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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Curry, Nieman Picked All-Big Sky First Team

Idaho’s Avery Curry was selected to the All-Big West first team announced Wednesday. The junior guard was joined by Pacific’s Michael Olowokandi, Boise State’s Roberto Bergersen, Long Beach State’s Andrew Betts, Utah State’s Marcus Saxon and New Mexico State’s Louis Richardson.

As expected, Olowokandi was voted player of the year by the coaches, but Curry and Saxon each got at least one vote.

Utah State’s Larry Eustachy was coach of the year and Cal Poly’s Chris Bjorklund was freshman of the year.

No other Vandals were selected to the second team, honorable mention or freshman team. Idaho, the fourth seed from the Eastern Division, meets Western No. 1-seed Pacific at 6 p.m. Friday.

Idaho’s Alli Nieman was chosen to the women’s first team. UC Santa Barbara’s Stacy Clinesmith, from Mead High in Spokane, also was on the first team. Others were UCSB’s Kristi Rohr and Erin Buescher, Nevada’s Ieesha Donadelle and Irvine’s Leticia Oseguera.

UI’s Johnson made the second team and guard Susan Woolf was honorable mention. Ex-North Idaho College player Jelena Zrnic was a second-team selection.

Buescher, a 6-foot-3 freshman who can play multiple positions, was the player of the year and, obviously, freshman of the year. UCSB’s Mark French was tabbed coach of the year for the second consecutive season.

Best days ahead for Umthun

Heidi Umthun’s season has been a real pain in the foot.

“I’ve got a stress fracture on the right side of my foot and tendinitis on the left side,” said Umthun, the Post Falls High grad and a sophomore guard for Boise State, a 65-57 winner over Pacific at the Big West women’s tournament on Wednesday.

Which hurts worse? “Depends on the day,” Umthun smiled.

Umthun’s best days are in front of her. Because of injuries, her playing time and production dwindled after a solid freshman year. She didn’t score in 13 minutes against Pacific.

BSU will lose two senior guards, second-team All-Big West selection Kellie Lewis and backup Andrea Durieux. BSU coach Trisha Stevens believes Umthun could move into the starting lineup.

“When that heals up, she’s going to be a phenomenal player,” Stevens said. “I’ve never seen anyone take it to the hole and finish like she can.”

Umthun will take as much as eight weeks off after the season to rest her foot.

“It’s been a very hard year,” said Umthun, who broke her nose twice in high school and once at BSU, but continued playing. “I’ve got the ability, I just want to put it to work.”

Vandals-Broncos, part III

Idaho coach Julie Holt was leaving the press room when she said to nobody in particular: “It’s going to be a great game.”

The Vandals are anxious for tonight’s semifinal date with BSU, despite two regular-season losses to the Broncos.

“We need to do much a better job on the boards,” Holt said. “Every time we’ve played them, they’ve shot more free throws than we’ve made, so we’ve got to attack them.”

BSU snagged the Eastern Division title by edging UI 73-63 last Saturday in Moscow. UI settled for the third seed.

“It’s round three and anything can happen,” said Idaho senior Kelli Johnson.

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