Area roundup: Top-ranked Whitworth men stay perfect

George Valle had 20 points, 12 rebounds and four assists and the top-ranked Whitworth men’s basketball team remained undefeated with a 67-55 Northwest Conference win over Linfield Friday night in McMinnville, Oregon.

The Pirates got out to a really good start, outscoring the Wildcats 13-2 to open the game, but Linfield fought back and tied it at 30 at halftime.

Linfield (9-9, 3-6) trailed by only four midway through the second half, but Whitworth eventually pulled away.

Drew Sears added 16 points, six rebounds and four blocks and Kenny Love chipped in 16 points for the Pirates.

Jordan Clark led Linfield with 12 points and nine rebounds.

Whitworth (18-0, 9-0) plays Lewis & Clark in Portland on Saturday. The Pirates have seven remaining regular-season games.

Women’s basketball

California 74, Washington State 71: Kristine Anigwe scored 27, Mikayla Cowling hit the go-ahead 3 with 5.2 seconds left and the Golden Bears escaped with a Pac-12 win over the Cougars in Berkeley, California.

Cowling, along with Courtney Range, added 18 points and Asha Thomas handed out 10 assists for Cal (11-9, 2-7). The Golden Bears snapped a five-game losing streak while giving the Cougars (12-8, 3-6) their third straight loss.

Alexys Swedlund had a career-best 16 points for Washington State and Borislava Hristova added 15.

The Cougars play Stanford in Stanford, California, on Sunday.

Linfield 73, Whitworth 62: Dani Krier and Paige Graham scored 16 points apiece and the Wildcats (10-8, 3-6) used a 27-15 fourth-quarter run to pull away and beat the Pirates (10-8, 5-4) in a Northwest Conference game in McMinnville, Oregon.

Quincey Gibson added 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Linfield, which made 15 of 16 free throws, including 9 of 10 in the second half.

K.C. McConnell led Whitworth with 22 points and six rebounds, but the Pirates made just 1 of 19 3-pointers.

Whitworth plays Lewis & Clark in Portland on Saturday.

Football

The Spokane Empire signed defensive back Josh Ferguson. Ferguson hasn’t played in two years, but is a four-year veteran of the Arena Football League. He spent the 2011 and 2012 seasons with the Spokane Shock and played for the Utah Blaze in 2013.

• The Minnesota Havok will not be a part of the Indoor Football League because it failed to reach minimum IFL operational standards, according to a release from the IFL.

Skating

Local skating officials will host “Skating is a Blast,” which includes free lessons, as part of U.S. Figure Skating’s National Skating Month. The event will be held at Saturday at noon at the Frontier Ice Arena, 3523 W. Seltice Way, in Coeur d’Alene.

The idea of the event is to have a U.S. Figure Skating member reach out to new members by offering the fundamentals of ice skating from professionally trained instructors. The session will last until 1:45 and include raffles and prizes. For more information, contact Moe Herr at www.lakecityfigureskating.org