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10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2018 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com No. 6 Gonzaga beats BYU for sixth straight WCC title By JOHN MARSHALL Associated Press AP Photo/Isaac Brekken Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins passes under BYU’s TJ Haws during the first half of the West Coast Conference tournament championship game Tuesday in Las Vegas. LAS VEGAS — Gonzaga seemed headed for a dog fight with BYU to get a sixth straight West Coast Confer- ence title. Once the Bulldogs started soaring, there was no stopping them. Racing out for dunks and 3-point- ers in transition, No. 6 Gonzaga over- whelmed BYU during a massive run to blow out the Cougars 74-54 on Tuesday night for its sixth straight WCC tournament title. “That’s probably as good a run I’ve been a part of in 28 years at Gonzaga, definitely in 19 years as head coach,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “Fan- tastic defense that led to great offense. It was just a thing of beauty to see.” Gonzaga (30-4), the regular-sea- son champion, locked into a defen- sive battle with BYU (24-10) for most of the first half. The Zags revved it up at both ends and turned it into a title-game rout, reeling off a half- time-spanning 36-6 run to win their 17th WCC overall title. Killian Tillie had 22 points, Zach Norvell Jr. added 17 and the Bull- dogs held BYU to 35 percent shoot- ing to win their 17th straight confer- ence tournament game. The dominant title performance should boost Gonzaga’s chances for a high NCAA Tournament seed and HOMETOWN REPORT Gonzaga women beat San Diego for West Coast title Blazers win 8th straight with 111-87 win over the Knicks Associated Press By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Gonzaga went into the season with plenty of question marks, with new play- ers on the roster and returning players filling new roles. The regular season ended just the way it did a year ago: with a West Coast Conference championship. Jill Barta scored 32 points and hit six free throws in the final 43 seconds, helping Gonzaga beat San Diego 79-71 on Tuesday to repeat as WCC tournament champions. “We just worked out to our goals and we had people step up all year long,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Portier said. With hot teams, Davis, Lillard hot names in MVP discussion By BRIAN MAHONEY Associated Press With the Houston Rockets on top of the NBA and James Harden on top of the scoring race, he may be running away with the MVP vote. Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard might have something to say about that. With stellar play steering their sizzling teams, they have at least entered their names in the con- versation with a little more than a month left in the regular season. Harden has been runner-up to Stephen Curry and Russell West- brook in recent years, but it’s looked like his time this season. With more than 31 points and nearly nine assists per game — third in the league in that category — for a team with the league’s best record, it’s hard to imagine needing to look elsewhere. “What Harden and Houston is doing right now, he’s the MVP of the league right now,” Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas said on NBA TV. Lillard and Davis could deserve some thought. Lillard is building a good resume for this week’s honor. He’s scored 39 and 37 in two games thus far, with 19 in the fourth quarter Monday to rally Portland past the Lakers, and eight 3-pointers Tuesday in a rout of the Knicks. That gave the league leader in second-half scoring 35 or more in seven of the last 10 games. Most importantly — for their teams and their candidacies — their clubs are rolling. New Orle- ans has won nine straight and Portland has won eight in a row. Davis has carried New Orle- ans with dominant basket- ball since DeMarcus Cous- ins was lost for the season last month. possibly a go-out-on-top end to the Zags’ dominance in the WCC — Gonzaga is in talks to join the Moun- tain West Conference, possibly next season. “Tonight, they were a handful for us,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “It’s tough when things get that lop- sided. It’s really tough when they get it going like that.” Yoeli Childs had 20 points to cap a stellar tournament for BYU. BYU seemed worn out in its third game in four days, unable to keep up with the flying Bulldogs. If this is Gonzaga’s final WCC tournament appearance, it went out with a flourish. Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian Maddi Utti, right, looks to pass for the Bulldogs in a game at San Diego State earlier this season. Utti makes conference all-freshmen team By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian S easide High School gradu- ate Maddi Utti was honored this week for her outstand- ing freshman year of basketball at Fresno State University. Utti and teammate Aly Gamez were named to the Mountain West Conference all-freshmen team, in conference awards announced Monday. Fresno State’s Candice White was selected to the All-Mountain West team, making the Bulldogs the only team in the MWC to have three players honored in the post- season awards. Utti started 25 straight games, led all MWC freshmen in field- goal percentage, and ranked third overall in the league at 56.4 per- cent. At only 5-foot-10, the under- sized post player and former point guard with the Gulls led all fresh- men in rebounding at 5.7 per game. Utti also ranked third among freshmen in minutes (32.4) per game and fourth in scoring (9.8). For Fresno State, she ranks first in field-goal percentage, sec- ond in rebounds and blocks, and third in steals and assists. She has posted 10 double-figure perfor- mances in league play, and two double-doubles. Astoria grad gets win for WSU Astoria’s Nick Strange recently earned his first vic- tory as a member of the Wash- Warner Pacific From left to right, Warner Pacific players Katlyn James, Mady Han- na and Michaela Pin were recently honored before the team’s Se- nior Night. two-out, run-scoring single to left field in the top of the ninth by Jus- tin Harrer, a graduate of Sisters High School. Strange made his WSU debut Feb. 18 in Tempe, Arizona, in a non-conference game against Nebraska. He pitched two scoreless innings out of the bullpen, in a 5-3 loss to the Cornhuskers. Hanna finishes career Washington State University Nick Strange ington State baseball team. A junior on the Cougars’ pitch- ing staff, Strange came on in relief in a non-conference game Feb. 20 against Grand Canyon in Phoenix, Arizona. He pitched one and two- thirds scoreless innings, including a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up the win. Washington State won 5-4 on a The college basketball career of Warrenton’s Mady Hanna offi- cially came to a close last month, as the season ended for War- ner-Pacific with a loss at South- ern Oregon in the Cascade Con- ference tournament. Hanna appeared in every game for the Knights, starting 16 and averaging 18.4 minutes per con- test. She was second on the team this season with 83 assists. PORTLAND — Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said it may be time to get Damian Lillard into the Most Valuable Player conversation. “The guy is playing fantastic. He might be one of those guys you’ve got to start talking about that MVP too with the way he’s playing,” New York’s coach said after Lillard scored 37 points in a 111-87 victory over the Knicks on Tuesday night. Lillard made eight 3-point- ers, one off his career high, in the Blazers’ eighth straight win. CJ McCollum added 19 points for the Blazers, on their lon- gest winning streak since win- ning nine in a row in 2014. They have moved into third place in the Western Conference standings. Even the fans have lofty expectations for Lillard, chanting “MVP! MVP!” at times when he got to the line. “I said after I won Rookie of the Year, I said I think I can be MVP in this league,” he said. “Being in the discussion, it’s an honor to be mentioned, but I don’t look at that and think ‘Oh they mentioned me in the MVP discussion.’ I feel that’s the level of player I can be.” Lillard added that he believes this has been his best season. He’s averaging 26.8 points, but he’s been particularly effective over the streak. The Blazers hit a season-high 20 3-pointers in 33 attempts (60 percent). Enes Kanter had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Knicks, who lost their fifth straight. It was Kanter’s 32nd double-dou- ble this season, a career high. Tim Hardaway Jr. finished with 19 points. New York has won just one of its last 14 games. The Knicks trailed by as many as 22 points. The game in Portland was the third of a four-game road trip for the Knicks and comes off a 102- 99 loss to the Kings on Sunday. Sacramento’s Skal Labissiere had a 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left to win it. The Knicks lost top scorer Kri- staps Porzingis last month to a season-ending ACL tear injury that required surgery, and they’ve since gone 1-8. UP NEXT: BLAZERS • Golden State Warriors (50-14) at Portland Trail Blazers (39-26) • Friday, 7 p.m. TV: NSNW SCOREBOARD PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE THURSDAY Boys basketball — OSAA Class 4A state tournament quarterfinals (at For- est Grove High School): Sisters vs. Banks, 1:30 p.m. Valley Catholic vs. La Grande, 3:15 p.m. Newport vs. Marshfield, 6:30 p.m. Mazama vs. Seaside, 8:15 p.m.
