Two state semis at Albi Stadium

High school football: Joe Albi Stadium has sat relatively empty this postseason, what with University and Gonzaga Prep able to play host to games on their fields.

Since we’ve reached the semifinals and have a couple of teams still alive, the venerable stadium will be the site to two games Saturday.

One of them won’t be the hoped-for showdown between co-GSL champions Gonzaga Prep and Mead, though. University is the last GSL team standing, and the upstart Titans (8-4) will play No. 2-ranked Eastside Catholic (12-0) from Sammamish in a 3A semifinal at 4 p.m.

In the opener at 1, two 12-0 teams, No. 1-ranked Liberty Christian of Richland and Cusick, square off in a 1B eight-man semifinal.

The other area team still playing, the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos (12-0), head to Kennewick where they’ll take on defending State 2B champion and second-ranked Waitsburg-Prescott (11-1) at Lampson Stadium. Kickoff is at 2.

Cardinal ascend to top of poll

Women’s basketball: Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer has had really good teams the past few seasons, reaching the Final Four the last five years.

Yet none of those teams was ever ranked No. 1. She finally has a top-ranked team again.

Stanford took over the top spot in the Associated Press poll Monday from Baylor after ending the Lady Bears’ 42-game winning streak. The Cardinal barely edged Connecticut for the top spot in the poll. Stanford received 21 first-place votes, while Connecticut had 17. Baylor got the other one.

It’s the Cardinal’s first time at No. 1 since the final poll of the 2005 season.

The Gonzaga women, who did not make the poll, will play host to the Cardinal at McCarthey Athletic Center on Dec. 2.