Sports

It was a predictably emotional Senior Night for the Gonzaga women’s basketball team Wednesday.

The body of a Sandpoint man killed in an avalanche in the Selkirk Mountains in North Idaho was recovered on Saturday.

From staff reports

PULLMAN – Washington State just keeps ascending.

By nearly every measure – NET rankings, Associated Press poll, KenPom, bracket projections – Gonzaga is moving up. The Bulldogs, following impressive West Coast Conference wins over San Francisco and Saint Mary’s, climbed four spots to No. 19 in the latest AP rankings. The regular-season champion Gaels dropped from 17 to 23 after falling to Gonzaga 70-57 on Saturday in Moraga.

Graham Ike was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week after scoring 50 total points in wins over San Francisco and Saint Mary’s and there could be a bigger award for Gonzaga’s junior forward when the league announces its postseason honors later this week.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We’re a bit tired. Not sleepy, mind you. The other type of tired. The type that weighs you down, slows your mind, keeps you from enjoying each day. All because of what is outside. Can spring show up already?

The Washington State Cougars were on the practice field Aug. 4 when the news came down that the Pac-12 was breaking up.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Too much to describe happened in this ardent college town Sunday, so you’re better off not even trying to describe it.

The late Latah County magistrate William C. Hamlett first laid eyes on the University of Idaho and the law school from which he graduated in the early 1970s. Ever after, he said Moscow and UI reminded him of Wainwright College from Mickey Rooney’s Andy Hardy comedies of the 1940s.

PULLMAN – Andrej Jakimovski wasn’t exactly himself in his Washington State group’s win over UCLA on Saturday. That much was clear just by looking at him, at the wrap on his shoulder, at the cut on his bottom lip.

MORAGA, Calif. – After losing for the fourth time in eight games last month at Santa Clara, Gonzaga knew it had to do almost everything right to ensure the NCAA Tournament selection committee wouldn’t leave the Bulldogs out of the 68-team field for the first time since 1997-98.

Gonzaga has known since the final buzzer sounded in an 86-68 victory Thursday over San Francisco that it was locked into the second seed for the upcoming West Coast Conference Tournament.

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We thought a long time about hardly touching Saturday’s college basketball results in today’s column. Maybe write about the Sounders’ inability to score and how it’s undermining years of goodwill. Or how we didn’t win any writing awards again. Or maybe we would take a look at the NFL Combine’s quarterback day. But, nah. It’s the best time of year. And we’re obligated to deal with it.

YAKIMA – In the end, the Deer Park girls basketball team was almost perfect.

They say good things come to those who wait. But senior Teryn Gardner and her top-seeded Mead teammates were tired of waiting.

Neah Bay’s Amber Swan knew the only thing that would take away the sting of losing the State 1B girls title game two years ago was getting another shot at team that beat the Red Devils.