Laney, Kane contribute to GU’s success
Two injuries that happened last year could have more effect on Gonzaga’s chances of winning the West Coast Conference championship than the one that recently sidelined starting forward Ashley Anderson.
Juliann Laney and Rachel Kane are back.
Laney missed the last two seasons, the first because of a knee injury and the second from a fractured hip. Kane hurt her right knee last January.
Both have critical roles as the Bulldogs, favored to win the WCC, start league play at home this week. Laney has assumed Anderson’s starting spot and role of defensive stopper and Kane is the backup point guard for senior Shannon Mathews.
Although Laney has struggled on offense, the 5-foot-11 junior out of Gonzaga Prep has proven to be a capable defensive replacement for Anderson, who tore up a knee during pregame introductions before the Idaho game last month.
Laney’s shooting percent is too low to mention and she’s averaging less than a basket a game, but each time out she contributes a little more.
“I’m just not shooting the ball well,” Laney said. “It’s frustrating, but I also feel like I can control it. But at the same time I’m not taking a lot of shots. I’m not called on to score so I don’t feel pressure.”
There are plenty of offensive weapons in the GU lineup and with Laney starting, Anne Bailey, the WCC player of the week, is another coming off the bench.
“You start Bailey and she’s the fourth option,” GU coach Kelly Graves said. “You bring her in and she’s the second or third option, sometimes even the first. … (Laney) will get her shot back. I’m not worried about that and right now we’re not really asking her for that. She has time to work on it.”
Kane was on her way to making the WCC All-Freshman team when she went down, and her return was a question mark, which left the Bulldogs thin at point guard. The 5-7 guard from Kaneohe, Hawaii, made a brief appearance early in the season and there was some thought she might redshirt.
“We need that secondary ball handler,” Graves said. “We’ve struggled against pressure. It’s nice to have that calming influence.”
WCC deceptive
After Gonzaga’s 11-2 record, the best start in school history, only Saint Mary’s at 8-5 has a winning record heading into WCC play.
“At the start of the year I go through each team in the league, picking the games I think they’re going to win and the games I think they’ll lose,” Graves said. “(Monday) I went through and compared the records to what I thought they would be. Actually, I thought we would be a little stronger. I had more teams winning more games.”
Despite the sub-.500 records, because teams played good competition the WCC is ranked 12th out of 32 conferences.
The Zags get the two hottest teams this week, starting with Santa Clara Thursday at 7 at the McCarthey Athletic Center. The Broncos are 6-7 with three straight wins, the last a romp past Eastern Washington. Saint Mary’s comes in Saturday at 2 p.m.
Local watch
Idaho (6-4, 1-0) hits the road for two Big West games, playing at Cal Poly (6-3, 1-1) on Thursday and meeting perennial league power Santa Barbara (4-6, 2-0) on Saturday afternoon . … The Pac-10 completed its second week of play Tuesday night. UCLA is at Washington State on Friday, and USC comes to Pullman on Sunday afternoon . … Eastern Washington (7-4) has two more non-conference games, at San Diego State on Saturday and Utah Valley State on Monday, before opening Big Sky Conference play at Portland State on Jan. 15. … Utah Valley continues to struggle in its second year in Division I, going 1-11. Ferris grad Courtney Lynn paces the Wolverines at 34 minutes a game with the senior averaging 4.6 points and 4 assists. … Katy Baker, a freshman from Lewis and Clark, averages 11.5 minutes and 4.5 points for 4-7 Southern Utah. … Pullman grad Christa Brossman has missed the last five Idaho State games with a foot injury but hopes to return for the start of the conference season.
Tip-ins
Whitworth has moved up in both national polls for Division III schools. The Pirates (9-0) are ranked 14th in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Top 25 and 19th in the D3hoops.com poll. … Montana upended previously unbeaten Florida State to win its tournament for the 22nd time in 25 years . … No. 14 Texas Tech whipped Sac State and Idaho State.