B2
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, February 20, 2021
BMCC: Practice started on Jan. 19
Continued from Page B1
Young Kwak/Associated Press
Gonzaga forward Corey Kispert, right, shoots in front of
Saint Mary’s forward Kyle Bowen during the first half of an
NCAA college basketball game in Spokane, Wash., on Thurs-
day, Feb. 18, 2021.
Gonzaga:
Continued from Page B1
are having a down season made
worse by prolonged COVID-19
closures.
Gonzaga has won 18
consecutive games by double
digits. That’s the longest streak
within a season by an Associ-
ated Press No. 1 team since
UNLV won 19 games in a row
by 10 or more in 1990-91.
Gonzaga never trailed,
jumping to a 17-6 lead in the
opening minutes.
The big blow was a 19-2
run late in the first that pushed
their lead to 46-18.
The Zags led 51-24 at half-
time, behind 14 points from
Kispert and 11 from Ayayi.
The Gaels were hurt by
36% shooting in the first,
including 1 of 11 from 3-point
range, and 12 turnovers.
Gonzaga shot a blistering 61%
in the first and committed only
four turnovers.
Andrew Nembhard had six
points as Gonzaga opened the
second half with a 10-0 run for
a 61-24 lead to put the game out
of reach.
“We were cooking on
all cylinders,” Kispert said,
adding that the Zags are focus-
ing on defense lately.
“Great defensive teams
make Final Fours and win
national championships,” he
said. “We knew the offense
would take care of itself.”
Saint Mary’s coach Randy
Bennett did not have a video
press conference after the
game.
Hot shooting
Gonzaga shot 61% from
the floor for the game, while
Saint Mary’s rebounded from
a dreadful first half to finish at
45.5%.
Poll implications
An easy win over their
longtime rival should help the
Zags stay on top of the poll.
Big picture
Saint Mary’s: The Gaels
lead the WCC in scoring
defense at 61.7 points per
game. But the Gaels struggle
on offense, as this was their
10th straight game below 70
points.
Gonzaga: The Bulldogs
came in 11-0 in WCC play for
the third straight year. In the
first 440 minutes of conference
play this season, the Zags have
only trailed for 45 minutes and
58 seconds. Gonzaga and No.
2 Baylor are the last remain-
ing unbeaten teams. The Zags’
24-straight, 20-win seasons
ranks second for the longest
active run in the country
behind Kansas’ 30. Gonzaga
leads the nation in scoring
offense (93.1) and field-goal
percentage (55.1).
Up next
Saint Mary’s: Hosts
Pepperdine on Monday, Feb.
22.
Gonzaga: Hosts San Diego
on Saturday, Feb. 20. The
league also announced that
Gonzaga will host Santa Clara
next Thursday, Feb. 25, and
Loyola Marymount the follow-
ing Saturday, Feb. 27, to make
up for earlier postponements.
in making sure our athletes
were as taken care of as
possible,” Hillmick said.
The NWAC’s “Return to
Play” protocol included four
phases.
The initial two-week
quarantine was the gray
phase. During the red phase
teams were allowed to have
small group practices, and
in the yellow phase they had
larger team practices. During
the green phase schools can
have full team practices and
games.
“Those schools that have
chosen to come back in some
fashion athletically, to prac-
tice or to work out with their
teams with the goal of hope-
fully playing, the student-ath-
letes have to go through this
four-phase protocol,” Azur-
dia said.
Blue Mountain athletes
started practicing on Jan. 19.
The school is in the yellow
phase now, which allows
team practices outdoors.
Indoor practices aren’t
allowed.
Hillmick said he’s been
impressed at how Blue Moun-
tain coaches have adapted to
the restrictions.
“Our basketball teams,
when they weren’t allowed
indoors in their own gym,
they went to one of the public
parks and went to practice
under covered patios or the
local basketball courts,”
Hillmick said. “Same with
our volleyball girls, they had
a grass net so they set up a
grass court.”
Hillmick said he’s pleased
with the number of athletes
who have shown up for spring
sports practices as well, a
reflection of coaches who
continued to recruit during
the spring of 2020 despite the
challenges of the pandemic.
“Our baseball and softball
coaches in the spring right
when COVID hit attacked
this (recruitment) head on,”
Hillmick said. “They actu-
ally brought in the largest
numbers I’d say our baseball
team has seen in years.”
The condensed schedule
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Jessica Macias sprints during a practice with the Blue Mountain Community College soccer
team at the college on Friday, Feb. 19, 2021.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Josie Ash practices her ball handling under the eye of Blue
Mountain Community College soccer coach Jordan Hillmick
during a practice at the college on Friday, Feb. 19, 2021
also poses a challenge for
coaches and players, Hill-
mick said.
“Not having a true presea-
son, the ability to slowly
integrate and introduce the
athletes into normal compet-
itive play, I would say that
would probably be the same
for every one of the coaches,”
Hillmick said. “We usually
have scrimmages and games
where we can slowly intro-
duce our athletes to full
contact play, they get that
plenty in practice, but it’s
definitely different than a
game scenario.”
With traditional fall
sports, such as soccer, being
played during the spring,
athletes in those sports will
have an unusual challenge
— preparing for a second
competitive season in the
same calendar year.
Hillmick said he’s inter-
ested to see how his players
handle what will be a roughly
six-week gap between the end
of the spring season and the
start of the usual fall season.
“Are those athletes recov-
ering, rehabbing and resting
in order to properly prepare
for what is going to be two
competitive seasons in the
same calendar year, which is
crazy,” Hillmick said.
During this spring’s
schedule, each of the
NWAC’s four divisions —
East, West, North and South
— will revise schedules if
necessary should athletes
test positive or be exposed to
someone who tests positive.
“Logistics, when it comes
to scheduling, we really left
that up to each region,” Azur-
dia said.
Blue Mountain is prepared
for any scenario, with the ulti-
mate goal of keeping athletes
safe, Hillmick said.
“They are prepped for
pretty much everything,”
he said. “Trying to operate
across state lines is tough, but
we have found good solutions
in order to make sure our
athletes get back to the field
as safely as possible.”
Azurdia asks fans and
student-athletes to keep
two things in mind moving
forward with sports during
the pandemic.
“People need to balance
their passion with their
perspective here, what really
is the big picture here?” he
said.
Although athletics are set
to return in April, fans will
not be able to attend. They
are encouraged to watch
Blue Mountain Community
College sporting events avail-
able on the college’s YouTube
page.