College baseball

Central Washington 9, Saint Martin’s 3
Central Washington 5, Saint Martin’s 3 – Recap from SMUSaints.com

The GNAC women’s basketball tournament gets underway tonight at Marcus Pavilion with a pair of games between four ridiculously evenly matched teams beginning at 5:15 PM.

Game one matches third seed Montana State Billings with sixth seed Seattle Pacific. The two teams finished just one game apart in the conference standings at 11-7 and 10-8 respectively. The game features two of the best underclassmen in the GNAC – the Yellowjackets’ Bobbi Knudsen and the Falcons’ Katie Benson.

Bobbi Knudsen

Knudsen, a junior out of Malta, Montana, was second in scoring for the second year in a row with 17.6 points per game and led the conference in assists per game with 6.1 and was a first team all-conference selection for the second year in a row.

Benson was also named first team all-conference following her 16.9 points per game, 7.8 rebounds per game effort this season. The junior forward from Snohomish was co-freshman of the year in 2010 and second team all-conference in 2012.

The two teams split their season series, the first game going to the Yellowjackets in Billings, 66-56, behind 19 points and 7 assists from Knudsen. The Falcons returned the favor in Seattle with a 76-71 win behind 25 points from Aubree Callen.

Megan Hingston

Fourth seed Alaska Anchorage takes on fifth seed Northwest Nazarene in game two scheduled to tip at 7:30 PM. The Seawolves feature one of the best guard/forward combos in the conference in Sasha King and Alysa Horn while the Crusaders have arguably the best guard combo in the GNAC with scoring leader Megan Hingston and Chelsie Luke.

Both teams finished the regular season at 11-7 in conference play and split their season series with each team taking one game on the other’s home court. Northwest Nazarene got 43 points from Hingston and Luke in the first game in Alaska as they cruised to a 76-49 win but Sasha King tied a conference record with nine three pointers in the Seawolves’ 94-82 win in Nampa.

If you can’t make it to Marcus Pavilion this evening, both games can be seen on GNACSports.com with Jeff Rosenberry and me, Brandon Sparks, on the call.

Ticket info and more can be found here.

Photo from SMUSaints.com

Saint Martin’s men’s basketball head coach Keith Cooper was let go today after ten seasons with the Saints. Cooper went 116-158 during his time at the helm of the men’s program. His best season came during the 2008-2009 season when the Saints went 22-8 overall and 10-6 in conference. It was the only season the Saints had a winning record in conference and one of only two seasons they finished with a winning record overall.

But Saint Martin’s is not an easy job. The school is the smallest in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference  and is one of only three private schools in the conference competing against large public colleges like Western Washington, Alaska Anchorage and Simon Fraser. Given the disadvantages the Saints face, it might be hard for any coach to have sustained success in Lacey.

Cooper was obviously popular with his players and others and reaction of his firing was resoundingly negative on Twitter..

https://twitter.com/oneezie22/status/309186560732061698

https://twitter.com/rcarel3212/status/309195968857927680

https://twitter.com/coachferrier/status/309122875284140033

The new coach will be just the third head coach at Saint Martin’s in 26 years. Bob Grisham coached the Saints for 16 seasons before stepping down in 2003 to become the school’s first full-time athletic director, a position he still holds today.

Brad Wallace and the Hawks play for their fifth straight district title

Marcus Pavilion at Saint Martin’s hosts the District IV basketball championship games today beginning with the girls game at 6:00 PM between the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the state, Mark Morris and WF West, followed by River Ridge and Mark Morris for the second year in a row.

The Hawks have won four straight district titles and have appeared in the final game five straight years, their last loss coming in 2008 to Mark Morris. The Hawks enter tonight’s game at 16-6 overall having won 14 straight games, their last loss coming on December 14th to Capital.

Mark Morris has won six straight games, their last loss coming in a non-conference game against Lynden on the Marcus Pavilion court on January 19th. The Monarchs are 17-5 overall and lost just one game in the GSHL this season.

Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 PM.

In 4A district action, Olympia travels to Curtis High School in Tacoma to take on Union in a loser out game at 6:00 PM. Olympia fell to Tahoma in the first round on Wednesday while Union nearly completed an 18 point comeback before Todd Beamer pulled away for a 76-63 win. Union is 15-7 overall and 9-1 in the 4A GSHL.

After knocking off Auburn Mountainview on Wednesday, Timberline now faces a Lakes team that is 15-7 overall and finished 7-3 in the 3A SPSL and have won four straight. Their last loss came to Auburn Mountainview on January 25th. Tip-off at Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma is set for 6:00 PM.

Oly Sports is was on vacation for the next week. I will be checking in periodically and maybe continuing regular scoreboards and whatnot, but no promises. New content will be underneath this post on the main page.

If you are looking for schedules, check the calendar on the right hand sidebar or click here.

Regular posting will resume resumed on Thursday, February 6th.

Today is OlySports.com’s one year birthday! Started a year ago in a fit of inspiration and boredom during the big snow and ice storm last January, Oly Sports has posted 698 previews/recaps/stories (and will have 700 by the end of the day) and has sent nearly 3,900 tweets on the @OlySportsBlog Twitter account.

In that time, this website has opened up so many fun opportunities for me including calling Shelton High School football games for KMAS, Saint Martin’s basketball game webcast for the Saints and serving as communications coordinator for the Tumwater Pioneers.

Throughout the day, I’ll be adding my thoughts about the future of Oly Sports, proud moments, favorite posts and more to this post so check back to read more on this happy anniversary. I will also pick one random commenter and give them an OlySports.com t-shirt in their choice of size and color.

First up, my favorite photo gallery that I’ve featured in the first year from the Pope John Paul II game just last week…

Favorite photo gallery: Pope John Paul II vs. Columbia Adventist

2013 is here and we get back on track with a handful of non-conference basketball games around town:

Boy’s basketball

Capital vs. Clover Park – Capital HS – 7:00 PM
Tumwater @ Timberline – Timberline HS – 7:00 PM
Black Hills vs. Stadium – Black Hills HS – 7:30 PM

Girl’s basketball

Capital @ North Thurston – North Thurston HS – 7:00 PM
Timberline @ Tumwater – Tumwater HS – 7:30 PM