GU women, men crews win

Nine For Five.

That was the slogan for the Gonzaga University women’s rowing team as it sought a ninth straight West Coast Conference title in 2005.

Friday the dream was realized as the Bulldogs swept all three races to remain the only school to capture a WCC women’s rowing title since its inception in 1997 on Lake Natoma at Rancho Cordova, Calif.

The I-Eight finished in 6:58.3 to beat the University of San Diego, which crossed the line in 7:02.3. The Bulldogs won their eighth I-Eight race in nine years. The II-Eight captured a 5-second win over Loyola Marymount, the Bulldogs winning in 7:07.5 for their sixth straight victory while the Lions were timed in 7:12.3. The I-Four, second a year ago, took a 9-second victory over San Diego in 7:51.6 to the Toreros’ 8:03.1.

The Bulldogs scored a perfect 30 points (15 points for the I-Eight race, 10 for the II-Eight and 5 for the I-Four). USD finished second with 22 points, followed by LMU with 20 and Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s with 8 each.

•Gonzaga University’s men’s rowing team captured its fourth straight West Coast Conference championship on Lake Natoma at Rancho Cordova, Calif.

The Bulldogs men’s varsity 8+ won in 6:13.5 for nearly a 5-second margin of victory over Santa Clara, which finished in 6:18.1. In the junior varsity 8+, the Bulldogs won the title in 6:26.7 to edge Loyola Marymount by two seconds, the Lions finishing in 6:28.6.

The WCC Championship is not sponsored by the West Coast Conference but was organized by the men’s rowing coaches four years ago.

Women’s basketball

Phynique Allen, the 2004-05 Eastern League MVP in San Diego, has signed a letter of intent to play next season at Eastern Washington.

The 5-foot-6 point guard averaged 20 points, four rebounds, six assists, and five steals per game to end her career at Serra High School in San Diego. Allen was named an All-California Interscholastic Federation player in the San Diego section for three consecutive years.

Men’s basketball

Tim Walker, an assistant men’s coach at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston the past four seasons, is in the running to be that team’s new head coach.

Walker is considered a leading candidate to replace George Pfeifer, who resigned earlier this month after 16 seasons to take a job as an assistant coach at the University of Idaho.

Walker, endorsed by Pfeifer, was head coach at Montana State-Northern in Havre, Mont., from 1997-2001, compiling a 71-56 record, including a 26-win campaign, a Frontier title and national tournament berth in 1997-98.

Softball

Senior Kristen Rivera hit her 73rd career home run and the Washington Huskies upset fourth-ranked Stanford 6-4 in Pacific-10 Conference play at Husky Softball Stadium.

Rivera led off the third inning with her 15th homer of the season, which tied three-time All-American Jaime Clark for fifth place on the Pac-10 Conference all-time list.

Aimee Minor also homered for the Huskies (26-15, 6-6), which won for the fifrth straight game.

Stanford fell to 34-10, 8-4.

•Candice Forsey and Bridgett Miller each threw shutouts to lead the Snow College Bears past the North Idaho Cardinals 4-0 and 1-0 in a Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader at Coeur d’Alene.

Forsey gave up seven hits and struck out two with no walks in the opener, while Miller threw a one-hitter in the nightcap.

Lindsay Riley had three hits in the two games for NIC.

•Stephanie Day homered twice among four Sasquatch long balls and the Community Colleges of Spokane beat Columbia Basin College 8-5 in the opener of a Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges doubleheader at Spokane Falls Community College.

Morgan Thomsen and Jessica Miles also homered for CC Spokane (21-10, 16-4).

Columbia Basin retained its hold on first-place in the East Division with a 5-2 victory in the nightcap.

Spring football

The three-week progress report of the Eastern Washington University football team will be the focal point of today’s spring scrimmage at Woodward Field in Cheney.

The scrimmage begins at 11 a.m. and is free and open to the public.

Eastern concludes spring practice with the annual Red-White game on May 7 at 2 p.m. at Woodward.