Freshmen making big impact locally

A handful of freshmen have made a big splash on area women’s basketball teams early in the season.

Washington State’s Marisa Stotler had back-to-back double-doubles off the bench, Heather Bowman has had a couple of big games for Gonzaga and Katie Madison turned in a monster game for Idaho.

Stotler, a 6-foot-1 forward from Chandler, Ariz., had 13 points and 11 rebounds against Portland and followed with 25 points and 10 boards at Santa Clara. She started against Eastern Washington on Saturday and had 24 points and 14 rebounds in a 76-70 win.

“Marisa has really stepped up,” Cougars coach Sherri Murrell said. “She’s has a lot of talent; she doesn’t have a lot of fear.”

Madison, a 6-foot post from Prairie High School near Vancouver, Wash., combined with junior Jessica Summers for the best one-two punch of the season in a 73-60 win over Eastern Washington. Madison had 35 points and 15 rebounds, Summers had 19 points, 14 boards and eight assists.

“Katie is a by-product of being a great finisher and also the system and her teammates,” UI coach Mike Divilbiss said. “We have good balance and the kids are making good decisions and helping her get the ball in good situations. She gets a lot of one-on-one situations and she’s finishing them.”

Madison, named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week, is averaging 18.4 points and 9.7 rebounds.

Bowman, a 6-2 forward out of Lewis and Clark, has twice scored 23 points for the Bulldogs.

“She’s been inconsistent but she’s done a lot of good things,” Zags coach Kelly Graves said. “Her board work has been the most consistent, her scoring up and down. But it’s not like she’s playing chopped liver.”

The Bulldogs have played No. 20 UCLA, No. 2 North Carolina and No. 9 Purdue with No. 13 Arizona State coming into McCarthey Athletic Center on Wednesday night.

Eastern doesn’t have a dominant freshman but the Eagles use several in critical spots, especially on the front line.

“That’s an area we knew coming in we were young; we were going to have to learn and grow up fast,” Eagles coach Wendy Schuller said. “Sometimes your kids don’t grow up as fast as you want them to. We see sparks and things we like, then we see things we don’t like. We’re just young.”

Stotler is the only Cougar to average in double figures at 12.1 and is the top rebounder at 7.1. The No. 2 scorer is freshman Nakejia Kelly at 9.1 and freshman Colleen Betteridge leads in assists.

“They’re getting better,” Murrell said. “We knew we’d get better in time depending on how the freshmen adjust. … One thing that’s exciting is they’re doing more good than bad.”

Another big freshman for Idaho has been a 5-3 point guard from San Diego, Charlotte Otero.

“Charlotte’s a great example of the numbers (not telling how much someone contributes),” Divilbiss said. “I wasn’t certain we were going to get the ball to half court all year until Charlotte came. She’s handled pressure for us and she gets the ball where it needs to be.”

Injuries hit UI, GU

Idaho and Gonzaga suffered big losses when the Vandals lost Karly Felton in their third game and the Bulldogs lost Tatriana Lorenzo in their sixth, both to knee injuries.

Felton, one of the few UI veterans, is having season-ending surgery this week. The 5-11 senior wing from Yakima started 90 of 91 games in her career.

“It’s a big loss for our team; she was our team leader,” Divilbiss said.

Lorenzo, who started three of six games, was injured in a tournament in her native Hawaii. She’ll have surgery before Christmas.

“That was big,” Gonzaga’s Graves said. “With Rachel Kane’s history (two knee injuries) we’re one bad cut from being only one deep (Sasha Polishchuk) at the point guard. It was really nice having an extra player there.”

Part of the struggles for Washington State has been getting Kate Benz up to full strength. The leading rebounder in the Pac-10 the last two seasons has been battling a bad back, limiting her ability to attack the boards.

“We’ve curtailed her weight lifting and we’re focusing on rehabilitation,” Murrell said. “She’s coming into her own again.”

Benz has moved past Jenni Ruff into third on WSU’s all-time list for rebounding with 732. With 866 points, she is 16th in scoring and sixth in blocked shots.