It’S Only Logical Vandals Should Win

Just by examining the previous standings it only seems logical, if not fair.

The Big West Conference Eastern Division has dispersed its title most recently to North Texas, Boise State and Nevada. That leaves this year open for Idaho or New Mexico State.

The Aggies (7-11 overall) are in fourth place at 2-4, so consider them near done. The Vandals (11-7) are tied for first with Boise State (11-7) at 4-1, so consider them the one.

The division outcome will become clearer Sunday afternoon when Idaho puts its nine-game home winning streak up against Boise State. The Broncos have beaten the Vandals four of the past five times, including twice in Moscow. This year’s matchup features IU’s Alli Nieman, the conference’s leading scorer (21.2), and Boise State 6-foot-4 senior Stephanie Block, who is fourth with 18.5 points per game.

But first, the Vandals face a tough Pacific (11-6, 2-3) squad on Friday in Stockton, Calif. The Vandals are 3-2 vs. Pacific since joining the Big West, but 0-2 at Pacific. Boise State travels to formidable Long Beach State (10-7, 4-1) Friday, so there’s a strong possibility both the teams from Idaho will enter Sunday’s game with identical 11-8, 4-2 records.

“They’re going to come in with a lot of motivation. I hope we can respond,” Idaho coach Hilary Recknor said. “If anything, they’ll want to break our home win streak.”

Cougars on TV

If there was ever a time for the Cougars to win in Seattle, this Sunday should be it when they play before a Fox Sports Net TV audience.

The Washington Huskies are having their worst season since the women’s Pacific-10 Conference was created in 1986-87. Sure, they stunned Stanford, 85-83, at Hec Edmundson Pavilion Thursday to record the 500th win in the program’s history. But their encore was a 72-59 flop against Cal, dropping them to 6-14 and 2-6 for eighth place in the conference.

So now would be the time for Washington State to do something it hasn’t done in six years and has only done twice in the last 36 games.

Beat the Huskies.

Problem is, WSU (4-14, 1-7) still is looking up at Washington from the bottom of the Pac-10.

“I certainly had hoped for better results,” said Washington State first-year coach Jenny Przekwas, who picked up her first Pac-10 win against Cal. “I thought we were capable of more wins at this point in the season, but it didn’t materialize. I didn’t expect it to be this tough of an adjustment for my style of basketball.”

Bulldogs, Eagles on road

Eastern Washington (7-11, 3-5), winners of three of its last four games at home, finds itself in the mix for one of the six spots in the Big Sky Conference tournament, March 9-11. The Eagles are in sixth place but they play six of their final eight games on the road, beginning with Weber State (7-11, 5-3) tonight and Portland State (6-13, 4-4) on Saturday.

Gonzaga (9-10, 2-4) also has a tough road ahead at Pepperdine (11-8, 4-2) Friday and Loyola Marymount (10-9, 3-3) Saturday. The Bulldogs have won four of the last five vs. LMU but have lost nine straight to Pepperdine.

GU is tied for sixth place with the West Coast Conference tournament one month away.

3-pointers

The top two teams in the NWAACC East Division meet Saturday when Community Colleges of Spokane (20-2, 6-1) travels to Wenatchee (22-2, 6-1). The winner will be in a great position to earn the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage in the regional tournament, Feb. 24 and 26. CCS must first must take care of Columbia Basin College (6-12, 1-5), tonight in Pasco… . Fourth-ranked Lewis-Clark State is the only undefeated NAIA team in the country in either Division I and II, men or women. The Warriors (18-0, 5-0 Frontier League) travel to Carroll College (9-11, 2-3) Thursday and Westminster (2-10, 1-4) Saturday… . Things should begin to shake down at the top of the Pac-10 when first-place No. 15 UCLA (12-5, 6-1) travels to Stanford (12-5-2) Thursday. The Bruins ended the Cardinal’s 67-game home winning streak last year. Oregon (14-5, 5-2) puts its 19-game home winning streak up against No. 19 Arizona (16-3, 5-2) Friday.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Area women’s basketball leaders

Scoring Player, school FG-FGA FT-FTA 3pt Avg.

Alli Nieman, UI 153-310 64-102 11 21.2

Susan Woolf, UI 84-195 55-67 45 14.9

Anna Getz, NIC 109-300 49-59 53 14.5

Tracy Ford Phelps, EWU 82-223 32-41 26 13.9

Jessica Malone, GU 88-256 33-49 52 13.7

Alke Dietel, WSU 92-202 32-43 14 13.5

Star Olson, Whit. 87-205 33-45 21 13.4

Jamie Wakefield, Whit 86-218 45-70 3 12.9

Heather Cox, NIC 98-223 39-51 11 12.3

Holly Bruno, GU 74-223 36-49 42 11.9

Jen Kerns, WSU 69-182 42-54 30 11.7

Bernice Stime, CCS 99-223 34-58 5 10.8

Karie Pruett, CCS 80-175 20-28 43 10.1

Amy Lewis, NIC 69-186 63-79 31 10.5

Amy George, CCS 82-182 32-51 23 10.2

Rebounding

Allie Bailey, EWU 10.6 (170); Nieman, UI 9.1 (163); Wakefield, WHIT. 8.8 (152); Kristin Deal, GU 6.9 (47); Getz, NIC 6.5 (130); Jennifer Bennett, Whit. 6.5 (85).

Assists

Getz, NIC 4.3 (94); Lewis, NIC, 4.0 (89); Katie Nyseth, WSU, 4.0 (73); Kerns, WSU, 3.8 (69); Pruett, CCS 3.7 (81).

Steals

Stime, CCS 2.9 (63); Nieman, UI 1.8 (28); Nyseth, WSU 1.7 (30); Wakefield, Whit. 1.7 (29); Woolf 1.7 (26); Getz, NIC 1.7 (41).

Schedule

Today: Eastern Washington at Weber State, 6 p.m.; CC Spokane at Columbia Basin, 8 p.m.; Thursday: Utah Valley at North Idaho College, 5:30 p.m.; Gonzaga at Pepperdine, 7 p.m.

Friday: Whitworth at Linfied, 6 p.m.; Idaho at Pacific, 7 p.m.;

Saturday: Whitworth at Pacific U., 6 p.m.; Gonzaga at Loyola Marymount, 7 p.m.; Eastern Washington at Portland State, 7 p.m.; CC Spokane at Wenatchee, 8 p.m.

Sunday: Washington State at Washington, 1 p.m.; Boise State at Idaho, 2 p.m.