This Week In Warrior Athletics

February 26, 2007

EVENTS: 

Women’s basketball: at Frontier Conference Tournament in Butte, Mont., vs. Great Falls, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 5 p.m.

Men’s basketball: at Frontier Conference Tournament in Butte, Mont., vs. Great Falls, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m.

Baseball – SPORT Banana Belt Tournament at Lewiston’s Harris Field. Thursday, March 1: Gonzaga vs. Air Force, 11 a.m.; Southern Utah vs. LCSC, 2 p.m. Friday, March 2: Utah Valley vs. Gonzaga, 11 a.m.; LCSC vs. Air Force, 2 p.m.; Saturday, March 3: Air Force vs. Utah Valley, 10 a.m.; Washington State vs. LCSC, 1 p.m.; Southern Utah vs. Gonzaga, 4 p.m. Sunday, March 5: Southern Utah vs. Utah Valley, 11 a.m.; Gonzaga vs. LCSC, 2 p.m. At Washington State University, Pullman: Thursday, March 1: Utah Valley vs. Washington State, 4 p.m. Friday, March 2: Southern Utah vs. Washington State, 4 p.m.; Air Force vs. Washington State, 7 p.m.

Men’s tennis – NAIA Regional Tennis Challenge at LCSC Tennis Center: Friday, March 2: LCSC vs. Alberta, noon. Saturday: March 3: LCSC vs. Alberta, noon. Sunday, March 4: LCSC vs. Idaho, 2 p.m.

Women’s tennis – NAIA Regional Tennis Challenge at LCSC Tennis Center: Friday, March 2: Alberta vs. Southern Oregon, 8 a.m.; LCSC vs. Southern Oregon, 4 p.m.; LCSC vs. Alberta, 8 p.m.; Saturday: March 3: Albertson vs. Southern Oregon, 8 a.m.; Albertson vs. Alberta, 4 p.m. Sunday, March 4: Albertson vs. LCSC, 9 a.m.

Men’s and women’s golf – Inland Intercollegiate Cup, Monday, Feb. 26, at Clarkston Golf & Country Club, and Tuesday, Feb. 27, at Quail Ridge Golf Course, Clarkston. 

Women’s basketball: 

The Warrior women are one win away from the possibility of recording the program’s best single-season winning percentage. However, the number the Warriors are concentration on is eight.

LCSC begins postseason play on Wednesday night, eight wins away from winning the NAIA national title, when it takes on Great Falls in the opening round of the Frontier Conference tournament at Butte, Mont. Tipoff is at 5 p.m., PST.

The Warriors, at 28-1, are the top seed in the tournament after finishing regular-season conference play undefeated at 14-0. Great Falls, which lost to LCSC by 51 and 37 points during the regular season, is the eighth seed after finishing conference play winless at 0-14.

The tournament continues through Saturday with the conference champion earning an automatic berth to the national tournament. Because LCSC is ranked No. 2 in the country, it is guaranteed an at-large berth to nationals if it should stumble in the conference tournament.

During the 1999-2000 season, LCSC went 28-2 for a program-best winning percentage of .933. As long as LCSC doesn’t lose in the conference tournament, it will eclipse that mark this season.

The Warriors bring a 20-game win streak into the tournament and has been ranked No. 2 in the NAIA poll for seven straight weeks. Great Falls, 2-25 overall, has lost 15 straight entering Wednesday’s play.

The LCSC-Great Falls winner will take on the winner of Thursday’s game between No. 4 seed Westminster and No. 5 seed Montana State-Northern on Friday at 5 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to Saturday’s championship contest.

A couple of milestones should happen during Wednesday’s game. LCSC senior post Ashley Baker has 1,992 career points and should become the third Warrior ever to surpass 2,000 points. Rosie Albert holds the all-time mark with 2,276 points. Also, junior point guard Katie Hart needs two assists for 165 this season, which would rank her fifth on the program’s single-season assist list. She has 436 assists, which already ranks her fourth on the school’s all-time list.

The Warriors rank in the NAIA’s top 10 in six categories, including second in scoring margin. LCSC is outscoring its opponents by an average of 21 points a game. LCSC’s also fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.13) and assists per game (19.5), eighth in field goal percentage (46.1), and 10th in scoring offense per game (78.9 points), and total rebounding margin (6.9).

