Piper, Eagles soar to victory

Julie Piper tossed in 16 points, snared eight rebounds and added three steals and a blocked shot to help guide the Eastern Washington Eagles to an 87-60 victory over the Montana Tech Orediggers in non-conference women’s basketball action Saturday afternoon in Cheney.

The Eagles (6-3) had three other players reach double figures in scoring – Kyla Evans (13), Nicole Scott (12) and reserve Chene Cooper (10) – and shot 55 percent from the floor for the game.

Jessica Huntington handed out six assists for EWU and Cooper chipped in five assists and four steals.

Jenessa Todd scored 10 to pace Tech (9-3).

•Cassie Pilkinton pumped in 18 points and Lauren Picha came off the bench to score 12 to lead the Whitworth Pirates (4-4) to a 90-45 victory over the Walla Walla Warriors (0-4) at Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Whitworth forced 30 turnovers and outrebounded Walla Walla 48-27.

Whitworth’s Liz Horiatis led all rebounders with eight, while Leah Pomante had game five assists.

Heather McFadden had a game-high 23 points for the Warriors.

Men’s basketball

Brad Johnson came off the bench and poured in a game-high 22 points – hitting 5 of 9 shots from 3-point range – and added seven rebounds, four assists and three steals to spark the CC Spokane Sasquatch (5-1) to an 82-66 win over the Linn-Benton Roadrunners (0-3) in the first round of the Dale Bates Invitational at Lane CC in Eugene, Ore.

Chris Pynch shot 75 percent from the floor and scored 17 for the Sasquatch, while Kevin Bond contributed 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

CCS will play Pierce CC in the semifinals today.

•Reserve Idell Bell led five players in double figures with 17 points and added five rebounds and three assists to lift the North Idaho Cardinals (11-2, 4-2) to a 73-72 victory over the Snow Badgers (4-8, 1-5) in Scenic West Athletic Conference play in Ephraim, Utah.

Renado Parker notched 15 points and Michael Hale scored 12. Guy-Marc Michel added 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds and BJ Shearry finished with 11 points and six boards.

Wrestling

Gabriel Miranda and Roger McCovey posted pins and the North Idaho Cardinals (9-2, 4-0) rolled to a 31-15 victory over the Southwestern Oregon Lakers (0-2, 0-2) in SWAC action in Coeur d’Alene.

Miranda won by a fall over Ryan Arand in 1 minute, 13 seconds in the 133-pound class. McCovey, a heavyweight, stopped Brandon Moseley in 2:20.

Cross country

Lake City High’s Cody Helbling placed 30th at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in San Diego.

Helbling clocked in at 15 minutes, 52 seconds over 5,000 meters, the seventh-best time for the victorious West team.

Lukas Verzbicas, of Orland Hills, Ill., won the boys race in 15:08 and became the first sophomore to win the event in its 31-year history.

Megan Goethals of Rochester, Minn., outleaned Dallas’ Chelsey Sveinsson at the finish to win the girls race. Both girls timed 17:07 over 5,000 meters.

Football

Idaho Vandals senior guard Mike Iupati was recognized as a Football Writers Association of America All-American – the first Vandal to accomplishment the feat. Iupati was a finalist for the Outland Trophy. He is also a first-team selection for the Walter Camp Team and was named an All-American by the American Football Coaches Association.