 234
Steals per game............. 8.2 9.8
BLOCKS........................ 34 64
Blocks per game............. 1.4 2.7
WINNING STREAK................ 0 -
Home win streak............. 0 -
ATTENDANCE.................... 277 2361
Home games-Avg/Game......... 13-21 11-215
Neutral site-Avg/Game....... - 0-0
BY PERIOD 1st 2nd OT Total
------------ ---- ---- ---- ----
Team........ 839 881 19 - 1739
Opponents... 863 1015 24 - 1902
|
## SUMMARY GP-GS Min FG% 3PT% FT% R/G A/G STL BLK PTS/G
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
33 Patrick Cyrus....... 24-21 21.8 .422 .315 .661 4.3 1.5 27 7 16.3
10 Brian Pace.......... 24-20 20.6 .388 .319 .763 3.8 4.1 40 5 11.4
15 Kendrick Brooks..... 21-17 19.5 .374 .382 .808 1.9 2.2 21 1 12.3
42 Steve McDaniel...... 24-20 18.0 .510 .500 .679 5.6 0.3 9 12 8.3
24 Joe Young........... 24-20 20.3 .347 .376 .684 3.6 1.5 29 2 6.5
54 Todd Culver......... 24-1 11.9 .413 .000 .554 3.5 0.4 9 3 3.9
35 Garrett Hilton...... 24-0 8.7 .534 .400 .615 2.3 0.6 7 0 3.3
14 Jeremy Williams..... 20-0 11.4 .319 .308 .607 1.6 1.5 16 0 3.5
52 Chris Aram.......... 21-0 7.5 .490 .000 .517 1.9 0.0 4 3 3.1
43 Mark Malone......... 24-6 13.0 .258 .188 .556 1.8 0.8 16 0 2.2
11 DeVaughn Alexander.. 20-0 7.6 .354 .269 .625 1.1 0.4 7 0 2.5
44 Alan Cumming........ 13-0 3.8 .529 .000 .500 1.9 0.2 5 1 1.9
30 Randolph Knop....... 8-0 4.1 .500 .500 .000 0.4 0.1 4 0 1.1
20 David Standfield.... 5-0 4.8 .182 .200 1.000 0.6 0.4 2 0 1.6
32 Nick Hayden......... 11-0 4.6 .182 .200 .000 0.5 0.4 1 0 0.5
Total............... 24 .402 .330 .650 35.9 13.2 197 34 72.5
Opponents........... 24 .476 .347 .665 38.9 14.4 234 64 79.3
SCORING GP FG-FGA FG% 3FG-FGA 3PT% FT-FTA FT% PTS PTS/G
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick Cyrus....... 24 147-348 .422 56-178 .315 41-62 .661 391 16.3
Brian Pace.......... 24 85-219 .388 46-144 .319 58-76 .763 274 11.4
Kendrick Brooks..... 21 85-227 .374 68-178 .382 21-26 .808 259 12.3
Steve McDaniel...... 24 73-143 .510 1-2 .500 53-78 .679 200 8.3
Joe Young........... 24 43-124 .347 32-85 .376 39-57 .684 157 6.5
Todd Culver......... 24 31-75 .413 0-1 .000 31-56 .554 93 3.9
Garrett Hilton...... 24 31-58 .534 8-20 .400 8-13 .615 78 3.3
Jeremy Williams..... 20 23-72 .319 8-26 .308 17-28 .607 71 3.5
Chris Aram.......... 21 25-51 .490 0-0 .000 15-29 .517 65 3.1
Mark Malone......... 24 17-66 .258 9-48 .188 10-18 .556 53 2.2
DeVaughn Alexander.. 20 17-48 .354 7-26 .269 10-16 .625 51 2.5
Alan Cumming........ 13 9-17 .529 0-0 .000 7-14 .500 25 1.9
Randolph Knop....... 8 4-8 .500 1-2 .500 0-5 .000 9 1.1
David Standfield.... 5 2-11 .182 2-10 .200 2-2 1.000 8 1.6
Nick Hayden......... 11 2-11 .182 1-5 .200 0-0 .000 5 0.5
Total............... 24 594-1478 .402 239-725 .330 312-480 .650 1739 72.5
Opponents........... 24 722-1518 .476 136-392 .347 322-484 .665 1902 79.3
REBOUNDS
TOTALS GP MIN OFF DEF TOT PF FO A TO A/TO HI
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick Cyrus....... 24 522 39 65 104 37 1 35 42 0.8 31
