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Show StatesmanSports Monday, Jan. 11, 2010 Page 7 LAU BARBERSHOP Inside the Taggart Student Center Next to the Bookstore USU athletics still plenty games left to play By CONNOR JONES sports editor And so it is, another fall semester of Aggie athletics behind us, and although the hard hits of football, great saves of soccer, clutch putts of golf, thunderous kills of volleyball, long rallies of tennis and demanding runs of cross country are over, the 2009-'10 Aggie sports scene is far from over. While much of the student body stepped away from Cache Valley for nearly a month, the Aggie athletes competing in spring sports were preparing and competing for the upcoming season. The men's and women's basketball teams will continue their quest for postseason play well into the spring semester. With a record of 9-5, the women are off to their best starts since the 1978-'79 season, when they went 7-1, and the men coming into their 105th season of play with 10 straight postseason appearances, there's no reason to to doubt that either team will miss out on postseason opportunities this year. Restructure this last sentence. Or you can delete "a record of 9-5" and keep it. After three days since returning to classes, the Aggie gymnastics team starts its competitive season, traveling to Mount Pleasant Michigan to compete with Central Michigan on Jan. 15. Second-year head coach Jeff Richards is chomping on the bit to improve, after his premiere as head coach with last year's team record of 1-19 overall, including 0-9 in Western Athletic Conference play. Richards has a young team with only one senior, Heather Heinrich, this year. Heinrich is one of nine returning gymnasts, who include juniors Lyndsie Boone, Jackie Dillon and Chelsea Marquardt, along with sophomores Brandie Dickson, Rachel Flessner, Haley Hogan, Rebecca Holliday and Erica Huelsmann. Returning freshmen are Amanda Corn from Smithfield, Amelia Montoya from Mission Viejo, Calif., and Amanda Watamaniuk from Centerville, Ohio. On the diamond this spring will be firstyear USU head coach Carissa Millsap-Kalaba, who came to Logan after spending five seasons with NAIA's, Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. At Biola, she had a .606 winning percentage (143-93) and averaged just under 29 wins per year. Not only has MillsapKalaba proved herself as a winning coach, but in her day she was also quite the player, playing for Hofstra from 1996-'97 and UCLA from 1998-'99, which is when the Bruins won the Women's College World Series. Last year's coach, Candi Letts, was released after three seasons as USU's head coach with a 41-107 career record. She went 10-37 in her final season. This year's squad has seven seniors on the roster, giving the Aggies some players with experience and allowing Millsap-Kalaba to begin building the future of Aggie softball with recruiting after this season. One of the most consistently great programs at USU is the men's and women's track and field teams. After last season's school recordsetting 20 athletes qualifying for NCAA West Regional Championship, the Aggies are returning many of those qualifiers and are looking forward to another successful season. The Aggies had two athletes, John Strang and Clint Silcock, named as All-American's in last year's indoor season. And while Strang graduated with many indoor and outdoor WAC records, Silcock is returning for his junior season. After high jumping 7 feet in last month's Blue and White Challenge, Silcock is looking for another great season. USU's men are looking to repeat last year's WAC outdoor title, while the women are hoping to improve from last year's fourth-place campaign. With a fresh semester of classes, relationships, homework and teachers, Aggie spring sports has another potentially great season ahead of them. c.h j@aggiemaiLusu.edu — 797-1648 Hours: Mon-Fri 9am-4pm Come on in and get a haircut! 1 1 1 $5 OFF $2 OFF Any Color Service A Haircut I I Valid with select stylists only. Valid with select stylists only. Not valid with other offers. Not valid with other offers. Must have coupon. Expires 1-31-2000 I Must have coupon. Expires 1-31-2009 • e • Need A Place to Crash? /1)1 www.a-bay-usu.com The UtahStatesman 24/7, easy to use, easy to find, easy on the wallet. For Your Princess For more than a century. thousands of couples throughout Northern Utah have experienced fair and honest transactions at &E. Needham Jewelers. We consistently beat the pnccs of 50-70`L'e off mks. so-called wholesale prices, interne[ sites, and siudent discounts. You will find superior value at our store, we offer a .30-day money-back guarantee to back it up. SOPHOMORE GYMNAST RACHEL FLESSNER goes through her routine during the team's annual Blue and White competition on Dec. 19, 2009. Flessner and her team look to improve on last season's 1-19 record. CODY continuedfrom page 6 along with 10 points, four rebounds and four steals. Whitehead dominated the defensive end of the floor, grabbing a season-high 14 rebounds and blocking five Spartan shots. Utah State will look to continue its win streak and remain undefeated in WAC play when it welcomes Nevada to Logan Wednesday. majerusforpresident@yahoo.corn — Gossner Classic: Ags sweep annual tournament continued from page 6 "Offensively we made some progress. It's nice to be home obviously. We were real aggressive in this tournament and shot some high percentages and scored some points and all those things are very positive for us," said Coach Morrill. The Aggies dedicated the win to Bendall who did not play after undergoing a heart procedure earlier that day called a heart ablation in order to treat an atrial flutter. Bendall had troubles with his heart earlier in the season, staying overnight in a hospital in Boston with the team trainer after the Aggies lost to Northeastern. "We talked a lot about going and giving our all for Nate, because Nate is a big part of our team. This was a special one for Nate, because we didn't have him. I think Modou, Brady, and Matt stepped up real big for us; especially Modou, he filled those shoes...just unbelievable," said Wesley. "They said that before we went out for the game, 'this one's for Nate,' that's a pretty good deal," said Morrill, who was equally impressed with the performance of Niang and Jardine. "What a great thing to see a couple of guys that don't normally get that many minutes play so well. Modou and Brady just took up the slack for us not having Nate Bendall. We needed to have somebody step up like that," said Morrill. Niang's 13-point performance in 24 minutes of play was punctuated with a turn-a-round fade-away jumper and the foul over Weber State forward Darin Mahoney that brought the crowd to their feet with 3:26 remaining in the game. Prior to the Weber State game Niang had been averaging 2.9 points and 7.1 minutes per game. "I'm not completely stupid," said Morrill of Niang's performance, "if I'd seen what I saw tonight in practice he would have been playing more. But he's gotta build on that. I think that will really help his confidence." With only 25 seconds left in regulation Morrill put in junior forward Matt Formisano so that Niang could receive some recognition from the Aggie faithful. "I told him that it's not very often that I go out of my way to get a guy a standing o from the crowd. He deserved that. That is usually for your Jaycee Carrolls or your Wilkinsons or somebody that has started and played so well. He just did a great job. It says a lot for him that his opportunity was today and he took advantage of it," said Morrill. "All things point to it being fine," said Morrill of Bendall's recovery. "Seven to ten days is what they're saying. We definitely need him practicing, back, and ready for league play." According to Morrill things are looking up for the Aggies as the season progresses. "I think we are getting better. Where Utah Gets Engaged, 141 North Main • 752-7149 We gotta take that aggression that we played with in this tournament on the road next time we go out. We're starting to get roles defined and we're getting better," said Morrill. — ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu •e www. serteedltam.com GOCHNOUR photo Streak: Women's basketball wins six straight games The win streak continues, while the poor first half performances do not. Utah State built a comfortable 40-25 halftime lead en route to a 65-54 win over San Jose State. The win is the Aggies' sixth straight and moves them to 2-0 in WAC play. White led the Aggies with 18 points for the second-straight game, and PringleBuchanan chipped in another 13-point performance off the bench. Stat-stuffer Coddington led the Aggies with seven assists to go Store Hours: Monday - Saturday 10- 00 - 7-00 Adledk ofcll.. 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