Posted 5:41 PM by Emmett
Local wrestlers earn wins at annual Rainier tourney
Rainier High School hosted the 15th annual Mountie Classic Wrestling Tournament last Saturday, and came away with three individual champions, while taking fourth overall as a team.

Posted 5:39 PM by Emmett
Saints men top Central
Junior center Nick Gibbs tied a season-high with 21 points (8-11 FG) as the Saints pulled off a huge GNAC road win over Central Washington 75-70 Saturday night in Ellensburg.
Saints womens basketball update

Posted 5:37 PM by Emmett
Saints baseball schedules announced
The Saints Baseball team will open their season on the road, with games against San Francisco State and Sonoma State February 8-10.

Posted 5:36 PM by Emmett
Saints softball schedules announced
The Saints Softball team will open their season March 1-3 in a tournament in Richland, Washington hosted by Central Washington.

Posted 5:32 PM by Emmett
Evergreen’s Andre Stewart named player of the week in Cascade Conference as Geoducks ranking rises to sixth in the NAIA

OLYMPIA – Two road victories, achieved with the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s leading scorer out with an injury, were enough to vault The Evergreen State College men’s basketball to sixth in this week’s NAIA poll, the highest national ranking ever by the Geoducks in any team sport.

The 1989 men’s soccer team was ranked as high as seventh.

Also moving up in the poll was Evergreen’s next opponent, Western Baptist College, now ranked 17th. Friday night at 7:30 p.m., for the second time in two weeks, the Cascade’s top two teams will meet in Olympia. On January 19, then #11 Evergreen downed then #14 Oregon Tech, 87-62.

This time, should Evergreen sweep its two weekend games with WBC and with Concordia University and Oregon Tech should lose to rival Southern Oregon, the Geoducks would wrap up the CCC regular season championship and a berth to the NAIA Nationals in Missouri during early March.

Quincy Wilder, scoring 26.6 points per game in conference play, suffered a strained achilles tendon earlier in that game and has not played since. He was expected to take part in some drills at Tuesday night’s practice.

Meanwhile, senior guard Andre Stewart let everyone know there is more to the Geoducks than Wilder with huge performances in critical road victories over the weekend against Albertson College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon University.

For his efforts, which included 35 points in an 80-65 win over Albertson, a school the Geoducks had never beaten on the road, Stewart was named the Cascade Collegiate Conference Player of the Week.

The 6-4 senior from Renton came back with 23 points – including a pair of clinching free throws in the final seconds – as Evergreen downed Eastern Oregon, 93-90.

Evergreen’s success this season has clearly been a team effort. Although there have been three definite stars, each has stepped up as needed to contribute to a 13-game win streak and a 12-1 CCC record.

As proof: A year ago, Stewart won three Cascade Conference player-of-the-week honors and All-America Trelton Spencer won three more – on a fifth-place team. This season, only Wilder, and now Stewart, have been honored on what has been clear-cut first place team. Evergreen leads second place Western Baptist College by 2 ½ games and can clinch the regular season championship and a trip to the NAIA Nationals in Missouri with a sweep of the Warriors and Concordia University this weekend, February 1 and 2.

Evergreen has all but assured itself of a home game in the first round of the Cascade Conference playoffs, which will be played February 20 against an opponent as yet to be determined. One more Geoduck win or a loss by fifth place Warner Pacific College will guarantee that Evergreen’s post-season opener will be played in Olympia.

With Wilder—averaging 26.6 points per game in conference—missing both games last weekend with a strained achilles tendon, Stewart did whatwas needed. He outdid Wilder’s scoring average with 29.0 points per game. Coming into the weekend, Greg Johnson led the Geoducks in assists during league at 4.2 per game. Despite taking 37 shots from the floor, Stewart also outdid his team’s point guard with 5.0 assists per game.

He hit 7-of-12 three point attempts at Albertson, including one telling first half sequence in which he hit a three, stole the in-bounds pass and immediately hit another three.

Posted 3:21 PM by Emmett
#9 Evergreen rallies past red-hot Eastern Oregon for 13th straight win

LA GRANDE, Oregon – Facing an Eastern Oregon University team that shot over 70 percent from the field in the first half, the Evergreen State College men’s basketball team rallied from a three-point deficit and hung on for its 13th consecutive victory, 93-90, on Saturday night.

The Geoducks (18-5, 12-1 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference) had thumped conference power Albertson on Friday night, but struggled against the last place Mountaineers (5-15, 2-11), trailing 49-46 at intermission. But Evergreen knew Eastern could likely play no better.

“We had taken their best shot and were only down three,” said senior guard Abel Koeltzow. “That told us we were in pretty good shape.”

Despite a 23-point performance by Andre Stewart and 22 from point guard Greg Johnson, who shot 9-of-14 from the field including 4-of-8 from three-point country, Evergreen had to battle for all of the game’s 40 minutes.

A three-pointer by 6-3 forward Trevor Exline, cut Evergreen’s lead to three with four seconds to go. Stewart then made two free throws to render Nate Cauffman’s buzzer-beating three meaningless.

Mike Parker hit 16 points and Will McGill 14 to bolster Evergreen’s attack. The Geoducks’ 54.8 shooting percentage was outstanding but overshadowed by EOU’s 61.8.

Exline led the Mountaineers with 17 points. Former Tumwater star Jonathan Stoddard contributed 10 for EOU.

Evergreen returns home for two games next weekend, Friday night against 24th-ranked Western Baptist College in a rematch of Evergreen’s 80-67 victory in Salem earlier this month and Saturday night against Concordia University. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.

Posted 3:16 PM by Emmett
Near miss for Evergreen in 77-75 loss to NAIA’s #18 women’s team

OLYMPIA – Evergreen State College is still looking for its first women’s basketball win in the Cascade Collegiate Conference this season. Too bad, last night Evergreen proved that if the season were long enough, the Geoducks just might join the leaders.

Riding a 24-point performance from freshman guard Belqui Guardado,
18 from Chandra Rathke and a strong all around offensive performance from
Kristin Zompetti, who had 12 points and five assists, Evergreen fell a
missed layup short of overtime in a 77-75 loss to CCC leader
Eastern Oregon University , the NAIA’s 18th-ranked women’s team.

The Geoducks led by as many as eleven, 42-31, with a minute to play
in the first half. Eastern didn’t lead until Toledo High product Brooke
Sellards – touted by EOU’s athletic department as a candidate for CCC Player
of the Year – scored an old-fashioned three-point play with 11:01 to go.

Evergreen (2-20, 0-9) reclaimed the lead at 62-61 on a
three-pointer by Rathke 6:32 from the end, but the Mounties came down to the
end with a two-point lead. Evergreen’s LaTyia Williams shot rolled off the
rim at the buzzer, sealing the Eastern victory.

Sellards paced Eastern (8-1, 15-2) with 28 points while Julie Coffin
added 13 and Danielle Dianda 11.

Evergreen hosts Albertson College of Idaho on Saturday night at 7:30
p.m.