Idaho, Gonzaga, EWU women win

Thursday was a busy night in women’s basketball, including a historic win for Idaho and easy road wins for Gonzaga and Eastern Washington.

The Vandals used a big second half and balance to whop Hawaii at home for the 500th win in program history. The Bulldogs had another easy WCC win at Portland as Kayla Standish had a career high. The Eagles had their best offensive game at Sacramento State as four players scored in double figures, including the subject of this week’s notebook, Tatjana Sparavalo (good, no jinx).

Cal is at Washington State tonight, broadcast on Fox Sports NW.

Some area players had big games. Tara Cronin (G-Prep) led Portland in a loss at Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga’s opponent on Saturday. … Kelli Valentine (Mead) had a big game in Portland State’s loss at Northern Colorado .

Angie Bjorklund (U-Hi) had all 16 of her points in the first half of an easy Tennessee win at Florida. The Lady Vols led 47-15 at halftime. Pat Summitt called Bjorklund a difference maker.

(Blog interruption: My wife likes basketball but not enough to go too far out of her way to catch a game. But with family in Tennessee and North Carolina she decided a trip that included seeing Bjorklund before she graduated was in order. With hockey and women’s basketball to cover, finding a convenient time was impossible, so we settled on the second week of February. That’s when Florida visits Knoxville - after last night how depressing is that? )

Katie Baker (Lake City) had a solid game despite foul but Montana lost to Northern Arizona and Jenna Galloway (Ferris). … Meagan Teade (Colfax) came off the bench and joined Dara Zack (U-Hi) in double figures as Saint Martin’s posted an easy win. … Fourth-ranked (NAIA) LC State lost a conference game. … Ranked teams are giving Central Washington , with Kelsi Jacobson (East Valley), Daisy Burke (Lewis and Clark) and assist coach Stacy Clinesmith (Mead) fits.