Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
EWU freshman guard Aaliyah Alexander drives on Weber State's Daryn Hickok. EWU beat the Wildcats twice last weekend.
Calling four verticals against a two-deep safety look when the opposing defense has a strong pass rush tends to be a terrible play call.
Unfortunately for those thousands in the state who root for the Seattle Seahawks, that sentiment didn't appear to affect Pete Carroll, Brian Schottenheimer, Russell Wilson and the rest of the offensive personnel on Saturday. It contributed to the Seahawks' season ending early with a Wild Card round loss at home to the rival Los Angeles Rams 30-20 after a successful 12-4 regular season.
Schottenheimer wouldn't have a job four days later, as he and the Seahawks parted ways Jan. 12, citing "philosophical defenses."
Does this mean Pete Carroll is going to demand that the Seahawks run the ball on every offensive play next season?
Standout wide receiver DK Metcalf would love that. It would behoove the Seahawks to remember that eventually, Metcalf will become a free agent and will have to be convinced to remain in Seattle.
But, we Northwest sports fans don't have to worry about that for now. We can take one painful loss at a time, and shouldn't dwell or conjecture about future possible heartbreaks.
Besides, now the whole focus can turn to basketball, and the wish for high school football to get under way on Feb. 1, which is *currently* the WIAA's plans.
After all, each state is probably only entitled to one perfectly run-and-executed sports team, and a certain Gonzaga men's basketball team might stake the claim to that crown.
This week, the local women's teams also deserve a shoutout. The Cougars, Bulldogs and Eagles all went undefeated last week, and are worth the price of...viewership, with no fans yet admitted in any of the team's home games.
Here's a breakdown of the last week for some of the area's sports teams.
WSU men's basketball
The Cougars aren't perfect anymore after losing to Arizona two weeks ago and falling at Stanford 75-60 on Jan. 9, but they picked up a solid road win at Cal two days prior 71-60. WSU is now 2-2 in conference and 9-2 overall and sits in seventh place in the PAC-12 conference.
Isaac Bonton had a big game against Cal, scoring a game high 22 points and dishing out six assists. Efe Abogidi and Noah Williams added 12 and 11 points, respectively. Wazzu outrebounded the Golden Bears 34-21.
Andrej Jaimovski scored a team-high 19 points in the loss to Stanford, while Bonton added 18 points and seven assists.
WSU remains in California this week for a match with UCLA on Jan. 14 and USC on Jan. 16.
WSU women's basketball
The Lady Cougars, meanwhile, made program history this week when freshman Charlisse Leger-Walker's driving lefty layup at the buzzer gave Wazzu a 71-69 overtime win over No. 7 Arizona Jan. 10.
The next day, WSU was ranked in the AP poll for the first time in program history, coming in at No. 25.
Leger-Walker scored 10 of her team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. Bella Murekatete added 14 points for the Cougars, who improved to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the PAC-12. WSU is tied for second place and is tied for its best start ever in conference play.
The freshman hero, Leger-Walker, was named PAC-12 Freshman of the Week for the fourth time this season.
The Cougars will join the men's team in Los Angeles for two games this weekend, playing at USC Jan. 15 and at UCLA Jan. 17.
Gonzaga men's basketball
Dominant might be the new ho-hum for this year's Gonzaga men's team. The No. 1 ranked Bulldogs improved to 12-0 with two convincing victories versus BYU and at Portland last week and show no inclination of dropping a game at any point this season as WCC play continues.
The Zags got off to a 23-2 start against BYU on Jan.7 and was able to pull its starters while holding a 30-point lead that ended in an 86-69 victory. Corey Kispert led the way with 23 points.
Then, against Portland, Joel Ayayi racked up the first triple-double in program history, scoring 17 points, snaring rebounds and dishing out assists. Anton Watson added 23 points...and he's the team's sixth scoring option.
Is anybody in the country going to beat this team this year?
Gonzaga easily took care of the Pilots, winning 116-88, scoring a season-high in points in the process.
The Bulldogs have a home game against Pepperdine Jan. 14 and road game at St. Mary's Jan. 16 this week.
Gonzaga women's basketball
The Gonzaga women are good, too. The Bulldogs easily cruised to a 75-43 win over Portland in its lone game last week Jan. 9.
Jenn Wirth had a dominant double-double, scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Her twin, LeeAnne Wirth, added 12 points and seven rebounds.
Jenn Wirth was named WCC Player of the Week for her strong performance.
Two more games are on the docket for the Zags this week, starting with a match against Santa Clara on Jan. 14 before a date in the Bay with San Francisco Jan. 16. Both games are on the road for the 10-2 Bulldogs, who are 5-0 in WCC play so far.
EWU men's basketball
EWU shut down its program through Jan. 10 after another positive COVID-19 test within the team, and therefore hasn't played a game since Dec. 17. The Eagles are scheduled to get back in action this week, though, with Thursday and Saturday home games against Southern Utah.
EWU women's basketball
The Eagle women's basketball team has won as many games in the past two weeks as it did all of last year: four.
It's a positive trend for a young team that twice knocked off Weber State last weekend at home to improve to 4-2 in Big Sky Conference play and 5-6 overall.
The Eagles will look to continue the trend with two road games at Southern Utah this Thursday and Friday.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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