Locally: Washington State’s Borislava Hristova, Idaho’s Mikayla Ferenz named to preseason watch lists
Two area women’s college basketball players have been named to major national award watch lists.
Washington State redshirt junior forward Borislava Hristova from Bulgaria is one of 20 players named to the 2019 Cheryl Miller Watch list by the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
The award named after the three-time Naismith Player of the Year and Class of 1995 Hall of Famer is in its second year and recognizes the top women’s small forward in NCAA Division I.
Idaho senior Mikayla Ferenz from Walla Walla is one of 20 players named to the 2019 Ann Meyers Drysdale Watch list by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
The honor, named after the first male or female to be an All-American for four consecutive seasons, recognizes the top women’s shooting guard in NCAA Division I.
Hristova started 25 of the 27 games in which she played last season, scoring in double figures 23 times, and averaging a team-leading 17.8 points per game, third best in the Pac-12. She was named to the All-Pac-12 team despite missing 3 1/2 games with an injury.
She had one streak of 12 games in which she scored in double figures, the third longest for a WSU sophomore, and scored a season- and career-high 36 points against Colorado. That’s tied for third all time for a Cougar. She is second fastest in program history to reach 1,000 points, doing it in 60 games.
Ferenz, a two-time All-Big Sky Conference first-team and three-time All-Big Sky Tournament selection, was chosen by the coaches as the league’s 2018-19 preseason MVP. She averaged 22.5 points as a junior, eighth in the NCAA, and her 742 points are first on Idaho’s single-season scoring list. Her 129 3-pointers were No. 4 in the NCAA.
She also averaged 4.3 assists, 6.4 rebounds and shot 40.4 percent from 3-point range while averaging 36.8 minutes a game and became the first Vandal in 34 years to post a triple-double – 15 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists – at North Dakota. She was also a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American as a junior.
College scene
Whitworth senior guard/forward Kyle Roach has been named a men’s basketball first-team preseason All-American byD3hoops.com.
Roach was a National Association of Basketball Coaches Division III first-team All-American following his junior season in which he was the Northwest Conference Player of the Year and had a team-leading 18.7 scoring average. He also had a team-best 3.8 assists per game and averaged 5.2 rebounds a game. He has 1,143 career points.
• A couple of former Greater Spokane League rivals were in a virtual tie with top-10 finishes at the Pac-12 Conference Cross Country Championships on Friday at Stanford, California.
John Dressel, a Colorado junior from Mt. Spokane who missed the 2017 season with an injury, and Washington senior Tanner Anderson from North Central, who transferred to UW this year from Oregon, were both clocked in 23 minutes, 12.4 seconds over the 8K course. Dressel placed eighth, Anderson ninth.
It was the third top-10 Pac-12 finish for Dressel, who was sixth in 2015 and 2016, when he went on to earn All-America honors at the NCAA Championships. Dressel and Anderson both were their schools’ second finishers as the Huskies placed second behind Stanford and the Buffaloes third.
Senior Chandler Tiegen (Asotin) was seventh, freshman Amir Ado (Ferris) was 28th and junior Justin Janke (North Central) was 36th in leading Washington State to fifth place.
• Washington State’s Jocelyn Urias was named Pac-12 Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 15-21 after leading the Cougars to home victories over No. 14 USC and No. 20 UCLA.
The junior middle had 13 kills, including the match clincher in an 18-16 fifth-set win over USC, and totaled 13 points, and followed with a match-high 14 kills and a career-high .700 hitting percentage against UCLA. Besides her 27 kills, she had a .458 hitting percentage, six digs and three blocks in the Cougars’ first weekend sweep of the L.A. schools since 1997.
• Idaho punter and kicker Cade Coffey was the Big Sky Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for games played Oct. 20 after he converted all five of his scoring attempts and averaged 51.8 yards on eight punts as the Vandals defeated Southern Utah 31-12.
The sophomore from Lakeland of Rathdrum hit a career-long 80-yard punt in the second quarter, the second longest in UI history, and had two others of 50-plus yards. He also made his only field-goal attempt, from 18 yards, and was 4 for 4 on extra points. In the first seven games, he had 11 punts over 50 yards and averaged 46 yards on 34 punts, third in the nation.
• Whitworth seniors in volleyball and football received Northwest Conference weekly awards for the week that ended Oct. 22.
Jessica Schmautz, an outside hitter from Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) and Community Colleges of Spokane, was the volleyball Offensive Player of the Week after she led the Pirates to two victories. She averaged 5.57 kills per set and hit .380, committing only nine errors in 79 attacks. She has 351 kills for the season, more than 100 more than the runner-up in the NWC.
Defensive end Chad Wilburg was the football Defensive Player of the Week after he had five solo tackles for 20 yards in losses, forced a fumble on a sack that was recovered by Whitworth and broke up two passes at the line of scrimmage in a 47-13 win at Puget Sound.
