Class of 2007 highlight of women’s roundup
Good morning ... a little slow on the uptake. Staying up late for a truly great basketball game on TV and awaking to the sound of a roadgrader with its blade down ... five driveways, two cups of coffee and a hot chocolate later, the fingers work.
Onward, there was more news in women's basketball on Thursday than just Gonzaga's well-orchastrated symphony. Read on.
Pretty good night for GU fans. An amazing 3,200 braved the cold to watch the women's rout, which never seems like a bad game the way they play, and when Courtney Vandersloot exited, there was plenty of time to bolt McCarthey and settle in to the easy chair to watch the Bulldog men. If the women's smooth dispatching of Saint Mary's was classic music, I would have to say that men's game was a great rock concert.
Stanford clinched the Pac-10 title for the 27th year in the row, or maybe 11th, last night. Remember the Cougars host the Huskies, FSN, links on Thursday's post.
In the other two area D-I games, Yinka Olorunnife got the Idaho rebounding record but the Vandals fell at Fresno State. ... Where are you now Alli Nieman, one of my favorites from a generation past>
Lyndi Seidensticker (Lewis and Clark) played a big role in Montana State turning back Eastern Washington in Bozeman. And in Missoula, Lexi Bishop (Shadle Park), with four 3's, and Kelli Valentine (Mead) helped Portland State cool off Montana and Katie Baker (Lake City). The constantly changing Big Sky standings look like this. Though out of the race, Northern Arizona rolled past Sac State with Jenna Galloway (Ferris) having a very efficient game. (I interrupt this basketball post to add this from the Northern Arizona women's golf team, where you can find freshman Kaitlen Parsons (U-Hi). It's what you find surfing.)
Elsewhere, San Diego, which visits Gonzaga on Saturday for the Zags' Senior Day, edged Portland, bespite a season-high 20 points for Tara Cronin (G-Prep), whose clutch baskets gave the Pilots a chance and kept her on track t reach 1,000 for her career.
An unusual game in the SEC, shorted to seven innings because of rain, Tennessee romps at Mississippi, with Angie Bjorklund (U-Hi) held scoreless as she eases back into action after missing six games.
If you're counting, that's every member of the Greater Spokane League Class of 2007 doing something good on Thursday night, except Bjorklund, who is only the all-time 3-pointer leader for the fourth-ranked team in the country. ... Oh, you noticed Katelan Redmon isn't listed her? That's because we kinda glossed over Gonzaga's 40-point win and her usual steady 15-point contribution. What's kind of cool is that when you go to check out the stories, the local girls have pictures up to go with the stories.
That '07 group includes the D-II level, where Dara Zack (U-Hi) had a big game and Roni Jo Mielke (Sprague-Harrington) is pictured as Saint Martin's closed out the regular season with a big win over Central Washington and heads to Billings for a Monday playoff game.