Ccs Becomes Most Successful Of Area’s Teams

The area’s Division I basketball teams are struggling. Whitworth, of the NAIA Division II, is up and down. But one team - little ol’ Community Colleges of Spokane - is quietly putting together an exceptional season.

“We’re doing better than I thought we might,” confessed ninth-year CCS coach Bruce Johnson, whose team has a 15-4, 3-0 record in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges.

“It’s a good blend. They get along, they’re fairly athletic. … we’re not physically overpowering. They’re just doing the right things and we can score in a lot of different ways.”

The Sasquatch divide their offense evenly, with no player averaging more than 12 points per game. Alana Carlander, a 5-foot-9 freshman from Riverside High School, and Shelley Massingale, a 6-0 freshman from Kennewick, are both averaging 11.7. Carlander leads the 31-team NWAACC in 3s, having hit 22 of 44.

The Sasquatch stumbled through last season and finished 12-14, 6-6 in the NWAACC’s Eastern Division. This year, they have already beaten second-place Blue Mountain (10-6, 2-1). The first meeting between the teams was last weekend. They meet again Feb. 8 at SCC.

The NWAACC’s four division winners earn automatic bids into the eight-team conference tournament, March 6-8 at Everett or Skagit Valley. CCS, fifth in the conference poll, last won the championship in 1984.

Erickson collegiate career ends

Washington State senior forward Kristin Erickson, who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury to her left knee on Jan. 11, is done for the season. Erickson, who was second on the team in scoring (12.7) behind Yvonne Kunze (12.9), will undergo surgery on Jan. 23.

The loss of Erickson leaves WSU (6-7, 0-4 Pac-10) with 10 healthy players heading into Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against Washington at Seattle.

The Huskies (7-6, 2-2) are led by Jamie Redd, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard from San Francisco. Redd leads the Pac-10 in scoring, averaging 23.4 points per game.

“She’s (Redd) one of those kids like Dr. J. or Michael Jordan - you have the tendency to just want to see what she does,” WSU coach Harold Rhodes said.

Washington’s Amber Hall, a 6-1 sophomore, leads the conference in rebounding with 10.5 per game.

The Huskies lead the series 33-17 after sweeping both games last year. The Cougars have not won at Seattle since their 75-72 OT victory in 1993.

Horned Frogs are jumping

Former Gonzaga coach Mike Petersen is faring well as the first-year coach at Texas Christian University.

Peterson, who left GU after the 1988-89 season, has taken a group of women who compiled a 3-51 record over the past two seasons and turned them into a team talking WAC championship. He gained a reputation for building programs after guiding Gonzaga through a smooth transition from the NAIA with only one losing season in the school’s first three years of NCAA competition.

The Horned Frogs’ 9-5 record (3-1 Western Athletic Conference) indicates things are changing for a program that had managed only eight victories in three seasons.

Around the conferences

Former Post Falls High School standout Heidi Umthun, a freshman reserve guard at Boise State (3-9, 1-0), is this week’s Big West Conference’s player of the week. Umthun led the Broncos to a 71-69 overtime upset victory over Nevada with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. … Another area standout, Central Valley grad Kristin Hepton of the University of Portland, was named West Coast Conference player of the week. Hepton helped the Pilots (11-1, 6-0) to a 7-1 December record.

Eastern’s Shana Ray will miss the next 2-3 weeks because of an ankle injury. The talented sophomore guard injured her ankle early in the 68-58 loss to Northern Arizona on Jan. 4. … Saturday’s USF at Gonzaga game will mark the return to Spokane for junior guard Brittany Linde of the Dons. Linde, a Goldendale High grad, played for the Spokane All-Stars. The No. 2 scorer (14.4) in the WCC, she has started 76 straight games and has 1,098 points… . Lewis-Clark State lost its 14-game winning streak, one short of the school record, last Saturday when Seattle Pacific won 73-58 at Lewiston.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: AREA LEADERS

Scoring Player,school FG-FGA FT-FTA 3pt. Avg.

Alli Nieman, UI 72-157 77-100 4 17.3 Rebecca Moore, Whit. 60-154 37-48 29 15.5 Jen Tissue, Whit. 51-121 35-37 12 14.9 Tanya Kirk, EWU 74-222 29-41 22 14.2 Yvonne Kunze, WSU 68-133 32-50 0 12.9 Kristin Erickson, WSU 48-113 16-20 15 12.7 Shana Ray, EWU, 43-110 29-42 1 11.6 Rachel Ferguson, EWU 58-113 44-55 0 11.4 Sherri Northington, Whit. 55-112 20-45 1 10.9 Amy Saneholtz, WSU 47-91 41-59 0 10.4

Rebounding Northington, Whitworth, 9.2 (110); Nieman, Idaho, 8.7 (113); Kirk, EWU, 7.6 (107); Andrea Sherer, Whitworth, 6.6 (79); Sydney Perno, GU, 5.7 (80); Kunze, WSU 5.7 (76).

Assists Jade Hyett, WSU, 6.7 (87); Jennifer Sutter, EWU, 5.5 (72); Tissue, Whitworth, 4.9 (49); Moore, Whitworth, 3.8 (46); Kathryn Gussett, UI, 3.5 (45);

Steals Hyett, WSU, 4.7 (62); Tissue, Whitworth, 3.0 (30); Moore, Whitworth, 2.6 (31); Sutter, EWU, 2.1 (27); Gussett, UI, 2.0 (26).

Schedule Thursday: Eastern at Montana State, 6:30 p.m.; San Diego at Gonzaga, 7 p.m. Friday: Whitworth at Pacific Lutheran, 6 p.m.; Pacific at Idaho, 7 p.m. Saturday: Whitworth at Puget Sound, 6 p.m.; Eastern at Montana, 6:30 p.m.; Washington State at Washington, 7 p.m., USF at Gonzaga, 7 p.m. Sunday: Idaho at Boise State, 1 p.m.

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