By Shannon Russell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Xavier teammates and best friends Reetta Piipari and Amy Waugh can often be found with smiles on their faces. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

Piipari and Waugh at the Cintas Center. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

Waugh expresses herself to Piipari during the 2001 NCAA women's regional tournament. (Craig Ruttle file photo) | ZOOM |

Long before they became one of the country's premier women's backcourts, Xavier University senior hoop stars Reetta Piipari and Amy Waugh spent their days plotting mischief.

Forget occasional high jinks. Between classes, basketball and studying, Piipari and Waugh pulled off so many practical jokes that friends named them The Evil Twins.

"Back then it was pretty funny," said Waugh, who befriended Piipari freshman year. "Of course, since then we've become much more mature."

Piipari and Waugh propped water-filled cups atop ajar doors, drenching the first suite-mates to barge in after class. They pirated all the drawstrings from Piipari's shorts and rigged them between roommates' drawers. They taped fishing line in their doorway and waited for someone to trip - but they didn't want anyone to get hurt, so they also taped pillows to the walls to cushion the fall.

A mere mention of the escapades still cracks them up. But when the conversation turns to basketball, the laughing stops.

If there's one thing Piipari and Waugh take seriously, it's Musketeers hoops.

Xavier' only seniors, the guards anchor the 18-8 team (10-5 Atlantic 10) under new coach Kevin McGuff.

Dubbed 'scary good' by womenscollegehoops.com, Waugh and Piipari are the only active Division I women's teammates with 500 career assists and 1,000 career points each.

"It's kind of rare for something like that to happen," McGuff said. "One of the things that's so neat about them is that they're so unselfish. If one of them's having a great game, the other one just feeds her the ball."

Waugh found Piipari for her 500th assist Friday. In Xavier's 65-45 defeat of St. Bonaventure, Piipari drilled a 3-pointer off a Waugh pass with 5:50 to play in the first half.

The backcourt is so in synch, Waugh and Piipari scored their 1,000th points this season - in the same game.

Piipari became Xavier women's 16th 1,000-point club member on a 3-pointer in the Coors Rocky Mountain Invitational at Colorado State on Nov. 30. Nearly 14 minutes later, Waugh hit a free throw and became member No. 17.

Waugh now has 1,424 career points and 506 career assists. Piipari has 1,330 career points and is Xavier's all-time career assist leader with 636.

"It all started freshman year," Piipari said. "That's when we started playing together and building up chemistry."

After Xavier's 73-72 loss to Stephen F. Austin in the 2000 NCAA Tournament's first round, Waugh and Piipari sat on a Louisiana State curb and mulled their basketball futures over a bag of sunflower seeds.

"By senior year we wanted to be one of the best backcourts in the country," Waugh said. "So it's kind of fitting for all of these things to be happening now."

Their comfort on the court is the result of a four-year friendship off the court. Freshman year, Waugh began her first-rate education of Piipari's homeland, Finland.

"All I ever heard about was Nokia, which is from Finland," Waugh said. "Every time Reetta saw someone with a Nokia phone, her first question was 'Do you know where that's made?' "

The summer of 2000, the entire Xavier team traveled to Finland for a 10-day basketball tour. Among Xavier's opponents was the Finnish National Team - coached by Risto Piipari, Reetta's father.

They couldn't describe the trip without dissolving into giggles. The conversation went like this:

QUITE A PAIR

Amy Waugh Season stats and career highlights: Points per game: 18.2 (Leads Atlantic 10) Three-pointers per game: 3.4 (Fourth in nation); Has more threes (87) than three A-10 teams Three-point percentage: .380 (7th A-10) Free-throw percentage: .911 (2nd A-10) Career points: 1,424 Career assists: 506 Career three-pointers: 262 Reetta Piipari Season stats and career highlights: Points per game: 14.2 (11th Atlantic 10) Assists per game: 5.0 (3rd A-10) Assist/turnover ratio: 2.03 (2nd A-10) Three-pointers a game: 1.9 (8th A-10) Free-throw percentage: .762 (8th A-10) Career points: 1,330 Career three-pointers: 218 Records: Holds Xavier assist records for game (17), season (281) and career (636).

Piipari: "It was a lot of fun."

Waugh: "They tried to feed me reindeer, and things like that."

Piipari: "We took a bike ride around Helsinki."

Waugh: "It was 30 MILES."

Piipari: "And we went kayaking in the Gulf of Finland."

Waugh: "For two hours. In the pouring rain."

Piipari: "It was so fun."

Waugh: "Yeah, it was."

As classroom and basketball demands grow, Piipari and Waugh have less time for practical jokes. But Waugh said keeping a sense of humor is always helpful, especially when student teaching first graders at St. Mary's in Hyde Park.

When she recently spoke at the middle school's honors awards ceremony, one of the students asked her if she could dunk.

"I just pretty much laughed and said 'Not yet,' " said the 5-foot-6 Waugh.

Waugh was chosen as the class' 'Star Student,' meaning she gets to bring a special guest to class. Sometime before Sunday's Senior Day home game against Dayton, she'll bring Piipari.

Their paths will probably diverge after graduation; Piipari would like to play basketball overseas, and Waugh wants to pursue a basketball playing career (possibly in the WNBA) or coach.

For now, they have unfinished business at Xavier. The Musketeers begin Atlantic 10 Tournament play March 6.

"I can't even picture playing here without (Amy)," Piipari said.

Said Waugh: "We've obviously been through a lot, but we've helped each other through things together."

E-mail srussell@enquirer.com.