Shootout notebook: Legendary coaches, an Alaskan returns, an absent mom

If you missed basketball-legends-turned-coaches Cynthia Cooper-Dyke and Jackie Stiles at the GCI Great Alaska Shootout, you can always travel to Oregon or Missouri to check out their statues.

That's right. Both women have been memorialized with life-sized statues.

Cooper-Dyke, Southern Cal's head coach, got hers first. It's at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, where it's outdoor sports facility is called "The Coop" in her honor.

The facility has two basketball courts, three volleyball courts, a children's playground and a statue of Cooper-Dyke, one of the game's greatest players.

"So shout-out to Phil Knight," she said Tuesday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

Cooper-Dyke, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012, owns one of the most impressive resumes in the game.

She was a two-time NCAA champion, a two-time Olympic medalist and a four-time WNCA champion. She led the WNBA in scoring three times and ranks eighth on USCs all-time scoring list with 1,559 points.

In 11 seasons of coaching at four schools, Cooper-Dyke is 206-147, including a 56-41 in her first three seasons at USC, where her fame and credentials help draw top talent.

"It's an honor for her to see the talent in me," said USC junior Kristen Simon. "… She's the greatest player to ever play and it ups my confidence.

"She's able to teach me for not only the college level but the pro level and being successful in life."

This is Cooper-Dyke's second trip to Alaska for a basketball tournament. She and Cheryl Miller were part of a star-studded USC team that headlined the 1986 Northern Lights Invitational.

"I love Alaska and I love playing here, (although) it's a little chilly for me," Cooper-Dyke said. "I wanted my kids and my team to have the same experience."

Tuesday's first round of women's games pitted Cooper-Dyke and USC against Missouri State, which has its share of talent on the coaching staff.

Assistant coach Jackie Stiles set the NCAA Division I career scoring record with 3,393 in her four seasons at Missouri State.

"She's amazing," Cooper-Dyke said.

Stiles is part of a trio of Missouri State coaches who made their mark on the game before becoming coaches.

Head coach Kellie Harper was a guard on three of Pat Summitt's NCAA championship teams, including the 39-0 team from 1997-98 that won the Northern Lights Invitational. She was Kellie Jolly then, and she finished her college career with 894 points and 450 assists, including an NCAA championship-game record of 11 assists in the 1997 title game.

Assistant coach Jennifer Sullivan was a star at Memphis, where she compiled 800 points, 310 rebounds and 99 steals in a career that ended with the 2004-05 season.

But no one has stats to compare to those racked up by Stiles from 1998-2001 at Missouri State. That's why the school will unveil a bronze statue of her outside the school's basketball arena next week when the Bears play their home opener.

"It's hard to put into words. I never in my wildest dreams thought of being honored in that way," Stiles said. "I share it with so many people."

Providing the 411 on the 907

As a senior on the University of Portland women's basketball team, Hannah Mattson of Fairbanks probably figured she had answered all of the do-you-live-in-an-igloo questions about Alaska during her first three seasons with the team.

But while flying to Anchorage for the GCI Great Alaska Shootout, Mattson learned her job as an Alaska ambassador for her teammates wasn't done.

She was still getting the questions.

" 'Will it be dark when we land?' — and we landed at noon," Mattson said Tuesday after Portland's first-round win over UAA. " 'Will we see a bunch of moose?' "

Mattson was happy to provide answers, beginning with "No, it won't be dark at noon."

A 5-foot-9 forward, as a junior Mattson averaged 20 minutes, 4.3 points and 1.9 rebounds a game and is on pace to log similar numbers this season.

She was Alaska's Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior at West Valley, where her impact was considerable: 15.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 3.3 steals.

During Tuesday's opening round at the Alaska Airlines Center, she renewed acquaintances with a number of players she faced during high school — former Wasilla star Alysha Devine, former Dimond stars Tara Thompson and Sierra Afoa.

"I grew up playing against these girls a lot," she said.

Among those in the stands watching were her parents, Mark and Brenda Mattson, who recently moved to Bend, Oregon, and her West Valley coach, Steve Caciari.

Mattson said Portland's trip to the Shootout happened in part because of her Alaska roots. Pilots coach Cheryl Sorenson tries to schedule games that allow all of her players a chance to play at home at some point during their careers.

"It's a great opportunity for us to bring Hannah Mattson home as an Alaska kid," Sorenson said. "We're extremely grateful for the opportunity to be here and play."

Mattson still feels great affection for Fairbanks, even though her parents no longer live there. "I love Fairbanks," she said. "It's so different than anywhere in the United States."

That said, she is probably going to remain in the Pacific Northwest after she graduates. Her goal is to become a physician's assistant.

Hi, Mom — miss you

For the first time in forever, Audrey Holt of Missouri State played a basketball game with her mother nowhere in sight.

Dan and Lisa Holt weren't able to make the trip to Alaska to watch their daughter play in the Shootout, marking the first time in Audrey's memory that her mom missed a game.

"It is absolutely killing her not being here," Holt said.

Lisa Holt played basketball at Nebraska-Omaha and easily assumed the role of team mom when Audrey began playing club basketball as a kid.

"We traveled a lot, and my mom drove us to every single tournament," Audrey said.

"Her whole life, she's always had her camera — she was that mom who always took pictures. When I got to college, she did the same thing."

The Holts are from Columbia, and Missouri State is two or three hours away in Springfield. When Lisa and her camera became sideline regulars at women's basketball games, Missouri State gave her a press credential and made her the team photographer.

Both of Audrey's parents are retired — Lisa taught at Audrey's high school — and Audrey is the last of four children. Once Audrey's playing days are over, Lisa and Dan will have weekends free and may have time for something new in their lives.

"As soon as I'm done," Audrey said, "they might get a dog."