Baker leads the team in both scoring (15.4 points) and rebounding (8.6) averages per game, while Hart tops the team in assists (5.6). Jade Fulbright is average 2.3 steals per contest.

The Warriors are expected to earn their 11th national tournament berth in the last 12 years. 

Frontier Conference tournament – At Maroon Activity Center, Butte, Mont. Wednesday, Feb. 28: #2 Montana-Western (11-3, 26-4) vs. #7 Rocky Mountain (3-11, 9-21), 1 p.m.; #1 LCSC (14-0, 28-1) vs. #8 Great Falls (0-14, 2-25), 5 p.m. Thursday: March 1: #3 Carroll (10-4, 26-4) vs. #6 Montana Tech (4-10, 16-12), 1 p.m.; #4 Westminster (8-6, 20-10) vs. #5 Montana State-Northern (6-8, 17-11), 5 p.m. Friday’s semifinals: Western-Rocky winner vs. Carroll-Tech winner, 1 p.m.; LCSC-Great Falls winner vs. Northern-Westminster winner, 7 p.m. Saturday’s championship: Friday’s two winners, 4 p.m. 

Men’s basketball: 

LCSC coach Tim Walker says the postseason is more like icing on the cake. And prior to the Warriors taking the court in their season finale against Rocky Mountain last Saturday night, senior forward Chris Pitts made it clear that he likes a lot of frosting.

The Warriors captured the Frontier Conference regular season title by defeating Rocky Mountain and will now look to add some cake for that frosting when they take part in the conference tournament, which will be held in conjunction with the women’s tournament at the Maroon Activity Center in Butte.

LCSC, at 12-2 in conference play and 23-6 overall, will take on No. 8 seed Great Falls, 1-13 and 12-18, at 7 p.m., PST on Wednesday.

The men’s tournament should be interesting as LCSC and No. 2 seed Westminster enter play with six- and eight-game win streaks, respectively, while No. 3 seed Carroll lost its last three games to fall out of title contention. No. 4 seed Montana State-Northern won its final three games to surpass both No. 5 seed Rocky Mountain and No. 6 seed Montana Tech.

The winner of the conference tournament receives an automatic berth to the national tournament. LCSC, ranked No. 16 in last week’s NAIA poll, likely would receive an at-large berth to nationals if it fails to win the conference tournament, but that will all depend on how many upsets there are in other conference tournaments.

The Warriors defeated Great Falls by 27 points on the road and 16 at home during the regular season when they reeled off 11 consecutive wins to tie a program record that was set during the 1957-58 season.

LCSC stands No. 2 in the country in fewest points allowed at 60.3 per game, and is third in scoring margin, outscoring opponents by an average of 17.8 points per game. LCSC is also sixth in turnover margin, forcing nearly six more than it commits, and is 10th in 3-point shooting (39.3 percent) and in free-throw shooting (72.6 percent).

By capturing the conference tournament with three victories, LCSC would reach 26 wins, which is the second-highest win total in the history of the program, trailing only 31 wins in the 2003-04 season.

Junior post Mike Gordy ranks eighth in the NAIA in field-goal percentage (61.2), while senior guard Teran Lee is 11th in free-throw percentage (85.5). Gordy leads the team in scoring at 16.4 points per game, while Lee is at 14.8 points. Chris Pitts leads the team in rebounding at 6.3 per game and is coming off a strong weekend where he posted double-digit totals in both rebounding and scoring in both LCSC games.

LCSC is looking to qualify for nationals for the sixth time in program history. 

Frontier Conference tournament – At Maroon Activity Center, Butte, Mont. Wednesday, Feb. 28: #2 Westminster (11-3, 19-10) vs. #7 Montana-Western (2-12, 8-19), 3 p.m.; #1 LCSC (12-2, 23-6) vs. #8 Great Falls (1-13, 12-18), 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1: #3 Carroll (9-5, 19-10) vs. #6 Montana Tech (5-9, 10-17), 3p.m.; #4 Montana State-Northern (9-5, 17-10) vs.  Rocky Mountain (7-7, 17-13), 7 p.m. Friday, March 2: Westminster-Western winner vs. Carroll-Tech winner, 3 p.m.; LCSC-Great Falls winner vs. Northern-Rocky winner, 7 p.m. Saturday, March 3: Friday’s two winners, 6 p.m. 

