Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Gonzaga senior forward Jenn Wirth drives to the hoop against Portland Jan. 9.
Gonzaga sophomore guard Kayleigh Truong dribbles up court against Portland Jan. 9.
All-time greatness surrounds the quarterbacks in one game this weekend, while young superstars man the position in the second.
I speak, of course, of the NFC Championship game between Aaron Rodgers' Green Bay Packers and Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the AFC Championship game between Patrick Mahomes' Kansas City Chiefs and Josh Allen's Buffalo Bills.
Rodgers and Brady, two of the most recognizable football names in the last 20 years, square off at frigid Lambeau Field for a matchup that kicks off at 12:05 p.m. before Mahomes and Allen have a match of their own at 3:40 p.m. That is, of course, assuming Mahomes can play after suffering a concussion last weekend against the Cleveland Browns.
The winners of the two games will earn a berth to the Super Bowl, where The Weeknd will hopefully give us the first good halftime show performance since...Bruno Mars? The Red Hot Chili Peppers?
It's a low bar to cross, as the halftime shows are usually, as the youth say, *cringeworthy*.
If the Seahawks weren't destined to be in this spot, the situation ahead of us is a solid silver lining.
Locally, a lot of area basketball teams enjoyed some wins and success of their own while attempting to grab Eastern Washington viewers' attention away from the NFL. Here's a recap of how six of those teams fared last week.
WSU men's
basketball
The Cougars have fallen back to earth a bit after a 9-0 nonconference run, getting beatdown at UCLA 91-61 Jan. 14 and failing to recover at USC in an 85-77 defeat.
WSU is now just 2-4 in PAC-12 play and sits in ninth place in the league while watching their NCAA Tournament hopes dwindle.
Wazzu will try to re-right the ship at Beasley Coliseum this weekend, with a Jan. 21 tilt against Utah and a Jan. 23 matchup against Colorado.
WSU women's basketball
The Cougars almost pulled off a miracle road win over No. 6 UCLA Jan. 17 after a buzzer-beating shot from Krystal Leger-Walker after an intentionally missed WSU free throw sent the game to overtime, but the Bruins prevailed 68-66 after the extra five minutes.
It was the second loss in a row for the Cougs after they opened last week ranked in the AP Poll for the first time in school history at No. 25. WSU also lost in overtime to USC 81-77 two days prior to the UCLA loss and fell out of the rankings this week.
Wazzu is in Oregon this weekend for a Friday night game with No. 13 Oregon and a Saturday afternoon game at Oregon State.
Gonzaga men's basketball
Something must be wrong with Gonzaga.
They only beat St. Mary's by 14 points last Saturday.
All kidding aside, the Zags endured their worst first half of the conference season in Moraga, falling behind by nine points, before fairly convincingly turning the game around and exiting with another fairly comfortable win, albeit more low scoring than most Bulldog efforts: 73-59.
Corey Kispert led four Gonzaga starters in double figures with 17 points as the Zags improved to 14-0 this season.
Two days prior, Pepperdine came to the Kennel and put up a fight before the Bulldogs shut the door and ran away for a 95-70 victory. Kispert was the leading scorer again with 23, while Drew Timme added 20 points.
Kispert was named WCC Player of the Week, while freshman Jalen Suggs won WCC Freshman of the Week.
Another ho-hum, award-winning week for the top-ranked Bulldogs, who take on Pacific in their lone game this week Saturday.
Gonzaga women's basketball
The women's basketball team was arguably more impressive than their male counterparts last week, though both Bulldog hoops squads won each of their two contests.
No. 20 Gonzaga convincingly won road games at Santa Clara 71-52 Jan. 14 and at San Francisco 76-52 to improve to 12-2 this season.
Jill Townsend led the way with 20 points against Santa Clara, while Kayleigh Truong starred against San Francisco with 17 points and five assists.
The Bulldogs' game against BYU Jan. 21 was postponed, leaving Gonzaga with one game left this week: A Saturday match against San Diego.
EWU men's basketball
Finally back in action after a 27-day layoff due to multiple COVID-19 cancellations, EWU split a pair of home games with Southern Utah last week.
In the first game, the Eagles held off the Thunderbirds 75-63, showing little rust despite the nearly month-long break. Tanner Groves continued to show his marked improvement since taking over for last year's Big Sky MVP, Mason Peatling, by scoring 25 points and grabbing seven rebounds. EWU held SUU to 34% shooting.
The second game was a much higher-scoring affair, with an NBA-level final score of 99-94. This time, however, it was advantage Thunderbirds despite 31 points from Jacob Davison, 23 points from Kim Aiken Jr. and 21 points from Groves. Tevian Jones scored 27 points for SUU.
EWU dropped to 2-1 in conference and 3-5 overall. The Eagles travel to Greeley, Colorado for two games Thursday and Saturday at Northern Colorado.
EWU women's basketball
The women's team didn't get their two Southern Utah games in last week, as both were cancelled. This week, Northern Colorado comes to Reese Court for a Thursday evening game and a Saturday matinee matchup. EWU will look to extend its four-game winning streak.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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