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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Whitworth men run winning streak to 17

George Valle led three Pirates in double figures with 15 points as fourth-ranked Whitworth weathered a 39 percent shooting night for a 62-53 Northwest Conference men’s basketball victory over Puget Sound on Friday night in Tacoma.

Dustin McConnell added 13 points and Taylor Farnsworth 11 as eight of the 10 Pirates (17-1, 9-0 NWC) who played contributed points in their 17th straight win. Reserve Rex Nelson had game highs of 23 points and 10 rebounds for UPS (6-12, 1-8).

Women’s basketball

Ariel Thomas’ tie-breaking 3-pointer with 28 seconds left helped Oregon (3-6, 1-6 Pac-12) overcome Washington State (5-13, 1-6) 70-68 in Pullman.

Thomas, who finished with 20 points, scored the Ducks’ last 10 as they held off a Cougars team that battled back from a 36-24 halftime deficit.

Tia Presley led WSU with 16 points.

• Kristi Kingma scored 29 points, hitting 15 of 15 free throws, as Washington (13-5, 5-2 Pac-12) defeated Oregon State (9-10, 3-4) 81-77 in overtime in Seattle. Kingma hit three with 4 seconds to play to force OT after being fouled shooting a 3-pointer and four in the final 24 seconds of OT.

• Whitworth opened the second half with a 10-0 run to break open a tight game en route to a 55-49 victory at Puget Sound, the Pirates’ (13-5, 6-3) first Northwest Conference road win. Emily Guthrie and Kayla Johnson led Whitworth with 10 points each. UPS is 10-8, 3-6.

Softball

In its first outing on dirt, North Idaho came away from the first day of the Las Vegas tournament with a 1-2 record and some impressive performances.

Sophomore infielder Kelsey LaVaute drove in the winning run in a three-run sixth inning as the Cardinals overcame South Mountain 7-6 after losses to Eastern Arizona (4-2) and Central Arizona (6-2). Sophomore Emily Perlich pitched 11 innings during the day, striking out 17.

Wrestling

Pins by Brock Banta (125), Jarrett Morrill (141) and VJ Giulio (197) and major decisions from Kyle Sweedman (174) and Caleb Rivera (184) led North Idaho to a 38-3 win at Western Wyoming.

KIJHL

Matt Thurston, Paxton Bell and Kurtis Redding gave Spokane a 3-0 lead 73 seconds into the second period, but Nelson erased that deficit with a five-goal outburst in the next 15 minutes in an 8-3 win over the visiting Braves (12-26-3-2). Aaron Dunlap scored twice for the Leafs (31-10-2-1).

Football

Brandon Kaufman, Eastern Washington’s two-time All-America wide receiver, has been invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis Feb. 20-26, his representative, Cameron Foster, announced.

Kaufman is the seventh former Eagle in 11 years invited to the combine.

Kaufman, who decided to pass up his senior season to apply for the NFL Draft, is working out in Orlando, Fla., with speed, strength and conditioning coach Tom Shaw along with former EWU wide receiver Greg Herd.

• Kaufman and EWU senior kicker Jimmy Pavel have been named to the College Sports Journal NCAA FCS All-America team. They have been named to the same six All-America teams.