WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Sister tandem motivated by family struggle

Washington guards Giuliana and Gioconda Mendiola are playing for their jailed brothers.
By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP SPORTS WRITER
Washington guards Giuliana and Gioconda Mendiola cope daily with a burden that goes far beyond breaking down an opponent's zone defense or stopping the other team's best player.
The Mendiolas feel they're carrying the family's honor now that three of their brothers are in prison in connection with the death of an Idaho man prosecutors said headed a marijuana smuggling operation.
"Our brothers, our parents, our whole family is relying on us," Gioconda Mendiola said. "We know that if we have a terrible year, everyone would feel guilty, blaming themselves. By us having a good season, it's going to put a smile on our family's faces."
The sisters spoke publicly about the case for the first time in an interview with The Seattle Times.
One brother, Giovanni Mendiola, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He had been living with his sisters in Seattle when the victim was strangled and stabbed in 2002. Eddie and Piero Mendiola pleaded guilty to being accessories in a felony.
The family recently moved from Lake Forest, Calif., to Seattle, partly because of hostility toward them. Two other brothers attend Pacific Lutheran University near Tacoma, Wash.
Giuliana Mendiola leads Washington in scoring, rebounding and assists. Gioconda is the No. 3 scorer and leads the Huskies in 3-point baskets.
"Nobody is going to break us," Giuliana told The Times. "We tell each other that every single day."
Fruitful trip
Tennessee gained a lot from its recent 10-day road trip. The Lady Vols won three games and had a chance to test themselves against three good opponents. And that's not all.
"I got all my Christmas shopping done for the most part," coach Pat Summitt said. The trip took the second-ranked Lady Vols to No. 9 Stanford, No. 22 DePaul and No. 15 Oklahoma. They won overtime games with Stanford and DePaul before defeating Oklahoma 71-55.
"Ten days of travel, you learn a lot about your basketball team," Summitt said. "Fortunately, this team gets along really well. It's got great chemistry. I felt like in every game we had challenges that they responded to."
At Stanford, Summitt had a chance to renew her rivalry -- and friendship -- with Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer. The two have become friends through their years coaching against each other, something Summitt feels is now somewhat rare in the women's game.
"It's been very healthy," she said. "Tara and I have maintained a friendship aside from just a professional relationship. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen often."
DePaul coach Doug Bruno recently recalled the time he was a men's assistant at Loyola of Chicago and was recruiting a high school star named Ken Norman.
Norman spurned the Ramblers for Illinois and was good enough to play eight years in the NBA, but Bruno never held a grudge.
Good thing.
Years later, he found himself recruiting Norman's daughter, Khara Smith.
"I learned long before that, never get mad in recruiting," Bruno said. "Those 18 years came around quick."
Smith is now DePaul's best player, averaging 19.3 points and 10.8 rebounds, and shooting 60.6 percent for the Blue Demons.
Bruno can see a family resemblance.
"They play similarly, they really do," he said. "They run kind of the same way, both are very tough low-post players. Khara, as did Kenny also, has good guard skills as well as a post-up game."
Life-size Bulldog
Georgia's Christi Thomas might not be bigger than life, but she certainly looms large on a Lady Bulldogs' poster.
With the bottom of the poster one foot above the floor, the photo of Thomas reaches her true height, 6-foot-5. The athletic department printed the poster to hand out at a game next month, but the staff was so pleased by how it looked they mailed it to about 100 media members to promote Thomas for postseason awards.
"That really wasn't the intended goal," said Mike Mobley of the athletic communications staff. "But when it came in, it was too good not to use to get her name out there for some of those honors."
The poster shows Thomas in her uniform holding a basketball against her lift hip and another ball aloft with her right hand. A tape measure runs along the right side of the poster.
Thomas, a senior, is a two-time all-SEC choice. She's averaging 11.4 points and 7.9 rebounds and leads the 12th-ranked Lady Bulldogs in blocks.
Hectic schedule
Wisconsin assistant Denise Ianello has never missed one of her husband's bowl games and she won't this year, despite what she has to go through to get there.
Ianello's husband, Rob, coaches the tight ends for the Wisconsin football team that will play Auburn in the Music City Bowl in Nashville on Wednesday -- the day after Denise's team plays at Boston College.
So, Denise, the couple's 20-month old son, Zachary, and their nanny will fly with the basketball team to Boston on Sunday. The next morning, the nanny and baby will return to Wisconsin on the team charter. Denise, meanwhile, is set to fly out of Boston at 6 a.m., arriving in Nashville at 9:48 a.m., a little more than an hour before kickoff.
"That plane better be on time," Denise said. "I don't know what I'm going to do with my luggage yet, but I'll figure that out."
The couple will spend New Year's Eve in Nashville, then return to Madison on the team charter, scheduled to arrive at noon on Jan. 1. That will give Denise one hour to get home, repack and head to practice. After practice, the basketball team leaves for Columbus to play Ohio State on Friday.
Whew.
"I've never missed one of Rob's bowl games," Denise said. "So that's what we're going to do."