Otters Put Up a Fight Against SCU Broncos
Articles / Online
Date: November 2, 2007  

Auvria Hampton, Staff Reporter

California State Monterey Bay Women’s Basketball team looses Exhibition 61-83 to Santa Clara University, a member of the NCAA Division I West Coast Conference.  The game was the Otters first of two preseason exhibition competitions, the next will be held Saturday November 3, 2007 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
David Wingard, the Otters Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach said, “the Exhibition is an opportunity.”  The Otters approached the game as an opportunity to get better and use the specific things they learned in practice in a game against someone other than themselves. 
The non-conference women’s basketball-match up was a sight to see as students, fans and family filled the Leavey Center dressed in costume Wednesday night to watch the Women’s basketball teams battle it out for the win. 
Although CSUMB came out strong with quick feet SCU dominated the first half taking an immediate 5-0 lead, with a jumper from Senior Tracey Walker followed by a three-pointer from Junior Elizabeth Doran, who registered a game-high of 21 points. 
The unified Otters fought back with strong performances from Junior Dana Andrews and Senior Britnea Moore who both totaled 18 points for the night, as well as Senior Alma Lopez who tailed with 14 points and registered a game-high of four steals. 
Successful free throws and two-pointers from Senior Krista Herr, Junior Jessica Harris and new comers Junior JaNae Westmoreland and Junior Shanna Holmes helped lessen the gap for the otters.  Only the SCU Broncos held the lead with Freshman Rhianna Faithfull ending the first half 53-33 in a three-point shot with 16 seconds left on the clock.
Although the second half started off with a two-point bang from Senior Britnea Moore the Broncos maintained the lead and their momentum with back-to-back shots from Doran. 
However, the Otters did not get trampled lying down; they fought back strong digging their claws deep into the Broncos.  Unfortunately the closest the Otters got to closing the twenty-something gap held throughout the game was by 18 points.  In the last 6 minutes of the game Doran made a solid jumper giving the Broncos the largest lead of the night, 26 points.  Redshirt and Junior Sara Majors ended the game victorious for the Broncos with three straight points before the buzzer with a final score of 83-61.  

Saw IV Turns Stomachs Inside Out
Articles / Online
Date: November 2, 2007  

Alex Hawes, Staff Reporter

In the fourth installment of the seemingly everlasting series of deception, clue digging and torture, Saw IV seemed to take up right where Saw III left off which was a dead John/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) in a disgustingly realistic autopsy scene. However, when the surgeon extricated John’s stomach and cut inside to see the goodies that lied therein, he found yet another recorded tape inside which seemed to be the sure link to more pain and torture that could fill up the movie’s 2 hours span.

The audience was introduced to a multitude of new characters to keep up with and relate to, including Rigg (Lyriq Bent), a SWAT team lieutenant and friend of several cop figures in previous Saw films. Rigg was the main protagonist and was encountered by Jigsaw’s left hand man (a mystery character throughout the film).

Rigg was set up with quite a predicament. Due to his obsession with saving troubled people, Jigsaw had set Rigg up in a situation where if he wanted to save two of his cop friends (one being Detective Hoffman, his boss, and the other being Detective Matthews, the lone survivor from the original Saw) he would have to abandon his obsession with saving unknown innocents. And it just so happens that there are a whole bunch of innocent people set up in death traps throughout his path to finding his fellow detectives.

On the other side of the story, FBI detectives Blanc and Perez followed Rigg’s trail and attempted to piece together exactly what was happening.

The acting was decent, and it got progressively better throughout the film. The devices and complexities/plot twists were unique and it was definitely a movie where a lot of thinking was needed to keep up with all that was going on. The film also did a good job of drawing on flashbacks in order to remind viewers of things that had happened in the previous three movies

However, there were definitely some things that were holding the film back. Since most of the characters were new, an extra effort should have been made to bring empathy and feeling for the new characters, but instead it seemed like the whole movie was rushed. Instead of focusing on bringing that empathic element into it, the film focused on fitting in as many grisly torture sequences and confusing plot twists possible.

Saw IV was surprisingly good, especially for a fourth installment in a series. Looking at other fourths in series such as Friday the 13 th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien Resurrection, and even The Phantom Menace, it is extremely tough to make the movie interesting let alone better then some of the previous ones; that was just what Saw IV did.

Saw IV was easily the best of the sequels and it did a great job of keeping the audience on the edge of their seat. It will be interesting to see how sequels 5,6 and 7 turn out in what is rumored to be a 7 part series. If they’re all above average like this one, we could be talking about the best horror film series ever.

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman

Movie: Saw IV

Grade: C+

Saw IV Turns Stomachs Inside Out
Articles / Online
Date: November 2, 2007  

Alex Hawes, Staff Reporter

In the fourth installment of the seemingly everlasting series of deception, clue digging and torture, Saw IV seemed to take up right where Saw III left off which was a dead John/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) in a disgustingly realistic autopsy scene. However, when the surgeon extricated John’s stomach and cut inside to see the goodies that lied therein, he found yet another recorded tape inside which seemed to be the sure link to more pain and torture that could fill up the movie’s 2 hours span.

The audience was introduced to a multitude of new characters to keep up with and relate to, including Rigg (Lyriq Bent), a SWAT team lieutenant and friend of several cop figures in previous Saw films. Rigg was the main protagonist and was encountered by Jigsaw’s left hand man (a mystery character throughout the film).

Rigg was set up with quite a predicament. Due to his obsession with saving troubled people, Jigsaw had set Rigg up in a situation where if he wanted to save two of his cop friends (one being Detective Hoffman, his boss, and the other being Detective Matthews, the lone survivor from the original Saw) he would have to abandon his obsession with saving unknown innocents. And it just so happens that there are a whole bunch of innocent people set up in death traps throughout his path to finding his fellow detectives.

On the other side of the story, FBI detectives Blanc and Perez followed Rigg’s trail and attempted to piece together exactly what was happening.

The acting was decent, and it got progressively better throughout the film. The devices and complexities/plot twists were unique and it was definitely a movie where a lot of thinking was needed to keep up with all that was going on. The film also did a good job of drawing on flashbacks in order to remind viewers of things that had happened in the previous three movies

However, there were definitely some things that were holding the film back. Since most of the characters were new, an extra effort should have been made to bring empathy and feeling for the new characters, but instead it seemed like the whole movie was rushed. Instead of focusing on bringing that empathic element into it, the film focused on fitting in as many grisly torture sequences and confusing plot twists possible.

Saw IV was surprisingly good, especially for a fourth installment in a series. Looking at other fourths in series such as Friday the 13 th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien Resurrection, and even The Phantom Menace, it is extremely tough to make the movie interesting let alone better then some of the previous ones; that was just what Saw IV did.

Saw IV was easily the best of the sequels and it did a great job of keeping the audience on the edge of their seat. It will be interesting to see how sequels 5,6 and 7 turn out in what is rumored to be a 7 part series. If they’re all above average like this one, we could be talking about the best horror film series ever.

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman

Movie: Saw IV

Grade: C+