Hendrickson Hits The Mark

Washington State forward Mark Hendrickson, instrumental in the Cougars’ sweep of Oregon and Oregon State last weekend in Pullman, was named the Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball Player of the Week on Monday.

The 6-foot-9 junior had 25 points and 11 rebounds on Thursday to lead WSU’s 83-76 victory over Oregon. On Saturday, he had 26 points and six rebounds as the Cougars beat Oregon State 77-75.

Hendrickson shot .850 from the floor (17 of 20) and .889 from the free-throw line (16 of 18).

Hendrickson leads the Pac-10 in field-goal shooting (.678) and ranks second in rebounds (9.8). He has averaged 15.2 points per game for the season, but has improved that to 23.0 his last four games.

It’s the second weekly honor for Hendrickson in his career at WSU, and the second won by a Cougar this season. Hendrickson also was a Player of the Week as a freshman. Teammate Donminic Ellison was honored two weeks ago.

WSU’s sweep of the Oregon schools earned the Cougars some national recognition again. They received two points in The Assocated Press Top 25 balloting to rank 57th.

Oklahoma, coached by ex-WSU coach Kelvin Sampson, is 25th this week.

Pirates move to No. 7

A weekend home sweep of Lewis & Clark and Pacific improved the Whitworth men’s basketball team’s record to 13-6 and earned them a No. 7 rating in the NAIA Division II poll.

The Pirates, who first made the poll at No. 12 two weeks ago and climbed to No. 8 last week, are now the top-rated among five Northwest schools among the Top 25.

Cougars bow out

Washington State’s Linette Visage, Emma Lin and Narelle Hall all finished their run at the Pacific-10 Conference Women’s Indoor Tournament Sunday in Seattle losing consolation semifinal matches.

Visage, a freshman, dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to California’s Vera Vitels and Lin, a senior, was beaten 6-2, 6-1 by Pam Nelson of Cal, both in flight one.

Hall, a sophomore, took a 5-7, 6-7 loss to UCLA’s A. Mendez in flight three.