Brian Pace.......... 24 495 32 58 90 52 1 99 74 1.3 30
Kendrick Brooks..... 21 409 13 27 40 37 0 46 70 0.7 29
Steve McDaniel...... 24 432 49 86 135 65 5 7 53 0.1 18
Joe Young........... 24 488 40 47 87 87 8 36 56 0.6 18
Todd Culver......... 24 285 47 37 84 35 1 10 23 0.4 13
Garrett Hilton...... 24 209 21 34 55 12 0 15 15 1.0 10
Jeremy Williams..... 20 227 10 23 33 32 0 30 45 0.7 10
Chris Aram.......... 21 157 14 26 40 21 0 1 13 0.1 15
Mark Malone......... 24 312 3 41 44 41 0 19 36 0.5 8
DeVaughn Alexander.. 20 152 7 16 23 14 0 9 13 0.7 15
Alan Cumming........ 13 50 9 16 25 3 0 2 2 1.0 14
Randolph Knop....... 8 33 2 1 3 1 0 1 3 0.3 9
David Standfield.... 5 24 1 2 3 0 0 2 2 1.0 8
Nick Hayden......... 11 51 2 3 5 1 0 4 5 0.8 5
Total............... 24 3846 333 528 861 438 16 316 463 0.7 105
Opponents........... 24 4051 331 603 934 455 - 345 434 0.8 101
(top of page)
Mary Ann Otwell
Women's
Basketball Coach
One consitent thing in Mary Ann Otwell's coaching career
is exactly that -- consistency. She has coach on all levels form
junior high to NCAA Division I, and most of it has been in Texas.
One prevalent thing at all levels has been winning. She owns four national championships -- two at Panola College and two NCCAA crowns at LeTourneau -- and has averaged 20.9 victories per season. She owns victories over some of the most prominent names in women's basketball including Pat Summitt of the University of Tennessee and Jody Conradt at the University of Texas-Austin.
She started the Panola College program and became the first coach to win back-to-back JC National Championships, and she has taken the Yellow Jackets to post-season play all four years of the program's existence. Number mean little to her though.
Otwell played at and is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark. (top of page)
To say it's a new start for the 1998-99 women's basketball team and coach Mary Ann Otwell might be an understatement.
For starters, LeTourneau joins the American Southwest Conference -- NCAA Division III non-scholarship -- and four starters are gone from a team which won 54 games, 20 straight Big State Conference games, two BSC Titles, two BSC Post-Season Tournaments and back-to-back NCCAA Division I National Tournaments.
Otwell, a veteran coach who has won national championships on two levels -- junior college and small college -- and has produced big victories on the NCAA Division I level, has assembled a team which includes only one senior from last year, four sophomore letter winners, a junior who missed last season with an injury, four junior college transfers and four freshmen. The 16-player team is the largest Otwell has had in five years at LeTourneau.
Gone are four starters who all averaged more than 10 points per game and a reserve post who averaged 6.8 points. Still, Otwell looks forward to the season.
The lone senior starter is 5-11 Allison Pepper Gardner, who averaged 8.9 points and 5.5 rebounds last season. She will captain the 1998-99 squad.
