Ex-SJU player transferring to Eastern

Men’s basketball: Justin Crosgile, a former New Jersey prep standout and two-year letterwinner at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, will transfer to Eastern Washington University next fall to play basketball for first-year Eagles coach Jim Hayford.

The 5-foot-11, 165-pound point guard, started the last 19 games of his freshman year at SJU and averaged 6.7 points per games. But as a sophomore last winter, he played as a backup in only 19 games before taking a leave of absence after deciding to transfer.

“He’s super quick, and he can score,” Hayford said of Crosgile, who was named the North Jersey Player of the Year by three different newspapers after averaging 24.5 points per game as a high school senior.

Crosgile, like EWU’s 6-10 University of Oregon transfer Martin Seiferth, will sit out the 2011-12 season under the NCAA’s transfer rule. He will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Hayford, who also signed Collin Chiverton, a 6-6 junior transfer out of City College of San Francisco, who will be eligible to play this winter, has no more scholarships available for the upcoming school year.

Steve Bergum

Gonzaga lands Kansas transfer

Women’s basketball: Taelor Karr, a 5-foot-8 guard who started 59 of 64 games in two seasons at Kansas State, is transferring to Gonzaga, head coach Kelly Graves announced Tuesday.

 A native of Paola, Kan., Karr averaged 10.3 points a game for the 21-11 Wildcats last season. Her freshman year she averaged 9.1 points.

 She will have to sit out next season because of the NCAA transfer rules.

  Dave Trimmer

EWU hires Lowe as assistant

Women’s basketball: Richland native Steve Lowe, who has ties to two former Eastern Washington assistant coaches, has been hired to be an assistant coach for Wendy Schuller with the Eagles’ women’s basketball program.

Lowe replaces Cherly Sorenson, who was his boss for three seasons at Bellevue Community College before Sorenson joined the Eagles. Lowe became head coach for a year before joining former EWU assistant Tom Webb at Cameron University in Lawon, Okla.

Lowe graduated from Central Washington in 2001 and coached and taught in Richland, Issaquah and Lake Washington districts before moving on to college. He was the head coach at Lake Washington HS when he made the move to Bellevue.

Dave Trimmer