Wakefield Has Made Transition To Whits’ Leader

Jamie Wakefield was a reserve when Mead High School won the Washington 4A state championship her junior year in 1995-96.

It was hard to crack a team that included Stacy Clinesmith (now at UC Santa Barbara), Holly Turner (Gonzaga), Jennifer Bennett (Arizona State), Jennifer Clark (Community Colleges of Spokane), Chelsea Clark (Gonzaga) and Allison Beatty (Stanford track and field).

“I definitely had a different role on that team,” said Wakefield. “Things might have been different if I was on a different team. … But I’m really happy to be here.”

Wakefield landed at Whitworth College and her role has changed dramatically. The 5-foot-9 sophomore forward has become the go-to player and is leading the Pirates in points (15.7) and rebounds (7.1).

Wakefield - and the Pirates’ balance - has helped Whitworth return to the upper division of the Northwest Conference.

But postseason chances are much different now that most conference schools are NCAA Division III members. The Northwest Conference will not receive an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

The Pirates are tied for third place at 6-3 (10-6 overall). They play host to first-place Pacific Lutheran (11-4, 9-0) Friday, and Seattle University (4-11, 2-7) Saturday. Men’s games follow.

Earlier this season, the Whits were drubbed by the Lutes 78-41 and beat Seattle 66-61.

“They’re a really good defensive team,” Wakefield said PLU.

Cougars off to L.A.

The up-and-down Washington State Cougars (8-8, 2-5 Pac-10) travel to Los Angeles 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 for the conference scoring lead (18.0 ppg to Lamb’s 17.4). Three other Bruins average more than 11, and point guard Erica Gomez (8.2 apg), is regarded as the best around.

The Bruins lead the series 17-5 and haven’t lost to WSU in L.A. since ‘88.

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 Pac-10 with 2-5 records. USC has 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,” Trojans 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. They have combined for more than 30 points a 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. … When Idaho plays host to Pacific (8-8, 4-1) Thursday and Boise State (8-9, 2-3) Saturday, the Vandals have to like their chances. Aside from top-dog UC Santa Barbara (13-3, 5-0), the Big West Conference’s combined road record is 14-59.