New year brings forth conference opponents

Turning over the calendar couldn’t come at a better time for the teams at Idaho and Eastern Washington.

The 2007 portion – or the non-conference schedule – wasn’t too good for the Vandals or Eagles, who combined to go 4-21 with just one win apiece against Division I opponents.

But 2008 marks a new beginning with the conference season commencing for both teams. EWU (3-10) is at Northern Arizona (4-9) on Thursday and Sacramento State (2-10) on Saturday, while Idaho (1-11) is at New Mexico State (9-3) on Thursday and Louisiana Tech (6-7) next Wednesday.

“Finding the plusses is kind of hard right now,” seventh-year EWU coach Wendy Schuller said. “I think the one plus is we have matured, we have learned a lot. Now it’s matter of applying some of these lessons when it matters.

“We played lot of young kids, they got lot of minutes and we’ve taken some lumps. Now the second half of this year the freshmen should start to play more like sophomores.”

Eastern has six new faces on the roster, including three freshmen, and just one senior.

Idaho has seven freshmen and three seniors.

“I’m just really happy with how much we’re improving,” seventh-year Idaho coach Mike Divilbiss said. “I’m happy for the girls. We went home for Christmas with the win. When you look at where we started in November … it’s just really neat to see how far we’ve come.”

Big Sky

All three EWU freshmen are playing prominent roles with 5-foot-11 guard Kyla Evans, a 3-point sharp-shooter out of Brewster, Wash., moving into the starting lineup and leading the team in scoring (12.7 points per game).

Another big change is moving junior Katy Baker (11.7 ppg) to point guard. Also, Sydney Benson (9.0 ppg, 7.5 rebounds per game) is getting more consistent as she recovers from an off-season back injury to provide more help inside with Nichole Scott (9.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg).

“It’s been the kind of experience where we struggle at one thing, fix that and another comes up,” Schuller said. “Early on rebounding was killing us but we were doing nice job defensively. We take care of the rebounding and stop playing defense. Eventually we’re getting through everything, but now it’s the real deal once we start conference play.”

•Evans is the top-scoring freshman in the league and seventh nationally in 3-pointers per game (3.1). … Idaho State’s Natalie Doma is fourth nationally in scoring (23.1) and rebounding (12.1) and teammate Andrea Lightoot is fourth in shooting (53.2 perecent). … Portland State’s Claire Faucher is No. 1 in assists (9.11). … PSU, under first-year head coach and former Washington State coach Sherri Murrell, is the surprise team with a 10-3 record. … After a shaky stretch and despite the prolonged absence of reigning league MVP, junior point guard Mandy Morales, Montana is back on track at 10-3 with seven straight wins. … Three Big Sky teams have lost to Wyoming, the only ranked team Big Sky teams have played, but the conference is 11-10 against the WAC and 4-4 against the Pac-10. … Five of the nine teams have losing records and five go into conference play with multigame losing streaks. … Freshmen Lexi Bishop (Shadle Park) and Kelli Valentine (Mead) are starting for PSU and averaging a combined 5.7 and 8.8 points in more than 20 minutes a game. … Freshman Lyndi Seidensticker (Lewis and Clark) is averaging 4.9 points in 13 minutes off the bench for Montana State. Sophomore Jamie Thornton (Pullman) is averaging 5.5 points in 12 minutes and had 10 points in her first career start last week. … Freshman Jenna Galloway (Ferris) has missed the last five Northern Arizona games with a foot injury. She started four of eight games and is third in scoring at 8.1. … Sophomore Tonya Schnibbe (University) is averaging 6.1 points in 32 minutes as the starting point guard for Weber State. She’s third in the conference in assists (4.75) and assist/turnover ratio (1.73).

WAC

Idaho set a WAC record in limiting Colorado State to eight field goals for its lone win of the season.

“We’re playing good defense,” Divilbiss said. “We’re getting great looks (on offense), but we’re thinking too much, hesitating a little bit and not putting the ball in the basket. It will come.”

Last year’s All-Freshmen standouts, post Katie Madison and point guard Charlotte Otero, have struggled as they adjust to all the new teammates – nine different players have started more than one game.

Madison still leads in the team in scoring (11.6) and rebounding (6.8).

Senior wing Sara Dennehy, the team leader, is getting back in the flow after injuries. Yinka Olorunnife, a 6-foot post from Ontario, has been the most productive of the freshmen (9.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg).

“I’ve heard kids say we’re a better basketball team this year even though our record doesn’t show it,” Divilbiss said. “We’re better defensively than we ever were last year. We’re more athletic than we’ve ever been.

“We’re growing, I’m really pleased. It’s real important not to get caught up in wins and losses right now. It’s a positive environment. The girls are real happy, as happy as you can be when you’re 1-11. There are a lot good things going on. We have to play with more freedom offensively, more confidence, more confidence in ourselves, in each other and the system.”

•Nevada (9-3) is off to the best start in school history. … No WAC coach has been at their current school longer than five seasons other than Divilbiss. … The WAC is 0-4 against ranked teams. … Hawaii’s Tanya Smith is the only player averaging a double-double at 12.0 points and 10.6 rebounds. … Only four players, including two freshmen, average at least three assists a game. San Jose senior Brittany Imaku is the leader at 4.33. … Boise State (8-4), Louisiana Tech (6-7) and Nevada were picked as the top three teams, followed by New Mexico State (9-3).

Tip-ins

Heather Bowman‘s broken finger didn’t require surgery and Gonzaga’s star sophomore could be cleared to play in time for next week’s West Coast Conference opener. The Bulldogs (8-6) finish their non-conference slate with a Thursday game at Saint Joseph’s (7-6), which just knocked off 15th-ranked Auburn and lost to Wyoming by two and Rutgers by six. … Washington State (3-10), which was soundly defeated by second-ranked Stanford and No. 11 California to open Pac-10 play, is home Friday against Washington (5-9, 0-2). It is June Daugherty’s first game against her old team and will be televised on Fox Sports at 7 p.m. The intrastate rivalry contest is also the inaugural “Cougs Have Heart” basketball game to raise awareness for heart disease. Sponsored by Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital and The Hope Heart Institute, the first 1,000 fans through the doors will receive a free exclusive “Cougs Have Heart” T-Shirt. UW has won 24 straight games over the Cougs, 23 with Daugherty at the helm. … Nevada stopped San Francisco’s six-game winning streak, the Dons’ longest in six seasons. In the last three wins, sophomore Heidi Heintz (Central Valley) averaged 15 points in 38 minutes.