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Show ,, !THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2000 PAGE 13 UNIVERSITY JOURNAL SPORTS First place hopes still alive conference tournament to be held in Fort Wayne. Southern Utah will be looking to stay in at least a Ind., March 4-7. tie atop the Mid-Continent Conference standings this week as the Thunderbirds travel to Western Illinois WIU (7-20) will be trying to break an eight-game Thursday at 6:35 p.m (MST) and Chicago State skid before going into the conference tournament, Saturday 2 p.m. (MST) for a while CSU has lost six in a row regular season-ending road going into tonight's game with / swing. Valparaiso. At 9-5 in league play the 'Birds SUU and WIU are even in are in a first place tie with their series at 3-3 , while the Valparaiso, Youngstown State 'Birds lead Chicago State in that and Oakland. UMKC is a series. 10-3. SUU won contests half-game back at 8-5 . followed · with both teams in Cedar City by Oral Roberts (7-7), Chicago earlier this season, stopping State (6-8), IUPUI (4-10) and WIU 75-60, Jan 20, and CSU Western Illinois (2-14). 90-69, Jan . 22 . Last year the Valpo is at Chicago State teams all held serve on their tonigtit then hosts IUPUI to ~ own floors, with SUU dropping a close its regular season ~ 76-68 decision at WIU before Saturday. Youngstown State ~ falling at CSU, 89-87, in hosts Oral Roberts tonight ~ overtime. The 'Birds avenged before meeting UMKC in both those losses later in the Youngstown. Ohio, Saturday. ~ season, however, getting by UMKC is at Oakland tonight ~ WIU, 89-79, to dash the -=-=_...La._._"""'_..:.....::.:....._ _.....,_,.........J u Leathernecks' Mid-Con title and hosts IUPUI Monday in addition to Saturday's game at hopes before topping the Cougars 78-55. YSU. Oral R?berts and Oakland above the competition this season. conclude their regular seasons Jeff Monaco has scored in double figures in nine straight games, the longest with a Saturday matchup at Oakland, while both Western Illinois and Chicago State conclude their current such streak for SUU. regular seasons this week against SUU. All SUU men's basketball games are broadcast Oakland and IUPUI are not eligible to play in the over KSUB AM (590). e Sluggers to face tough test Southern Utah's baseball team faces nationallyranked Arizona State and Mountain West power New Mexico this weekend at the ASU/Packard Classic in Tempe, Ariz. The Thunderbirds open round-robin play Friday against UNM at 4 p.m. (MST), before meeting ASU at 8 p.m. (MST). Saturday, the 'Birds and Lobos will face off again at 2 p.m. (MST). SUU closes out play Sunday against the Sun Devils at 2 p.m. (MST). All games will be played at Packard Stadium on the ASU campus. The 'Birds are 3-1 , and have started off their season splitting with UNLV and beating Mesa State and Lewis-Clark State. "I am happy that we were able to put some early wins on the board . I wish we didn't have last week off because I felt like we were getting into a rhythm ," said SUU Head Coach Kurt Palmer. · 1 like to play games every week. Hopefully the time off didn't make us complacent and take anything out of us." This will be the first two meetings between the 'Birds and Lobos on the diamond. Arizona State holds a 12-0 series edge over SUU , including a three-game sweep of the 'Birds last season (April 30, 13-1 ; May 1, 16-7; May 2, 12-6). · "New Mexico is a tough team with good pitching." said Palmer. "ASU has always had good hitters and is deep in pitching. ASU is very good defensively and they don't make mistakes to beat themselves." New Mexico enters this week's play at 7-6. ASU comes in with a 12-4 record, having lost two of three at current #2 Louisiana State last weekend. The Sun Devils are rankecl 16th in the nation in this week's USA Today Baseball Weekly/ESPN Coaches' Poll and already own a win over current # 1 Florida State (15-9) in Tempe earlier this month. SUU opens the home portion of its 2000 schedule with a pair of doubleheaders against in-state rival Brigham Young, March 3-4. Emily Cederholm slides into second in the opening game of the season at UNL V. Softball loo~ing for first win Southern Utah travels south to St. George this weekend to play in the University of Utah tournament. The Thunderbirds begin the tournament Friday with a game against Utah at noon, followed by a matchup with Utah State at 2 p.m. Saturday, the 'Birds will face Washington at 11 a.m. and Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. All games will be played at Dixie College. SUU went winless this past weekend at the UNLV Classic, losing to teams such as Notre Dame and Loyola Marymount, and is 0-7 so far this year. Like the last tournament, the 'Birds will face some tough competition. "These teams make the last teams look like a nursery.