Locally: Stanford’s Lexie Hull has career-high 33 points in Friday’s win over Oregon

As the Stanford website put it, “Hull of a performance.”

With spectators in Maples Pavilion on the Stanford campus Friday night for the Cardinal-Oregon Pac-12 women’s basketball game limited to parents of the players, Stanford senior Lexie Hull put on a show for them.

The Central Valley graduate had career-bests of 33 points, 13 field goals and seven 3-pointers in an 80-68 Cardinal victory.

With the increase in COVID-19 cases, Stanford changed its protocols for having fans in attendance at indoor events, limiting it to family members of the student-athletes. A few dozen cheered from the elevated seats across from the team benches, including Hull’s parents.

“I guess this is our new normal,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer is quoted by the online CardinalSportsReport. “We really missed our fans, I’ll say that. I would have loved to have had our fans here to see Lexie have such a great game in person.”

“We were pretty lucky to have some of our family out in the stands today,” the SportsReport quoted Hull. “So super lucky to have my parents out there.”

Hull, who played all 40 minutes, hit 13 of 22 shots from the field, including 7 of 10 3-pointers. Her previous scoring highs came as a sophomore, 29 points against Colorado on Jan. 24, 2020, and six 3s against Oregon a month later, on Feb. 24, 2020.

“It really came down to my teammates finding me in those open spots,” Hull said of her performance. “Pushing the ball up, me running my lane, and them hitting me when I was open. Definitely couldn’t have gotten off 10 3s without them finding me in those spots.”

Hull and twin sister Lacie made consecutive 3s to start the game for the defending national champions, but turnovers allowed the Ducks to stay in it deep into the fourth quarter. Lexie’s 3 with 4:05 to play put Stanford ahead 73-62 after Oregon had trimmed the deficit to single digits. She made another timely 3 with 1:43 to play to keep order restored.

Lexie added two rebounds, two assists and one steal. Lacie, who played 20 minutes, didn’t miss a shot. She was 2-for-2 from the field, one a 3-pointer, and hit her only free throw for seven points. She added three rebounds, one assist and one steal.

College scene

Brie Holecek, a Walla Walla CC guard/forward from East Valley HS, was the Northwest Athletic Conference women’s basketball player of the week after she led the Warriors to a 3-0 record the week of Dec. 13-19 at their own Crossover event with wins over Shoreline (88-65), Linn-Benton (58-54) and Lower Columbia (61-58).

Holecek averaged 21.3 points a game, 7.0 rebounds and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 5.0. She had career highs of 31 points and 15 rebounds against Shoreline, with 20 points against LCC and 13 against LBCC. The Warriors have turned a seven-game winning streak into a 7-2 record.

• Shamrock Campbell, a Carroll College senior guard from Ferris, was named Frontier Conference men’s basketball player of the week after he scored 22 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the field, 4 of 4 on free throws, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out five assists as the second-ranked Saints defeated Dickinson State (North Dakota) 80-64 on Jan. 1.

• Daniel Roy, the Stanford fifth-year senior from Gonzaga Prep, heads into the Cardinal’s winter swim season after a dominating fall campaign in which he turned in an NCAA ‘A’ standard time in the 200 breaststroke at 1 minutes, 52.54 seconds. That’s the second fastest time in the event in school history, behind is own school record of 1:51.07.

• Gabriel Hughes, Gonzaga’s versatile sophomore, has picked up another Preseason All-America baseball honor, named to Perfect Game’s second team.

Earlier honored on Collegiate Baseball’s preseason All-America team, the right-handed pitcher/first baseman is coming off a season in which he had a 4-3 record, 3.23 ERA and 67 stikeouts in 61 1/3 innings on the mound and hit .247 with four doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI. He saw action during the summer with the U.S. Collegiate National team.

• Led by Walter Payton Award recipient Eric Barriere, Eastern Washington had three players receive FCS All-America recognition from football analyst Phil Steele, and Idaho had two.

Barriere was the quarterback on the second team, where he was joined by Eagles senior wide receiver Talolo Limu-Jones. Senior offensive lineman Tristen Taylor was on the third team.

Idaho landed senior fullback Logan Kendall on the second team and junior linebacker Tre Walker on the third.

• Senior captain BJ Mullin, a defensive back from Moses Lake, received the 2021 Torchbearer Award at Whitworth’s 2021 Dennis Spurlock Football Awards banquet on Dec. 11 at the Spokane Convention Center.

Mullin is one of the 24 seniors singled out by coach Ron Sandberg after they compiled a 27-7 overall four-year record, including undefeated regular seasons in 2018 and the postponed winter season of 2020.

Other award recipients: Jacob Hogger, sr., DB, Northwest Conference Sportsmanship Award; RudyJay Keopuhiwa, sr., defensive tackle, Mind & Heart Academic Award; Dhylan Worster, sr., long snapper, MDM Special Teams POY Award; Parker Shaw, sr., DB, Team Player Award; Bryce Hornbeck, sr., DB, Committed to Excellence Award; Jayden Gonzales, sr., middle linebacker, “RAK CHAZAK” Season Theme Award; and scout team players Christian Grant, sophomore offensive lineman; Zach Brooks, freshman LB (defense); and Kade Conklin, freshman WR (special teams), who received 12th Man awards.

• The Eastern Washington women were picked to finish third and the men ninth in Big Sky Conference tennis coaches’ preseason polls. The Idaho women were tabbed sixth and the men fifth. Northern Arizona, which has won the last two women’s and men’s championships, where picked for a fourth straight season to capture both titles.

• The Idaho men were selected to finish fourth and the women fifth while the

Eastern Washington men were sixth and the women ninth in Big Sky Conference coaches’ preseason indoor track polls. Northern Arizona’s reigning champions were a unanimous choice to capture both titles.

Volleyball

Shea Rubright of Yakima, a 6-foot-4 middle blocker who spent the last three years at Minnesota, has joined Washington State out of the transfer portal, Cougars coach Jen Greeny announced.

Rubright, who has two years of eligibility, helped the seventh-ranked Gophers to the elite eight of the NCAA Tournament in the fall, finishing with a 22-9 record. She played in 19 matches, finishing the season with 39 kills while hitting .312 with 45 blocks. In the classroom, she’s a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.

Regarded one of the top recruits in the country out of West Valley (Yakima) HS, she was a two-time Columbia Basin Big Nine Player of the Year and an Under Armour All-American. She finished her high school career with 927 kills on .470 hitting and 248 blocks.