Zags’ Coach Sees Promise For Future

One more win and the Gonzaga University women’s basketball program can call this season a success.

But over the long haul it has been a disappointing year for the Bulldogs.

“Disappointing in the fact that we haven’t been able to reach a consistency,” third-year coach Kellee Barney said. “We’re seeing improvements, we’re seeing strides, but it takes some time to build a program.”

The Bulldogs have won four games and lost 20 this season and are in seventh place in the West Coast Conference at 2-10. Last year, Gonzaga was 4-23 and finished last in the WCC at 2-8.

Its final two regular-season games are at home, Thursday against Saint Mary’s (14-10, 8-4) and Saturday against Santa Clara (18-7, 8-4). Both are “winnable” Barney said.

A lot of Gonzaga’s problem has been its lack of scoring. The Bulldogs average 55.1 points per game and allow 72. Junior guard Lydia Ledgerwood is the only player scoring in double figures (10.2 ppg).

“They can’t just turn around and hit their jump shot like they did in high school,” Barney said.

Miracles aside, the Bulldogs will close out the season Feb. 27 and 28 and March 2 at the the WCC tournament, hosted by Loyola-Marymount. They will play either No. 2 San Francisco or No. 1 Portland in the first round.

“The players haven’t gotten caught up in the ol’ ‘Woe is me. We’re so bad.’ They’ve battled through the adversity,” Barney said.

Cougars travel to California

Washington State (2-10 Pac-10, 8-13) will make its final road trip of the season, Thursday at Stanford (25-1, 13-0) and Saturday at California (6-16, 2-11), with just nine players.

Freshman guard Cathy McNeely will return after missing the last five games following an appendectomy. She returned to practice Tuesday.

Redshirt sophomore forward Laura Wilder is out for the year. Wilder tore her anterior cruciate ligament and medial meniscus in her right knee last Saturday against Washington. She is scheduled for surgery Friday. She had the same surgery two years ago on her left knee.

Stanford, ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll and No. 2 in the USA Today/CNN poll, also is down a few bodies. The most recent injured player is reserve forward Heather Owen (5.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg). The Moscow, Idaho, athlete broke the pinkie on her right hand in practice last week.

Around the conferences

Idaho’s 5-foot-11 Suzy Goss of Boise, who broke her neck in a diving accident last summer, is practicing with the team and is making a lot of progress. The Vandals’ Sunday home game against Boise State has been moved ahead to 1:35 p.m. for TV … Eastern Washington (2-11, 5-18), still in the hunt for the sixth spot in the Big Sky Conference tournament, plays its final three games against the top three teams. Montana State (9-4, 14-9) comes in Thursday. , DataTimes MEMO: These 2 sidebars appeared with the story:<^ 1. SCHEDULE Today: Idaho at Long Beach St., 7:30 p.m. Thursday: Saint Mary’s at Gonzaga, 7 p.m.; Montana St. at Eastern, 7 p.m.; Wash. St. at Stanford, 7:30 p.m. Friday:Puget Sound at Whitworth, 6 p.m. Saturday: Wash. St. at Cal, noon; Pacific Lutheran at Whitworth, 6 p.m.; Santa Clara at Gonzaga, 7 p.m.; Montana at Eastern, 7 p.m. Sunday: Boise St. at Idaho, 1:35 p.m.

2. AREA LEADERS Scoring Player, school FG-FGA FT-FTA 3pt Avg. Alli Nieman, UI 138-280 127-167 10 18.8 Tanya Kirk, EWU 122-362 65-92 33 14.9 Jen Tissue, Whit. 103-249 61-69 19 14.3 Rebecca Moore, Whit. 99-283 52-73 42 13.3 Yvonne Kunze, WSU 107-211 45-74 0 12.3 Amy Saneholtz, WSU 92-182 73-109 0 12.2 Shana Ray, EWU, 67-168 42-62 2 11.9 Sherri Northington, Whit. 92-186 54-98 1 10.9 Rachel Ferguson, EWU 79-159 66-85 0 10.7 Joanna Smith, WSU 78-184 14-23 54 10.7

Rebounding Northington, Whitworth, 9.9 (218); Nieman, Idaho, 9.5 (210); Kirk, EWU, 7.2 (166); Andrea Sherer, Whitworth, 6.5 (142); Kunze, WSU, 6.0 (125).

Assists Jade Hyett, WSU, 7.9 (165); Jennifer Sutter, EWU, 4.9 (113); Tissue, Whitworth, 4.6 (92); Kathryn Gussett, UI, 3.3 (72); Moore, Whitworth, 2.9 (64).

Steals Hyett, WSU, 4.6 (97); Tissue, Whitworth, 2.7 (53); Moore, Whitworth, 2.0 (44); Ari Skorpik, UI, 1.9 (41); Gussett, UI, 1.9 (41).

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