Zags Begin To Show Promise

It’s not that coach Kellee Barney is running through the Martin Centre corridors yelling “yippee,” but her zealous Zags women’s basketball team already has equaled its combined total-win mark of the past two seasons with its eight this season.

“We’re making huge improvements,” said the fourth-year Gonzaga coach. “But we’ve got a long way to go. I think our preseason was a good start for us.”

The Bulldogs, 8-4 against non-conference opponents, also may have caught a break as they begin West Coast Conference play. Gonzaga, picked to finish last in the WCC’s coaches poll, opens at home Thursday at 7 p.m. against Loyola Marymount.

The Lions, picked to place sixth, enter with a 3-9 record. Last season, the 4-23 Bulldogs got one of their two WCC wins against LMU.

The Lions 6-foot-1 senior forward, Meghan Kenny, leads the conference in scoring (17.6 ppg), but the team has been decimated by injuries, with two blown-out knees and one stress fracture.

In the meantime, Theresa Palmer, a 1997 Gonzaga Prep graduate, has seen her playing time slowly increase. Monday night in an 80-66 loss to CS Fullerton, the 6-foot-1 LMU forward scored four points on 2-for-2 shooting in 6 minutes.

Saturday, the Bulldogs play host to Pepperdine. The Waves, the only WCC team with 10 non-conference wins, at 10-5, have three players averaging more than 10 points per game.

Gonzaga senior Sandy Gere has been GU’s most consistent player. The 5-6 guard is leading the team with 13.7 points per game. Her 26-of-29, 89.7 percent free-throw shooting ranks 15th nationally.

Off to Arizona

If Washington’s talented guard Jamie Redd wasn’t enough last week, Washington State (6-4, 0-1) next will face Arizona star Adia Barnes when the Cougs travel to Tucson on Thursday. The 5-11 senior passed Redd this week as the conference’s leading scorer, averaging 22.9 points per game and 7.1 rebounds (eighth).

The Wildcats (8-2, 2-0), cracking the AP Top 25 for the first time, are ranked 10th behind Pac-10 rival No. 7 Washington (10-0, 1-0) and ahead of No. 14 Stanford (5-4, 2-0). Arizona beat WSU last year 76-46 at home and 62-53 in Pullman.

The Cougars swept Arizona State (4-7, 0-2) last year and have won five of the last six games. The two meet in Tempe Saturday.

WSU’s best player has been 6-2 senior center Yvonne Kunze. The German’s 59.1 field-goal percentage (55 of 93) ties her for third in the Pac-10 and ranks her 33rd in the nation. Kunze is averaging a team-high 13.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

The Sun Devils’ leader is 5-10 senior forward Stephanie Freeman (15.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg). Jennifer Bennett, a 6-3 freshman reserve who played at Mead High, is averaging 2.7 ppg and 2.5 rpg.

The 65-foot buzzer-beater

“It was a crazy game,” recalled UC Santa Barbara’s Stacy Clinesmith, whose 65-foot bank shot lifted the Gauchos past San Diego State last month.

Clinesmith, a 5-5 sophomore guard out of Mead High, hoisted the prayer from the visitors’ 3-point line. She said the next thing she remembers was her team piling onto her as the Gauchos won 82-79.

Clinesmith leads the Big West Conference in assists (5.7) and is averaging 11.9 points per game. She’s one of four Gauchos scoring in double digits.

Once again, UCSB (9-4) looks to be the cream of the Big West as teams open conference play this week. The Gauchos’ first opponent is Idaho (5-9).

The Vandals, led by Alli Nieman’s 15 points per game, are 1-4 since mid-December and will continue the road trip Sunday at Cal Poly SLO (3-7).

Bonus points

Eastern Washington’s Amy Schmitt, who was the starting goalie on the Eagles’ soccer team, leads the Big Sky Conference in 3-point field-goal percentage at 53.3 (16 of 30). … Boise State sophomore Heidi Umthum (Post Falls) has been sidelined for four games with a stress fracture in her right foot. Umthum was averaging 9.9 ppg and working her way into a starting position. … Community Colleges of Spokane (12-4) sophomore point guard Stephanie Shelton sprained her ankle in an alumni game Dec. 30 and won’t play this week.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: AREA LEADERS Scoring Player, school FG-FGA FT-FTA 3pt Avg. Massingale, CCS 80-201 70-96 7 15.8 Nieman, UI 63-139 49-73 5 15.0 Carlander, CCS 78-196 31-50 33 13.8 Kunze, WSU 55-93 24-38 0 13.4 Johnson, IU 58-143 16-19 26 12.2 Sherer, Whit 55-108 NA-NA NA 16.6 Gere, GU 52-109 28-31 19 13.7 Ledgerwood, GU 49-118 40-53 4 11.8 Pilkington,CCS 72-171 27-44 17 10.8 Dietel, WSU 46-95 9-16 5 10.6 Lamb, WSU 35-73 18-26 13 10.1 Ford, EWU 40-112 13-15 17 10.0 Perno, GU 46-86 22-31 0 9.5 Stone, UI 43-113 35-50 0 9.3 Smith, WSU 19-44 1-3 16 9.2

Rebounding Shelton, CCS, 8.2 (131); Sherer, Whit., 7.3 (58); Wakefield, Whit., 6.6 (53); Kunze, WSU, 6.7 (67); Juli Carlson, EWU, 6.5.

Assists Stuenkle, Whit., (4.8) 38; Shelton, CCS, 4.8 (48); Gussett, UI, (4.2) 55; Woolf, 4.1 (53); Smith, WSU, (3.8).

Steals Gere, GU, (2.5) 27; Pilkington, CCS, (2.2) 35; Carlander, CCS (2.1) 34; Johnson, UI, (2.0) 26; Gussett, UI, (1.9) 24; Lamb, WSU, 15 (.6).

Schedule Today: Columbia Basin at CCS, 6 p.m. Thursday: Snow at NIC, 5:30 p.m.; Washington State at Arizona, 6 p.m.; Idaho at UC Santa Barbara, 7 p.m.; Loyola Marymount at Gonzaga, 7 p.m.; Sac State at EWU, 7 p.m. Friday: Linfield at Whitworth, 6 p.m. Saturday: Dixie at NIC, 5:30 p.m.; Washington State at Arizona State, 6 p.m.; Pacific University at Whitworth, 6 p.m.; CCS at Blue Mountain, 6 p.m.; Pepperdine at Gonzaga, 7 p.m.; Weber State at EWU, 7 p.m. Sunday: Idaho at Cal Poly SLO, 2 p.m.

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