UI’s Perry pleased with new hire
In a step head coach Leonard Perry calls “a huge deal for the program,” the University of Idaho men’s basketball team has hired Leroy Washington as an assistant coach.
Washington, a 20-year assistant who has Northwest ties as a player and coach, served most recently as an assistant at Wyoming. His ties to the Northwest date to his collegiate career at Montana, when he played for current NBA coach Mike Montgomery.
“Obviously, I’m ecstatic about being a part of the Vandal basketball program after playing against them and coaching against them for so long,” Washington said. “Finally, I’m on their side.”
While Washington was at Wyoming from 2000-05, the Cowboys won two Mountain West Conference titles and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Leroy is extremely experienced as a coach and a recruiter,” Perry said. “Perhaps his biggest asset is that he has recruited to remote locations before, and he understands the dynamics that go with that.”
Washington also coached at Oregon State for five years and at Montana for five years.
•Brad Ledbetter, a 6-foot-3 outside shooter from Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, Ill., has signed a national letter of intent with the Idaho men’s basketball team.
Ledbetter, a two-time all-conference selection, averaged 18.2 points per game as a freshman and 17.4 as a sophomore. He shot 42 percent from behind the 3-point line both seasons.
As a senior at Warrenton High School, he led the state of Missouri with a 28.2 average. His 3-point accuracy of 46.6 percent is second all-time in the state.
“Brett has proven, time and again against noteworthy competition, that he can shoot the ball at a high percentage,” Perry said.
Women’s golf
The National Golf Coaches Association has named Washington State junior Anastasia Kostina an honorable mention All-American.
Kostina, a native of Russia, joins teammate Kim Welch as only the second WSU golfer, man or woman, to be named an All-American. Her selection marks the third consecutive year WSU has been represented on the NGCA All-America Team. Welch earned All-America accolades in 2003 and 2004 with an honorable mention and a first-team pick, respectively.
Women’s tennis
Washington senior Dea Sumantri’s career came to an end in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Championships in Athens, Ga., Monday when the No. 18 seed lost to No. 3 Audra Cohen of Northwestern, 6-1, 6-2.
Football
Washington State’s Sept. 9 game at Nevada will be shown on television as part of an eight-game Western Athletic Conference agreement with ESPN, the conference announced Monday. Game time and ESPN station are to be announced.