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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cougs Need To Put Brakes On Skid

Kevin Blocker Staff Writer

Everything the Washington State women’s basketball team didn’t want to have happen is happening.

The Cougars (15-8, 6-6 Pac-10) are reeling. They’ve lost three straight games to start the second half of the Pac-10 season and now face league-leading Stanford (20-2, 13-0), ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press poll.

The two square off Thursday night at WSU’s Friel Court at 7. Saturday at 2:30 p.m., the Cougars host Cal (5-7, 1-12).

At least one win this week is a must because WSU has fallen to sixth in the conference and travels to Arizona and Arizona State next week.

In the midst of the current losing skid, one glaring statistic that jumps out of the box scores is the shooting percentage of Jenni Ruff, WSU’s leading scorer at 22.3 points a game.

In losses to Washington, Oregon and Oregon State, Ruff is shooting just 24.5 percent from the floor. Against those teams she was 6 for 22, 4 for 20 and 3 for 11, respectively.

WSU has shot a brutal 28.7 percent (52 for 181) during the three-game skid.

Playoff time

Whitworth (8-16, 6-8 Northwest Conference) qualified for the conference’s postseason tournament with the help of four win in its last five games. The Pirates travel to play league champion Willamette (18-6, 13-1) tonight at 7.

The Community Colleges of Spokane (12-14, 6-6) travel to Columbia Basin (10-11, 6-6) for a 7 p.m. NWAACC Eastern Division playoff game on Thursday.

Eagle notes

Eastern Washington senior’s Kristy Missall, Tina Smith and Resa Watterson each played in their 100th game in EWU’s 72-58 win over Idaho at Reese Court on Saturday.

The next game Nicole King plays in will be her 100th. She sat out the Idaho game due to a sore knee.

Point guard Jennifer Sutter is 10th in the nation in assists averaging 7.5 a game.

Eastern (7-15, 5-5) hosts Weber State (12-11, 6-5) Thursday night at Reese Court at 7 and Northern Arizona (12-11, 4-7) Saturday afternoon at 4.

Rice status?

Idaho’s Mindy Rice is “on crutches until further notice,” Vandal coach Julie Holt said. Rice did more damage to the arch of her left foot in Idaho’s loss to Eastern Saturday night.

Rice’s playing status is up in the air for this weekend. Idaho is host to Northern Arizona (12-11, 4-7) on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Weber State (12-11, 6-5) on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Big Sky player of week

Northern Arizona forward Keturah Mattox, a 5-foot-11 senior from Winslow, Ariz., was named this week’s Big Sky Conference player of the week. Mattox tied her career-high of 22 points in Northern Arizona’s 80-60 victory over Idaho State, hitting 10 of 16 from the field and 1 of 2 from behind the arc.

Others nominated were Michelle Schultz of Boise State, Tina Smith of Eastern Washington, Kelly Boles of Idaho State, Greta Koss of Montana, Melissa Beil of Montana State and Mika Brown of Weber State.

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