From there the drop-off is to the 4.4 points per game that guard Lexi Coulter averaged as a freshman last season. She is joined by 5-8 forwards Charlee Weese and Katie Morman, along with 5-6 point guard Julie Lawrence as returning letter winners. Senior guard LaDarla Sanders is back after missing last season, 5-8 senior Rhonda Richardson is playing for the first time in two years and 6-0 junior Erin Lioret returns from season-long illness. All played on the 1998 LeTourneau Volleyball team. (top of page)
Women's 1998-99 Schedule & ResultsRECORD: OVERALL HOME AWAY NEUTRAL ALL GAMES........... (12-12) (6-6) (6-3) (0-3) CONFERENCE.......... (5-5) (2-3) (3-2) (0-0) NON-CONFERENCE...... (7-7) (4-3) (3-1) (0-3) DATE OPPONENT W/L SCORE ATTEND ------------ -------------------- --- ----- ------ Nov 26, 1998 vs Okla. Science & Arts L 43-53 - Nov 27, 1998 vs Mid-America Nazarene L 53-76 - Nov 28, 1998 vs Hanibal-LaGrange L 60-72 - Dec 1, 1998 SOUTHWEST ADVENTIST W 112-30 172 Dec 3, 1998 SCHREINER COLLEGE W 64-60 150 Dec 5, 1998 MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR L 48-65 - Dec 8, 1998 at Southwest Adventist W 101-38 - Dec 10, 1998 WILEY COLLEGE W 77-72 - Jan 9, 1999 SUL ROSS STATE L 63-76 - *Jan 12, 1999 at Mississippi College L 52-55 800 Jan 16, 1999 at East Texas Baptist L 44-88 - *Jan 21, 1999 UNIV. OF THE OZARKS LO2 80-86 - *Jan 23, 1999 AUSTIN COLLEGE L 63-94 215 Jan 25, 1999 SW ASSEMBLIES OF GOD W 70-36 - *Jan 28, 1999 UT-DALLAS W 75-62 - *Jan 30, 1999 UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS W 73-56 - Feb 1, 1999 at SW Assemblies of God W 92-45 - *Feb 4, 1999 at Univ. of the Ozarks W 73-57 - *Feb 6, 1999 at Austin College L 40-70 377 Feb 8, 1999 at Wiley College W OT 80-71 - *Feb 11, 1999 at UT-Dallas W 58-56 - *Feb 13, 1999 at University of Dallas W 68-52 191 *Feb 16, 1999 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE L 48-61 - Feb 18, 1999 EAST TEXAS BAPTIST L 50-88 - * denotes conference game |
Women's Team Statistics TEAM STATISTICS LETU OPP
--------------------------------------------------------
SCORING....................... 1587 1519
Points per game............. 66.1 63.3
Scoring margin.............. +2.8 -
FIELD GOALS-ATT............... 585-1630 526-1377
Field goal pct.............. .359 .382
3 POINT FG-ATT................ 128-490 88-350
3-point FG pct.............. .261 .251
3-pt FG made per game....... 5.3 3.7
FREE THROWS-ATT............... 289-472 379-585
Free throw pct.............. .612 .648
REBOUNDS...................... 1027 1011
Rebounds per game........... 42.8 42.1
Rebounding margin........... +0.7 -
ASSISTS....................... 310 304
Assists per game............ 12.9 12.7
TURNOVERS..................... 492 609
Turnovers per game.......... 20.5 25.4
Turnover margin............. +4.9 -
Assist/turnover ratio....... 0.6 0.5
STEALS........................ 344 278
Steals per game............. 14.3 11.6
BLOCKS........................ 49 51
Blocks per game............. 2.0 2.1
WINNING STREAK................ 0 -
Home win streak............. 0 -
ATTENDANCE.................... 537 1368
Home games-Avg/Game......... 12-45 9-152
Neutral site-Avg/Game....... - 3-0
BY PERIOD 1st 2nd OT OT2 Total
------------ ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Team........ 726 832 18 11 - 1587
Opponents... 738 755 9 17 - 1519
|
## SUMMARY GP-GS Min FG% 3PT% FT% R/G A/G STL BLK PTS/G
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
34 Allison Gardner..... 24-20 19.6 .327 .236 .659 5.2 0.7 34 5 10.8
14 Lexie Coulter....... 24-19 16.8 .321 .254 .769 3.2 2.4 38 3 9.2
32 Rhonda Richardson... 24-9 14.0 .491 .000 .679 7.1 0.6 25 11 7.0
