Pirates makes second NCAA appearance tonight

COLLEGE BASKETBALL, FOOTBALL

The Whitworth Pirates open NCAA Division III championship play this afternoon (4; 1230-AM) with a game in St. Louis against DePauw University.

If the Pirates win, they’ll face the winner of the Washington U./ Fontbonne College game Saturday.

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The Idaho Vandals lost in Hawaii late Thursday night. For more details, check Jim Meehan’s blog .

• The Vandals have finalized their 2007 non-conference football schedule, picking up Northern Illinois for a late-September game.

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The Gonzaga women moved into the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament with a 68-55 victory over host Portland. The Zags, top seed in the tourney, will face USF, the seventh seed who upset No. 2 San Diego on Thursday.

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The Huskies helped the Cougars. Yes, that’s what I just wrote. The Huskies helped the Cougars – and themselves – by defeating USC on Thursday night.

Still though, the WSU/USC game tomorrow will be for second place in the Pac-10 (as Glenn Kasses explains in his blog ), with the winner now probably getting the Huskies in the Pac-10 tourney’s second round.

Glenn also has links to Husky stories on his blog .