• Reilly Hennessey, Central Washington’s senior quarterback, who transferred from Eastern Washington as a junior, was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week in football after he completed 17 of 25 passes for 351 yards and four touchdowns in a 60-19 victory over Simon Fraser on Oct. 22.
• Josee Bassett, an Eastern Oregon junior center back from Coeur d’Alene High School, was rewarded for playing all 180 minutes in two Mountaineers’ shutout victories by being named the Cascade Collegiate Conference Defensive Player of the Week in women’s soccer.
The Mountaineers limited their opponents to 13 shots, just two on goal, and Bassett also contributed an assist on the winning goal in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Northwest Christian as EOU clinched at least a share of the 2018 CCC regular-season championship.
• Idaho senior Sophie Hausmann was named the Big Sky Women’s Golfer of the Week for the sixth time in her career after she shot a 9-under-par 207 at Boulder Creek Golf Club to finish fifth at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown, which ended Tuesday.
In leading the Vandals to fifth place, Hausmann carded 13 birdies and two eagles in tying the fourth best 54-hole score in school history. Her final-round 66 was one shot off the school record, which she has matched three times.
Gymnastics
For the second time in four years, USA Gymnastics has selected Spokane to host the Women’s Level 9 Western Championships, slated for May 10-12, 2019, at the Spokane Convention Center.
The city was also the site of the event in 2015, attracting approximately 500 young athletes from across the Western United States.
Spokane also hosted the 2014 USA Gymnastics Elite Challenge in Trampoline and Tumbling.
Rowing
Former Washington State rower Lisa Roman (2010-12) from Langley, British Columbia, is ranked as the No. 14 women’s rower in the world following the World Rowing Championships last month in Plovdiv, Bulgari, where her Canadian women’s eight finished second.
Rankings are based on points accumulated in world and Olympic competition. Roman’s Canadian teams collected three silver and two bronze medals in five of the most recent qualifying events and placed fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Senior games
Three Spokane softball teams returned from St. George, Utah, last week with medals from the Huntsman World Senior Games.
Spokane Sparx 50 won the gold medal in Women’s 50+ Division 2, NW Softball Club Underdogs 55 captured silver in Men’s 55+ AA and Spokane Sparx 55 earned bronze in Women’s 55+ Division 2.
Twelve women played on both Sparxs teams that had a combined 9-5 record in generating the two medal finishes.
Sparx 50 went 2-1 in pool play to earn a first-round bye in bracket play. After winning their first game, they lost 26-25. But they rallied in the double-elimination tournament, winning three in a row, including two over the Sacramento team that put them in the loser’s bracket, to capture gold. In both, they came back from large deficits, winning 17-12 and 17-15.
Sparx 55 also was 2-1 in pool play to earn a first-round bye and won their first bracket game 20-7. But they lost their next two, 14-12 and 14-2, to the bracket champion and runner-up, respectively, to settle for bronze.
Underdogs 55 went 3-0 in pool play, received a bye and won their first two bracket games by the 12-run mercy rule against the eventual champion and No. 1 seed, 17-5 and 16-4, respectively.
“But injuries caught up with us,” said assistant coach Mark Reilly, noting half the 12-man team “hobbled through.” They lost 18-2 and 23-16 to the Canadian team that came through the loser’s bracket after Underdogs 55 defeated it 17-5 to get a shot at the championship.
Reilly was a member of the Spokane team that won the gold medal in a 65+ division in the Senior Softball USA World Masters Championships last month in Las Vegas.
The rosters:
Sparx players on both teams: Kellie Clinton, Bonnie Patey, Krista Forester, Sue Anderson, Shelly Patrick, Laurie Lund, Cheryl Wartinger, Pam McLeod, Shari DeGuire, Karen Bauer, Terry Graham and Chris Lynch. Other 50s: Lori Serbousek, Kirsten Fatland, Renate Schumaker and Shelly Mackie. Other 55s: Lola Lile, Sandy Karlsson, Peggy Rose, Tina Marabel and Verna Carpenter. Paul Wartinger coaches both teams.
Underdogs 55: Allen Arnold (also the coach), John Giampietri, Mike Klemke, Kurt Krauth, Allen Martin, Jack Parker, Doug Payne, Jim Pierce, Reilly, Matt Seelinger, Brian Williamson and Roger Williamson. Pierce is from Sagle, Idaho; Payne from Coeur d’Alene; and Seelinger from Walla Walla. The others are from Spokane.
• Pickleball: Two area teams won gold medals in the men’s 55-59 doubles divisions in St. George.
Brad Hansen of Blanchard and Greg Nutter of Cusick combined to win Division B. Dave Blaisdell of Nine Mile Falls and John Giampietri of Spokane won Division C.
Blaisdell and Ginger Blaisdell captured bronze in 55-59 mixed doubles Division D.
Track & field: Men – 50-54 standing long jump, 1, Kelly Curry, Spokane. 60-64 javelin, 1, Roberts Shirts, Coeur d’Alene. 70-74 javelin, 3, Gary Stene, Colfax.