33 Sondra Reynolds..... 24-7 12.2 .538 .000 .527 5.4 0.8 55 21 6.9
42 Tiffany Messenger... 24-13 13.9 .333 .000 .613 3.9 0.5 11 2 5.6
22 Charlee Weese....... 24-6 12.8 .304 .256 .438 2.8 1.2 49 4 5.3
30 Remeca White........ 24-10 15.5 .346 .208 .526 3.4 2.3 31 0 4.9
21 Karissa Wick........ 24-1 7.8 .395 .227 .692 1.3 0.4 19 0 3.6
15 Julie Lawrence...... 24-14 13.5 .366 .250 .700 1.8 2.5 38 1 3.2
24 LaDarla Sanders..... 15-0 6.9 .404 .355 .500 1.0 0.3 9 0 3.6
10 Kerri Mills......... 20-0 5.3 .254 .261 .444 0.9 0.4 6 1 2.3
11 Holly Sartor........ 14-0 3.6 .349 .351 .429 0.7 0.0 4 0 3.3
25 Katie Morman........ 20-1 4.8 .600 .000 .526 1.5 0.2 3 0 1.4
5 Jill Oliver......... 18-0 6.1 .265 .333 .375 1.1 0.9 16 0 1.4
12 Courtney Warner..... 13-0 5.5 .348 .286 .500 0.4 0.2 4 0 1.5
4 Erin Lioret......... 11-0 2.1 .364 .000 .545 0.6 0.0 2 1 1.3
25 Darnecia Young...... 5-0 4.0 .000 .000 .500 0.8 0.0 0 0 0.2
12 Sarah Millwood...... 6-0 3.3 .000 .000 .000 0.2 0.0 0 0 0.0
Total............... 24 .359 .261 .612 42.8 12.9 344 49 66.1
Opponents........... 24 .382 .251 .648 42.1 12.7 278 51 63.3
SCORING GP FG-FGA FG% 3FG-FGA 3PT% FT-FTA FT% PTS PTS/G
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allison Gardner..... 24 91-278 .327 21-89 .236 56-85 .659 259 10.8
Lexie Coulter....... 24 75-234 .321 30-118 .254 40-52 .769 220 9.2
Rhonda Richardson... 24 57-116 .491 0-0 .000 53-78 .679 167 7.0
Sondra Reynolds..... 24 63-117 .538 0-0 .000 39-74 .527 165 6.9
Tiffany Messenger... 24 58-174 .333 0-1 .000 19-31 .613 135 5.6
Charlee Weese....... 24 49-161 .304 21-82 .256 7-16 .438 126 5.3
Remeca White........ 24 46-133 .346 5-24 .208 20-38 .526 117 4.9
Karissa Wick........ 24 32-81 .395 5-22 .227 18-26 .692 87 3.6
Julie Lawrence...... 24 30-82 .366 10-40 .250 7-10 .700 77 3.2
LaDarla Sanders..... 15 21-52 .404 11-31 .355 1-2 .500 54 3.6
Kerri Mills......... 20 18-71 .254 6-23 .261 4-9 .444 46 2.3
Holly Sartor........ 14 15-43 .349 13-37 .351 3-7 .429 46 3.3
Katie Morman........ 20 9-15 .600 0-0 .000 10-19 .526 28 1.4
Jill Oliver......... 18 9-34 .265 4-12 .333 3-8 .375 25 1.4
Courtney Warner..... 13 8-23 .348 2-7 .286 2-4 .500 20 1.5
Erin Lioret......... 11 4-11 .364 0-0 .000 6-11 .545 14 1.3
Darnecia Young...... 5 0-2 .000 0-1 .000 1-2 .500 1 0.2
Sarah Millwood...... 6 0-3 .000 0-3 .000 0-0 .000 0 0.0
Total............... 24 585-1630 .359 128-490 .261 289-472 .612 1587 66.1
Opponents........... 24 526-1377 .382 88-350 .251 379-585 .648 1519 63.3
REBOUNDS
TOTALS GP MIN OFF DEF TOT PF FO A TO A/TO HI
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allison Gardner..... 24 471 44 80 124 66 4 17 55 0.3 19
Lexie Coulter....... 24 402 36 40 76 39 0 58 54 1.1 21
Rhonda Richardson... 24 336 81 89 170 41 0 14 38 0.4 17
Sondra Reynolds..... 24 292 55 74 129 49 1 18 34 0.5 18
Tiffany Messenger... 24 334 33 60 93 39 0 12 24 0.5 20
Charlee Weese....... 24 308 15 51 66 36 0 28 40 0.7 15
Remeca White........ 24 371 41 41 82 50 0 55 55 1.0 12
Karissa Wick........ 24 188 12 20 32 39 1 10 31 0.3 11
Julie Lawrence...... 24 324 15 28 43 38 1 61 62 1.0 22
LaDarla Sanders..... 15 103 9 6 15 8 0 5 21 0.2 14
Kerri Mills......... 20 105 9 9 18 6 0 8 15 0.5 13
Holly Sartor........ 14 50 6 4 10 1 0 0 8 0.0 12
Katie Morman........ 20 95 14 16 30 13 0 4 8 0.5 6
Jill Oliver......... 18 110 7 13 20 25 1 17 24 0.7 6
Courtney Warner..... 13 71 5 0 5 10 0 3 9 0.3 5
Erin Lioret......... 11 23 4 3 7 5 0 0 0 0.0 5
Darnecia Young...... 5 20 0 4 4 1 0 0 0 0.0 1
Sarah Millwood...... 6 20 0 1 1 4 0 0 3 0.0 0
Total............... 24 3623 432 595 1027 472 8 310 492 0.6 112
Opponents........... 24 3826 335 676 1011 396 - 304 609 0.5 94
(top of page)
