Big Sky tabs Stuckey again
For the third time this season, Eastern Washington freshman Rodney Stuckey has been named Big Sky Conference men’s basketball player of the week.
Stuckey, who shared the honor with Alex Bausley of Sacramento State, had 31 points, five assists, four steals and four rebounds in the Eagles’ 89-70 win at Portland State.
The 6-foot-4 point guard leads the league and all freshmen nationally in scoring at 23.2 points a game, 32.3 in three league games.
•Washington senior Bobby Jones, who led the Huskies’ first Los Angeles sweept in 19 years, averaging 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds, is the Pac-10 men’s player of the week.
Whitworth plays tonight
The Whitworth Pirates, coming off a lost weekend in Tacoma, will play host to Whitman College in a Northwest Conference doubleheader tonight in the Fieldhouse.
The women, who start at 6, had their five-game winning streak snapped Friday night at Puget Sound, then shot just 18 percent in the first half of a loss against NWC-leading Pacific Lutheran. The Pirates (8-6 overall, 2-4 in the NWC) swept Whitman (6-8, 2-4) last year.
The Pirate men, who start at 8, came within a missed layup of upsetting No. 7-ranked UPS Friday night, losing 106-105, then had one of their worst shooting games of the year in an 81-72 loss to PLU. Their second two-game losing streak of the season leaves the Pirates at 9-6 overall and 3-3 in the NWC. Whitman is 7-7, 3-3.
College football
Matt Pierce, a kicker from Bethel High School near Tacoma, made a commitment to Eastern Washington during his recruiting visit during the weekend.
“I liked the atmosphere there,” the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder said. “I’ve been there a few times before. I knew from the first time I would like to go there, it was just a matter if they would offer me or not.”
Bethel has been a state 4A power in recent years until winning just two games last year under a new coach. Pierce, who also played safety, prepared for his future by kicking off the ground instead of using a block.
“I knew from attending (camps) your stock goes up if you’re prepared to kick at the next level,” he said.
Sheldon Weddle, EWU’s honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference kicker, will be a senior next year.
Rodeo
Mt. Spokane graduate Andy Bolich captured the bareback riding championship at the Montana Circuit Finals in Great Falls during the weekend.
Bolich, who competed for Montana State and helps coach the Bobcats rodeo team, entered the circuit finals in the lead and never looked back.
Bolich won the three-day average with 239 points on three rides and ended up with $13,674.56 for the season. That qualifies him for the Dodge National Circuit Finals in Pocatello, Idaho, in March.
The season champion and finals champion in each event from each of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s 13 circuits qualify for the Pocatello rodeo.