Horrendous Month Didn’t Eliminate WSU

Even though the Washington State women’s basketball team has won just one game in its last seven, if certain scenarios played themselves out between now and Saturday, the Cougars could be in at least a tie for third place in the conference.

And yes, amazingly enough, the Cougars could be sitting in front of the television Sunday morning with a chance to receive an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament.

One month ago, the Cougars had a record of 15-5, including 6-3 in conference. Now they’re 16-11 and 7-9, tied for seventh in the Pac-10.

WSU wraps up the regular season with two games at Friel Court, starting with tonight’s game at 7 against Southern Cal (12-13, 7-9). UCLA (13-12, 8-8) visits Saturday at 2 p.m.

Also ahead of the Cougars in the standings, but within reach, are Arizona (18-7, 9-7), Oregon (17-10, 9-8) and Washington (14-13, 8-8).

There are several ways WSU could finish in a third-place tie. Of course, all of those scenarios require WSU to win twice this week.

Rhodes attributes much of his team’s poor play to a lack of depth.

“We hit a stretch where we played five physical ballclubs,” Rhodes said. “And we just don’t have the bench support that a lot of other teams do.”

WSU has also shot poorly.

“There was a stretch where we weren’t getting any off-guard production,” Rhodes said. “So then teams started zoning and getting gimmicky on us and ran box-and-ones and diamond-and-ones, which slowed down Jenni (Ruff) and took away from her ability to be a solid one-on-one player.”

So there hasn’t been much talk about the NCAA’s among WSU.

“We want to be relaxed and just go out and play (this week),” Rhodes said. “We have four seniors (Ruff, Kelli Kronberger, Adrienne Keith, Nikki Whaley) who have had good careers. We just want to send them out on a positive note.

“We’re not spending a lot of time talking about it (NCAA’s), because it isn’t in our control anymore.

“Our goal was to win 12 conference games,” Rhodes added, “and we were in a position to do that halfway through conference play. I feel for our kids because they’ve worked hard. They haven’t made any excuses and asked, ‘What if?’ I don’t think anybody thought we could do this, especially after losing Amy Saneholtz before the year even started.”

Last year, the NCAA invited five teams from the Pac-10 to the tournament. The fourth- and fifth-place teams, Oregon and Southern Cal, both finished 18-10 last year.

EWU in Big Sky playoffs

The Big Sky Tournament opens tonight at 6 at the University of Montana with fourth-seeded Montana State (14-13) taking on fifth-seeded Northern Arizona (14-12). After that game, third-seeded Weber State (15-11) meets sixth-seeded Eastern Washington (7-19) at 8.

The top two seeds get byes in the first round. “You only have to win two games to get into the NCAAs, which is better than having to win three,” Montana coach Robin Selvig said. “The main thing you feel good about is that you won the regular-season title. That’s probably the toughest goal to get because it’s over a longer 14-game span.”

The winner of the newly expanded six-team tournament gets an automatic bid to the 64-team NCAA tournament.

As for EWU, the Eagles will have to contend with Mika Brown. She leads Weber State with 14.6 points per game while EWU gets 13.3 points from Kristy Missal, who leads Big Sky shooters at 53.7 percent.

“(Weber State) beat us twice in the regular season,” EWU coach Heidi VanDerveer said. “They are a very good team. If we play well, I think we can be competitive.”

On Friday, second-seeded Boise State (12-14) takes on the highest remaining seed at 6 p.m., while host and 12-time league champion Montana (22-4) takes on the lowest remaining seed at 8.

The championship game is Saturday night at 7.

“I think it would be very hard for anybody to beat (Montana),” VanDerveer said. “Part of it is they’re at home, part of it is they are very good and part of it is they have been there before. They are used to winning.”

Montana has a 14-0 home record this season and will be trying to protect a 27-game home winning streak, fourth-longest in the nation. The Grizzlies are looking for their 11th Big Sky tournament title.

Big Sky awards

Montana forward Greta Koss was named the Big Sky Conference outstanding player for the 1995-96 women’s basketball season.

Locally, players selected to the All-Sky Conference Team were EWU’s Missall, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, and Idaho’s Mindy Rice, a 6-1 senior center.

Also selected was Post Falls grad Michelle Schultz, of Boise State.

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