WHL tabs Wahl for weekly honor
A critical week for the Spokane Chiefs got off to a good start when veteran center Mitch Wahl was named the Western Hockey League Player of the Week.
Wahl (left in picture), who has a 10-game point streak, had eight points in four games as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to a season-high seven games.
Now the Chiefs have three home games this week, starting Wednesday against Everett, which is two points ahead of them for the third seed in the playoffs.
League-leading Tri-City, five points ahead of the Chiefs, visits on Saturday. The teams will play on pink ice as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Night and money will be raised, including a silent auction, for the local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Prince George visits Friday, when the Top 25 Chiefs will be introduced as part of the 25th anniversary celebration.
Vandersloot WCC selection
Gonzaga basketball: Bulldogs junior point guard Courtney Vandersloot has been named the West Coast Conference women’s player of the week for the second straight week and fourth time this season.
Vandersloot averaged 20 points, 8.5 assists, 5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in two victories.
•The GU women continue their record- breaking climb up the Associated Press Top 25, checking in at No. 19 this week.
The Bulldogs, on a 14-game win streak, are at Santa Clara on Thursday and at San Francisco on Saturday to wind up regular- season play in the WCC.
•The GU men dropped to No. 18 in the Associated Press poll and No. 15 in the USA Today/ESPN poll.
Basketball polls, B4
Whits move to No. 5 in poll
Men’s basketball: Whitworth University achieved its highest ranking as an NCAA Division III member, moving up two spots to fifth in the D3hoops.com Top 25.
Whitworth completed the regular season 23-2, riding a 22-game winning streak into the Northwest Conference tournament this week.
The top-seeded Pirates host No. 4-seed Lewis & Clark College on Thursday at 7 p.m. The other semifinal matches No. 3 George Fox at No. 2 Linfield. The winners will meet Saturday at 7 for the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.