· said SUU Head Coach Laurel Simmons. Junior Wendy Haramoto leads the team in nearly every category with three runs, six hits, one home run. two RBI and three stolen bases. Junior Joni Bardsley leads the 'Birds with a .438 on-base percentage and five walks. Junior Emily Cederholm leads the team with two doubles. SUU fields a young team . with underclassmen being the majority. The players are learning how to play together as a team. "We've moved our whole infield around," said SUU assistant coach Shannon Henrie. "I think we've found a good combination now." SUU was recently picked fourth in the 200 Mid-Continent Conference coaches' poll . receiving one vote to finish first in the conference. Simmons says she expects the team to finish higher. "I've seen glimpses of what is to come." said Simmons. After facing tough teams in these tournaments. Simmons said she thinks the team will be ready to battle for the MidCon title. She said the 'Birds will have had enpugh time to come together as a team , and become successful. Lady 'Birds to play two key road games Point gaurd Sally Johnson currently leads the team in steals (1. 70 spg), and her team-high average of 4. 65 assists is second in the Mid-Con. SUU's women's basketball team (11-13, 6-8 Mid-Con) will close out the 1999-2000 regular season with a pair of key Mid-Continent Conference road games this week. The Thunderbirds will travel to Macomb, Ill .• to face conference contender Western Illinois (16-10, 10-5 Mid-Con) today at 4:15 p.m. (MST). SUU will then travel to Chicago to play Chicago State (0-25, 0-14 Mid-Con) Saturday at noon (MST). The 'Birds hold a 4-2 series edge over WIU, including a 68-60 wjn at the Centrum , Jan. 20. Both of WIU's wins in the series have come at home. SUU is 5-0 all-time against Chicago State, with the 'Birds taking an earlier meeting this season· in Cedar City, 92-52 (Jan. 22). WIU enters Thursday's contest with a 16-10 overall record, 10-5 in Mid-Con play, having won five of the last seven games played. "This trip is always a tough one for us," said SUU Head Coach Joe Hillock. "Western is fighting for the league championship and we could play the part of spoiler and that would help us take a step up in the standings.· Chicago State enters this week's play looking to break · through in the win column in one of its remaining two games. CSU gave league-leader Oakland all it could handle before OU prevailed. 74-64. "Chicago State has always been a tough opponent for us," said Hillock. · 1 know they gave Oakland all they could handle last Saturday. We will have to play very well on the road to get wins in both games." Senior center Melissa Hines was named the IHC Health Plans Player of the Week for her efforts in last Thursday's win at Oral Roberts. Hines scored four points and had a game-high 13 rebounds in 32 minutes against the Golden Eagles, with two assists, two blocks and a steal. Currently, Hines has 559 rebounds at SUU. Freshman Lindsay Hille continued her torrid shooting pace from behind the arc against ORV. Hille nailed fourof-nine treys and scored a team-high 15 points in the victory. Hille has led or co-led the team in scoring in each of the last three games and has connected on 16-of-30 three-pointers {,533) in that stretch, including a school single-game recora seven against Youngstown State. Sophomore Megan Lofthouse continues to lead the team in scoring at 14.8 ppg, which is good for sixth on the Mid-Con scoring list. The 5-9 guard had 12 points, six rebounds and four assists against ORU. The women's games can be heard live on KSUUPower 91 FM or on the World Wide Web at www.suu.edu/ksuu . I. ) |