Locally: Lewis and Clark graduate Brittany Kennedy hired as head women’s basketball coach of Community Colleges of Spokane

From staff and news services

Brittany Kennedy, a local girl who made good fashioning a successful career as a player, is taking her game to the next level.

“I am excited to welcome Brittany Kennedy to the CCS family,” athletic director Jim Fitzgerald said in announcing the 2008 Lewis and Clark High School graduate as the new head women’s basketball coach at Community Colleges of Spokane.

“She is ready to lead our women’s basketball program,” Fitzgerald added. “Her experience as a former college and professional basketball player and her passion for student success both on the court and in the classroom will benefit all our CCS student athletes.”

“I’m looking forward to bringing in local talent, especially being a Spokane native it’ll be great to still be in the community where many people love the game of basketball like I do,” Kennedy is quoted in the release announcing her hire.

“I wouldn’t be in this position without the support of my family, friends, coaching colleagues and Jim Redmon (her former LC coach). This will be an amazing journey.”

Kennedy, who replaces Jessica Kramer, the CCS coach since November 2020, has been on the LC coaching staff since 2018 as a varsity and junior varsity assistant. She is highly regarded for her abilities as an instructor.

The guard, a four-year varsity letter winner at LC, was a two-time first-team All-Greater Spokane League selection and the GSL MVP as a senior. Kennedy led the Tigers to three straight State 4A championships.

Prior to her senior high school season in 2007-08, The Spokesman-Review wrote, “The Lewis and Clark Tigers are the two-time defending State 4A champions. With Brittany Kennedy at the controls, they’re the team to beat again …”

She followed with four years at the NCAA Division I level – two at Oregon State and two at Florida Gulf Coast University.

At FGCU, she was a two-time team defensive player of the year, the Atlantic Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a senior and unanimous first-team all-conference. She led the Eagles to the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance as a junior after winning the A-Sun Tournament and to a berth in the WNIT as a senior when they were the A-Sun runner-up.

The 2013 Florida Gulf Coast graduate spent the next two seasons playing professionally overseas, in the top women’s leagues in Germany (2013-14) and Finland (2014-15).

Baseball

The Spokane champion Cannons split four games and wound up tied for third in the State AAA American Legion Tournament last weekend at Shadle Parks’ Al K Jackson Field.

Wilder from Port Angeles also had a 2-2 record and shared third. Pepsi-Pak of Yakima Valley defeated Lakeside Recovery of Bellevue 11-3 for the championship to complete a 5-0 tournament run and earn a spot in the Northwest Regional this week.

Pullman Patriots and Spokane Bandits both went 0-2 and tied for seventh.

Hockey

Stefan Legein, an assistant coach with the 2022 Memorial Cup champion Saint John (Quebec) Sea Dogs the last four seasons, has been hired by the Spokane Chiefs as an associate coach, the Western Hockey League team announced.

“His experience and strengths as a player as well as a coach will be a great addition to our team,” said Chiefs general manager Matt Bardsley. “We would like to thank the Saint John Sea Dogs organization for allowing us to speak with Stefan during this process.”

Before joining Saint John in 2018, the 33-year-old Legein served as a video coach with the Mississauga (Ontario) Steelheads in the Ontario Hockey League in 2017. He joins first-year head coach Ryan Smith and assistant Dustin Donaghy on the Chiefs’ bench.

A winger from Oakville, Ontario, Legein played four seasons of junior hockey (2004-08), compiling 136 points (77G-59A), and was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the second round (37th overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft. He won a gold medal with Canada at the 2008 World Junior Championships.

Legein played from 2008-14 in the American Hockey League and for two years overseas before finishing his playing career in 2015-16 in the East Coast Hockey League.

• Chiefs defenseman Saige Weinstein was named to Canada’s 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup U18 team following a selection camp last weekend. The annual invitation-only tournament in Red Deer, Alberta, runs through this week and features the best of the 2023 NHL Draft class.

Senior Games

Scott Thompson of Spokane and Margaret Hair of Clarkston were dominant in their age groups in swimming to lead the showing by area participants in the 25th Washington State Senior Games July 23-25 in the South Sound area.

Thompson won all five of the events he entered in the men’s 70-74 age division, capturing gold medals in the 50-yard freestyle, 50 butterfly, 100 individual medley, 200 butterfly and 400 IM. Hair won four golds in women’s 65-69: 50 free, 100 breaststroke, 100 butterfly and 200 breast.

Also in swimming, Cindy G. Clutter of Hayden, Idaho, was second in women’s 60-64 freestyle.

Spokane’s perennial men’s 3-on-3 basketball contender Swinging Doors teams finished second in both the 70-74 and 60-64 age divisions, losing best-of-three series to West Side teams. The 70-74 team went 1-2 as the teams played for the gold medal for a fifth straight year. Spokane leads the series 3-2. The 60-64 Swinging Doors team lost twice in its final.

The players: 70-74: Jon Heimbigner, Spokane; Terry Nealey, Mill Creek; Jack Soliday, Reardan; Michael Jordan, Spokane; Dave Hovde, Pasco. 60-64: Terry Boxleitner, Loon Lake; Tim Griffin, Spokane; Craig Mahlen, Deer Park; Brian Nilles, Reardan.

In the companion free-throw competition, Soliday finished second in the 70-74 division.

It’s the 24th year Heimbigner has organized the Spokane teams, which have compiled a 127-43 record, collecting 38 gold medals, nine silvers and two bronzes. This year he tested his endurance by also competing in tennis. He earned a bronze medal in the men’s 75-79 age division.

Overall, area residents won 14 individual gold medals, six silvers and one bronze and participated on two gold-medal winning teams and three that captured silver medals.

Archery: Shawn M. Wood, Cheney, 1st women’s 50-54 compound release. Rick E. Hewson, Medical Lake, 1st men’s 65-69 compound release.

Shuffleboard: Shirley J. Houser, Lewiston, first women’s 80-84 singles. John W. Houser, Lewiston, second men’s 80-84 singles. Houser-Houser, second 80+ doubles.

Track & field: Lauriea Michels, Spokane, first women’s 55-59 200m, second 50m, second 100m. Fred. R. Williams, Spokane, first men’s 75-79 1,500m. Mick R. Busch, Spokane Valley, fifth men’s 70-74 50m, fifth 100m. Danny C. Lee, Nine Mile Falls, seventh men’s 65-69 200m.

Disc golf: David Wellman, Spokane, fifth men’s amateur masters 50+.

Beach volleyball: Lori Jordan, Mica, second with Stud Muffins team in coed quads 55+.

Volleyball: Jordan, first with Vintage 50 in women’s 6s 50+. Drew Wendle, Mead, and Wade Knutson, Spokane, first with NQD (Not Quite Dead) in men’s 6s 50+.