Baseball: 

The 52nd edition of the longest running collegiate baseball tournament in the United States takes place this week when the SPORT Banana Belt Tournament is held at both Lewiston’s Harris Field and at Pullman’s Buck-Bailey Field.

The six-team tournament features five NCAA Division I schools and LCSC meeting in round-robin play. Each team will play four games, meaning each team will miss one opponent. LCSC won’t play Utah Valley State, WSU and Gonzaga won’t play, and neither will Air Force or Southern Utah.

Action in the tournament begins Thursday at 11 a.m., with Gonzaga taking on Air Force, followed by Southern Utah and LCSC at 2 p.m. Both games are at Harris Field. In Pullman, WSU will play host to Utah Valley at 4 p.m. The Cougars also will be home for two games on Friday, but will play LCSC in Lewiston on Saturday at 1 p.m.

LCSC, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA preseason poll, stands 9-0 on the season, while WSU is 3-3, Gonzaga is 5-8; Air Force is 4-7, Southern Utah is 2-6 with a game against Brigham Young awaiting on Tuesday, and Utah Valley State is 2-8.

The Warriors will be seeking their third straight tournament title this year after capturing both the Regence BlueShield of Idaho and Guardian Plumbing, Heating, & A/C crowns at Harris Field. In the latter tournament, LCSC posted a 5-0 record and received a strong performance from junior third baseman Beau Mills, who transferred to LCSC this season from Fresno State. Mills went 13-for-20 at the plate in the tournament with 13 RBI, four home runs, two doubles and 10 runs scored.

For the season, Mills is 18-of-36 for a .500 average with 19 RBI, and 15 runs scored. Half of his hits are for extra-bases (five doubles, four home runs).

The Warriors have combined strong pitching and timely hitting for their great start. LCSC has outscored the opposition 82-18 this year and is hitting .329, while holding opponents to a .179 batting average.

The pitching staff already owns three shutouts this season and carries a team earned-run average of 1.54 into the tournament. The staff also has recorded 68 strikeouts compared to 24 walks.

Shortstop Mark Thompson, hitting in the leadoff spot, is batting .454 and has reached base via being walked or hit by a pitch eight times. He’s also 10-of-10 in the stole base department, helping LCSC to a 16-of-17 mark as a team. Opponents haven’t tried to run much on catcher Jessie Mier, who has thrown out two of three attempted base stealers.

Men’s and women’s tennis:

The Warriors will play host to perhaps their biggest weekend of the season when the NAIA Regional Tennis Challenge takes place at the LCSC Activity Center.

This year, the NAIA has adopted a new format and will award berths to the national tournament based on the rankings in its polls instead of a year-end regional tournament. The top-ranked team in each of the 14 regions will receive an automatic berth to nationals, which means the head-to-head competition this weekend makes it vital to win. There also are 10 at-large berths to nationals.

The men’s region features only two teams, LCSC and the University of Alberta, and the two teams will play twice – at noon on both Friday and Saturday. A sweep by either team would probably mean it would stay ahead of the other in the polls throughout the season.

The same probably holds true on the women’s side, but there are four teams in the region – Alberta, Southern Oregon, Albertson, and LCSC. The teams will face each other once, with perhaps the featured match taking place on Sunday at 9 a.m. between Albertson and LCSC. Any team that can escape unscathed during the weekend would have the upper hand in the poll the rest of the year.

The LCSC men, 5-2 on the season, are ranked No. 16 in the latest NAIA poll, while the Warrior women are 2-2 and are ranked No. 17. All of the Warrior losses this season have come at the hands of NCAA Division I schools.

The Warrior men will also face the University of Idaho on Sunday. 

Men’s and women’s golf: 

The Warrior golf teams kicked off their spring portion of their schedule on Monday in the Inland Intercollegiate Cup, which is being hosted by Washington State University.

The first 18 holes were played at the Clarkston Golf & Country Club, and the final 18 holes will be Tuesday at Quail Ridge Golf Course in Clarkston. The 36-hole format is all individual play and no team scoring will be kept.

Individuals from LCSC, WSU, Idaho, Idaho State, Portland, British Columbia, and Victoria are scheduled to take part in the tourney.