Cougars In Huskies’ Way
The question of the week in Pac-10 Conference basketball circles is, how many teams will be invited to the NCAA Tournament?
“We have five really strong NCAA contenders. I hope we’re all given the opportunity to compete,” said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, whose team is a long shot to win its fifth straight conference crown but will be at the big dance, either way.
Washington State (11-15, 5-12 Pac-10) closes its season against Washington at home at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Huskies hope there’s more in store for them.
Washington (14-12, 10-7) is in fifth place behind Oregon, UCLA, Stanford and Arizona. Over the past two weekends, UW beat Stanford and UCLA, which was then-No. 12, but also lost to last-place Cal.
“It’s real important for us to close out on the road strong and leave it in the committee’s hands,” said UW’s third-year coach June Daughtery, who has taken her teams to the NCAA Tournament two straight years.
Earlier this season in Seattle, Washington beat WSU 91-69. Since then, the Cougars have lost star forward Alke Dietel (knee) for the season and, now, Jennifer Stinson, who will not play Saturday because of a sore right ankle.
“It would be a great way to end our season (beating UW), but I don’t think one win will compensate what we initially set out to do,” WSU coach Harold Rhodes said. “In several ways, it’s been disappointing for us.”
UI opens tournament play
The 16th Big West Conference tournament begins today at Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nev.
UC Santa Barbara is there. So are seven other teams that have to believe they can beat the Gauchos, two-time conference champions and 17th-ranked.
Idaho will be there, checking in as the No. 2 seed from the Eastern Division. The Vandals (15-11) first must beat the West’s No. 3 seed, University of the Pacific (14-12), tonight at 8:30 if they want a shot at the Gauchos. (This assumes UCSB beats Nevada tonight, not a bad bet considering its 15-0 conference record). Idaho already defeated Pacific once this year, 79-74 in Moscow.
Idaho brings the big game of junior Alli Nieman, Big West co-player of the week this week (along with Pacific’s Selena Ho), who is averaging a league-leading 20.5 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.
The Vandals also have junior Susan Woolf, the best 3-point shooter in school history. The other starters - Rikki Jackson, Jennifer Stone and Darci Pemberton - also have been a big part why Idaho has won six out of its last nine games, including an inspirational, season-ending 74-67 win at Boise State.
Around the rim
Gonzaga, Eastern Washington and Whitworth College wrapped up their seasons last weekend.
Give Whitworth the mostimproved local team award. The Pirates finished 17-8 overall and 13-5 in the Northwest Conference (fourth place.) Look out for next year when four starters return, 11 out of 12 letter-winners.
The spin doctors out in Cheney came up with the most-positive stat. Eastern Washington (8-18, 5-11 Big Sky) won eight games this year, four more than last year. That’s a 100 percent improvement for second-year coach Jocelyn Pfeifer. The Eagles lose two seniors, neither of them starters.
The Bulldogs were a better team this season with the emergence of Holly Turner, Jessica Malone and Kristin Deal - but it did not show in their overall record (11-17 last year, 8-19 this season). GU won two more league games (4-10) and returns all five starters.
ALL-BIG WEST Locals honored Alli Nieman of Idaho and Stacy Clinesmith of UC Santa Barbara, a former Mead star, have been named All-Big West first team. UCSB’s Erin Buescher, who led the conference in scoring and steals, was voted player of the year for the second consecutive season. Also on the first team were Kristi Rohr of UCSB, Jalie Mitchell of North Texas and Rhonda Smith of Long Beach State. Tina Slinker of North Texas was voted Coach of the Year.