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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Elliott provides steady hand for GU


Michelle Elliott has had plenty to smile about at GU.  
 (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)

As the consummate team player, Michelle Elliott wanted to build something.

As a fierce competitor, she wanted to win.

Fortunately for the Gonzaga women’s basketball team, when those two desires conflicted the Bulldogs ended up with a special player.

After two personally successful but unfulfilling seasons at San Diego State, the former Pasco Bulldog made a change.

“I decided that the program wasn’t winning enough, it just wasn’t going the direction I wanted to be part of,” Elliott said. “I knew when I transferred I wanted to be closer to home.”

Elliott has started 80 of 107 career games, 32 of 57 at GU heading into the final two home games, and averaged at least 10 points in all four of her college seasons.

“She is our leader emotionally and spiritually,” GU coach Kelly Graves said. “Obviously, she does it on the floor, too. She’s your (perfect) leader. No one outworks her. She never has an off day. She may have an off day on the floor, like shooting, but never her energy.

“She’s a coach’s dream. She personifies everything that is good about our program, our university and quite frankly, intercollegiate athletics because she has her priorities right.”

Elliott has cherished every minute of her two seasons at Gonzaga, especially being part of last year’s NCAA tournament team.

“It’s been 10 times better than I thought it would be,” she said. “I knew I wanted to be part of a winning program, but I didn’t know what that feeling would feel like. It’s been so amazing. Getting to know all the girls on the team … and to be able to share that enjoyment, the struggles, the fulfillment of goals – words can’t describe how fun that is. It’s an experience I’ll never forget.”

There are no regrets for what might have been had she made that decision instead of picking SDSU, which hasn’t had a winning season since 1996-97 in the Western Athletic Conference. The Aztecs went 8-20, finishing seventh in the Mountain West Conference, in her two seasons.

“I was more interested in California schools, schools away from home,” said Elliott, who will have to student teach after this semester to be an elementary school teacher to go with her psychology major. “I was young and thought I wanted to experience that. I don’t regret that at all. I learned a lot about myself. I grew a lot in my faith.

“(The NCAA tournament was) always a dream. In my mind I was thinking it could still be an attainable dream, but I was more excited about trying to take a program and build it into something great, which would have been even better. The time I spent there I did give my best. It just didn’t work out for me.”

She led SDSU in scoring both seasons, earned all-league recognition both years and was a captain as a sophomore.

With no scholarship available, she spent her transfer season at home, attending Columbia Basin College and working out with the basketball team. Then she gave GU a much-needed outside threat. She led the Bulldogs with 44 3-pointers last year and she has 45 this season, including a game with a school-record nine.

Graves considers her leadership more important than her basketball skills.

“She’s a competitor – she’ll get in your face,” he said. “What’s great about that is people respond because they know she’s good. She brings it every day. She’s a classic team player. She’ll do what’s necessary.”

It’s fitting Elliott’s last weekend at McCarthey Athletic Center include Thursday’s “Think Pink” breast cancer awareness game. Two weeks ago she cut off 13 inches of her blonde hair for Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that helps people who have gone through cancer and lost their hair get wigs.

“If I can give in any way, I will,” she said, though she just as easily could have been talking about basketball.

“Santa Clara senior Chandice Cronk had her career end when she tore the ACL and MCL and broke her right leg at Gonzaga on Feb. 2. One of the top 3-point shooters in the country, Cronk was averaging 17.1 points on 47 percent shooting behind the arc and 83 percent from the foul line, both second in the WCC. … This week’s homecoming game is Thursday when San Francisco visits Gonzaga. Sophomore Heidi Heintz (Central Valley) is averaging 10 points and 4.9 rebounds in a team-high 36 minutes a game for the Dons (13-10, 4-4). … USF senior Dominique Carter pushed her career scoring to 1,710 points, passing former Bulldogs Ivy Safranski and Jessica Malone for fifth on the WCC career list.

Tip-ins

The injury news at WSU hasn’t been good all season. Projected junior starter Ebonee Coates missed 13 games with a foot injury and two concussions. In her third game back on Sunday, leading scorer Katie Appleton went out with a high-ankle sprain and will miss one or two weeks. The Cougs have played a majority of games with just eight players and have never had more than 10. … Junior Briann January (Lewis and Clark) led Arizona State to a 67-64 win over Arizona with 14 points, six assists and four steals. She leads the Pac-10 in steals (2.52 per game) and free-throw percentage (.863) and is second in assists (4.83) while averaging 11.6 points.

“Sophomore Tonya Schnibbe (University High) finished with 13 points, seven assists and three steals as Weber State closed with a 22-4 run to beat Northern Colorado 60-50 last week. … Freshman Lexi Bishop (Shadle Park) had her only four points in overtime to help Portland State edge Sacramento State. Freshman teammate Kelli Valentine (Mead), starting at center, had 18 points in two weekend wins, including 10 against Northern Arizona, when Lumberjacks freshman Jenna Galloway (Ferris) had 12 points.