Road Has Been A Bumpy Place In The Big West

Here’s the skinny on the Big West Conference: Teams have a fat chance of winning on the road.

When the University of Idaho plays host to Pacific (8-8, 4-1) Thursday and to Boise State (8-9, 2-3) Saturday, the Vandals have to like their odds. Aside from top-dog UC Santa Barbara (13-3, 5-0), the conference’s combined road record is 14-59.

Pacific’s road record is 1-4, 0-2 in conference. The Tigers are riding a four-game conference win streak, all at home, of course.

Boise State is 4-5 on the road, 1-2 in conference games. The defending Eastern Division champs have dipped this year, averaging 62.3 points per game. The Broncos do not have a player among the league’s top 15 scoring leaders.

Idaho’s Vandals are averaging a second-best 76.9 ppg behind league-leader Alli Nieman (20.8 ppg) and fourth-place Susan Woolf (15.8 ppg).

“Pacific is on the rise; they remind me of North Texas (12-6, 4-2),” said Idaho coach Hilary Recknor, whose team lost to the Eagles last week. “They’ve got a new coach (Sherri Murrell), a new system.

“Boise State, looking at stats and following their scores, they would seem to be a little down, but I know better than that. They’re an improving team, developing leadership and I don’t think you can underestimate them.”

Pacific leads the series against Idaho 4-1. BSU also is ahead 24-20, after winning three straight.

Cougars off to L.A.

The up-and-down Washington State Cougars (8-8, 2-5 Pac-10) will travel to Los Angeles this weekend to play two teams heading in opposite directions.

First up Thursday is USC (6-10), a team that has had one injury after another. Saturday, the Cougars meet eight-ranked UCLA (15-4, 7-0), the top team in the conference, that averages 86.7 ppg (fourth nationally).

UCLA’s Maylana Martin just passed Tricia Lamb of WSU as the conference’s leading scorer (18.0 ppg to Lamb’s second-place 17.4). Three other Bruins average more than 11 points, and point guard Erica Gomez (8.2 assists per game), is regarded as the best around.

The Bruins lead the series 17-5 and have not lost to WSU at home since 1988.

Enough said - but there’s certainly hope against the Trojans.

The Cougars trail the series 17-8, but their last two wins against USC came in L.A. in ‘96 and ‘98.

Washington State, USC and Arizona State are in the lower half of the standing with 2-5 records. The Trojans have been playing shorthanded all season because of injuries, particularly at guard. Now, they could be without their leading scorer and rebounder, senior Adrian Williams (15.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg), who banged up her right ankle in last week’s 94-53 loss to UCLA.

“I don’t ever mind talking about what’s happened with injuries at USC because I think it’s important in terms of persceptive,” USC coach Chris Gobrecht said. “I think people need to know why you’re seeing scores like you’re seeing and what’s going on with SC.”

The Cougs, meanwhile, are far from 100 percent. Alke Dietel and Cathy McNeely remain out with knee injuries. The two have combined for more than 30 points per game. Dietel also leads the team with 7.3 boards per game.

Area index in recession

Inland Northwest basketball isn’t exactly burning up the polls.

Just look at the Rating Percentage Index (RPI). The conferences’ first-place teams are in parentheses.

No. 95, Washington State (No. 9, UCLA).

No. 153, Idaho (No. 44, UC Santa Barbara).

No. 214, Gonzaga (No. 46, Saint Mary’s)

No. 254, Eastern Washington (No. 117, Montana State).

The RPI is derived from Division I winning percentage (25 percent), schedule strength (50 percent) and opponent’s schedule strength (25 percent).

Around the rim

Fifth-place Eastern Washington (6-11, 3-3 Big Sky) returns home after a disappointing trip to Montana to play host to second-place Weber State (7-10, 6-2) Friday and third-place Portland State (10-7, 5-2) Saturday. Friday’s game will air live on Fox Sports Northwest… . After using eight different starting lineups with 12 different players, coach Jocelyn Pfeifer has settled on Allie Bailey, Tracy Ford, Lyndy Burgess, Courtney Horner and Stephanie Lincoln … Seventh-place Gonzaga (6-12, 2-4 West Coast Conference) finishes its home-and-home series when it travels to second-place Santa Clara (14-4, 4-2) Friday and last-place San Francisco (5-13, 0-6) Saturday. GU beat San Francisco and lost to Santa Clara last weekend at Martin Centre.