UI Opens Tourney Play
The 16th annual Big West Conference women’s basketball 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.
Making it into the tournament’s semifinal round has not been a problem for Idaho. Last year: Beat Irvine. Lost to Boise State. Two years ago: Beat Pacific. Lost to UCSB.
Idaho brings the big game of junior Alli Nieman, Big West coplayer 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, seasonending 74-67 win at Boise State.
“We’ve had a lot of individual performances this season,” coach Hilary Recknor said. “But we don’t stand around and watch Alli any more. And we don’t just watch Woolfie score. We’re playing as a team.”
WSU finale, but what about UW?
Washington State (11-15, 5-12 Pac-10) close its season against the Washington Huskies at home at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Huskies hope there’s more in store for them, specifically the NCAA Tournament, or perhaps the less-coveted NIT.
The question is, how many teams will go from the Pac-10?
“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 (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.
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.
Around the rim
Gonzaga, Eastern Washington and Whitworth College wrapped up their seasons last weekend.
Give Whitworth the most-improved 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.
Over at Gonzaga, the women have turned their attention to cheering on their Martin Centre co-tenants. 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 overall) and returns all five starters.
ALL-BIG WEST Locals honored Alli Nieman of Idaho and Stacy Clinesmith of UC Santa Barbara, a former Mead High 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 a second straight year. Tina Slinker of North Texas was voted coach of the year.