Eagles have title in sight
The Eastern Washington women’s basketball team has gone through some tough times recently, but the Eagles’ perseverance is about to be rewarded.
Already qualified for the Big Sky Conference tournament after a three-year absence and assured of a share of their first conference title, the Eagles can win the championship and host the tourney for the first time with a win against Portland State at Reese Court Saturday afternoon.
“It’s been a tough couple of years,” said coach Wendy Schuller, whose teams made the conference tourney her first five seasons. “We’ve gone through quite a bit of adversity. We’ve had some people support us through thick and thin, we’re excited to be in the position we’re in.”
The Eagles (18-10, 11-4 BSC) could have the title in their hands before taking the court if second-place Sacramento State loses at third-place Idaho State Friday night.
“Obviously, that doesn’t make the game as big in terms of overall ramifications, but the bottom line is we want to be playing well and go into the conference tournament on a high note,” Schuller said. “Portland State is the only team we haven’t beaten this year. It’s important we play well no matter what.”
If the Eagles lose their 2 p.m. game and Sacramento State also wins at Weber State Saturday night, the tiebreaker goes to the Hornets.
“Going into the season everybody would have said the conference race was wide open, nobody just stood out among the rest, and it has played out that way,” said Schuller, whose team was picked seventh in the preseason. “Looking at it, we could finish first with a five-way tie for second. That’s kind of crazy.”
The past three seasons EWU has gone 24-63, 11-37 in conference play.
“We have had unbelievable team chemistry this year,” Schuller said. “Everything starts there.”
Big numbers
Gonzaga rolled through the West Coast Conference, winning all 14 games by an average of 30.6 points. The closest game for the Bulldogs, ranked 17th in both polls, was 14 points.
“It’s a great feat, it’s a great honor to do that,” five-time WCC Coach of the Year Kelly Graves said. “I don’t think people outside of the coaches and players know how hard it is to go through conference undefeated. I’m real pleased how we went about our business the last 14 games.
“What I’m most proud of is we didn’t have a let-up game. We were pretty consistent in our effort and our production.”
The Bulldogs averaged 84.5 points and gave up 53.9, getting stronger as the season went on. Their lowest output was 70 points and in their last game allowed just 35.
The reward is a bye into the WCC tournament semifinals Sunday morning in Las Vegas. The Zags (25-4) play the lowest remaining seed after the first two rounds.
Tip-ins
Tonya Schnibbe (U-Hi) poured in 26 points, but it wasn’t enough as Weber State fell to Portland State 65-62 Saturday night. Junior Kelli Valentine (Mead) had 15 points off the bench for PSU. … Junior Tara Cronin (G-Prep) contributed 17 points as Portland finished the regular season with a 67-64 win at Santa Clara. … Montana State’s 77-72 win at Montana on Saturday was the Bobcats’ first in 41 games in Dahlberg Arena during Robin Selvig’s 32-year tenure as Grizzlies coach. The Bobcats won in Missoula during the 1998-99 season when games were being played at Sentinel High School. Junior Lyndie Seidensticker (Lewis and Clark) contributed eight points and two of the Bobcats’ 10 3-pointers. … Stanford senior Jayne Appel broke Lisa Leslie’s Pac-10 career rebounding record of 1,214.
Emily Kuipers (U-Hi) scored 15 points as Regis defeated Colorado Springs 78-67 on Senior night last Friday, her final collegiate game. … Jessie DePell (Freeman) ended the regular season at Montana Tech by leading the Frontier Conference in scoring at 15.6 points a game while redshirt sophomore Alysha Green (Mead) was 15th at 11.0 for Carroll College. Green had 17 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals in a 76-62 win over Great Falls on Friday. … Kirsi Voshell (Pullman) leads nationally ranked Lewis-Clark State in rebounding (7.4) and scores nine points a game heading into the Frontier Conference playoffs. LCSC is at Montana Western, Rocky Mountain is at Montana Tech and Carroll is at Montana State-Northern tonight.
Ashley Michelson (North Central) had 10 points and 10 rebounds, but Eastern Oregon dropped a 70-67 decision to College of Idaho in the championship game of the Cascade Conference tournament in Caldwell, Idaho, on Monday. However, the Mountaineers (20-11) still earned the conference’s second berth in the NAIA Division II national tournament. EOU earned the second berth by upending Corban College 78-64 in the semifinals Friday in La Grande, Ore., with Salena Leavitt (Central Valley) contributing 10 points and five assists. In the opening round of the conference tournament, fourth-seeded Eastern Oregon gave coach Anji Weissenfluh her 200th career win by beating Oregon Tech 67-56 when Michelson scored 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Leavitt had six assists.