2008 Woodie Awards
Sister Act
Husky double-double leads squad
John Thorburn
Issue date: 12/11/02 Section: Sports
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Three years after joining the Husky women's basketball program, the Mendiola sisters are still leaving their marks.
A pair of guards out of California, Giuliana and Gioconda have been running past opponents for years-when they are not running over them.
"Giuliana has bruises all over the place all the time," former player Megan Franza told reporters when the sisters were freshmen. "And Gio gives everybody bruises."
Knocking around players is their game. And it works.
As a sophomore last season, Giuliana was selected to the All-Pac-10 First Team leading the Huskies in field goal percentage (47 percent) and was second in scoring and rebounding. As a freshman, she led the squad in rebounding and was eighth in the conference. Currently, she is an All-America candidate.
Last year, Gioconda missed nine games with a stress fracture in her lower leg but continues to be a reliable, speedy guard off the bench to provide the Huskies with needed sparks of offense or defense, according to Washington Head Coach June Daugherty.
"They are fearless," Daugherty said during their freshman season. "They will do anything that they have to do to win. If that means that they have to set a great screen, take care of the basketball or have a stop defensively, they are going to do it.
At El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Gioconda led Orange County in assists. Giuliana blossomed into the fourth all-time leading scorer in California state history. The two were making noise long before their prep school days, however.
In the 7th grade, Giuliana was the only girl playing on a National Junior Basketball (NJB) boys team when she was noticed by a girls club team coach in Southern California.
Playing with boys wasn't out of the ordinary for either of the sisters. They'd grown up playing basketball with their five brothers, after all.
"We figured if we could play with them," Gioconda explained in an interview with HoopGurlz.com in October, "we could play against any girls."
A pair of guards out of California, Giuliana and Gioconda have been running past opponents for years-when they are not running over them.
"Giuliana has bruises all over the place all the time," former player Megan Franza told reporters when the sisters were freshmen. "And Gio gives everybody bruises."
Knocking around players is their game. And it works.
As a sophomore last season, Giuliana was selected to the All-Pac-10 First Team leading the Huskies in field goal percentage (47 percent) and was second in scoring and rebounding. As a freshman, she led the squad in rebounding and was eighth in the conference. Currently, she is an All-America candidate.
Last year, Gioconda missed nine games with a stress fracture in her lower leg but continues to be a reliable, speedy guard off the bench to provide the Huskies with needed sparks of offense or defense, according to Washington Head Coach June Daugherty.
"They are fearless," Daugherty said during their freshman season. "They will do anything that they have to do to win. If that means that they have to set a great screen, take care of the basketball or have a stop defensively, they are going to do it.
At El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Gioconda led Orange County in assists. Giuliana blossomed into the fourth all-time leading scorer in California state history. The two were making noise long before their prep school days, however.
In the 7th grade, Giuliana was the only girl playing on a National Junior Basketball (NJB) boys team when she was noticed by a girls club team coach in Southern California.
Playing with boys wasn't out of the ordinary for either of the sisters. They'd grown up playing basketball with their five brothers, after all.
"We figured if we could play with them," Gioconda explained in an interview with HoopGurlz.com in October, "we could play against any girls."