Northwest Notes: Friday, June 20, 2014

Ex-Post Falls star going into

EWU Athletics Hall of Fame

Volleyball/basketball player Janelle (Ruen) Allen, the former Post Falls High standout, and the 2001 and 2002 Eagle volleyball teams she played on are among the 14th class of inductees in the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame, and will be honored on Oct. 3-4, 2014, in Cheney.

In addition, football player Greg Gavin and contributor Judy Crabb will be inducted, and men's basketball player Jack Perrault will be honored posthumously.

The 2001 and 2002 volleyball squads combined for a 50-8 record under former and current head coach Wade Benson, who returned to coach the Eagles in the 2013 season. The 2001 squad advanced as far as any other Big Sky Conference team in league history by beating Oregon State and winning a first-round game in the NCAA Tournament. Eastern finished third in the regular season in the Big Sky, but rolled through the Big Sky Tournament with victories over Idaho State, Northern Arizona and regular season champion and tourney host Sacramento State.

The 2002 volleyball team finished 29-2, but did not receive one of 33 at-large berths handed out to non-automatic qualifiers for the 64-team NCAA Championship. With the fifth-best winning percentage (.935) in NCAA Division I history - breaking school and Big Sky Conference records in the process - the Eagles were ranked as high as 15th nationally.

Ruen starred on both of those teams, and was the Big Sky's MVP as a senior in 2002 and the Big Sky Tournament MVP in 2001. She also played basketball for the Eagles, and was a two-time winner of the Inland Northwest Female Athlete of the Year Award presented by the Spokane Sportswriters and Broadcasters. She went on to play professional volleyball and is now an assistant coach at EWU under Benson.

The induction breakfast and ceremony will start at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 4 at the Pence Union Building. The public is invited and the cost is $15 per person. Guests must RSVP to (509) 359-2463 or 1 (800) 648-7697. Inductees will also be honored at halftime of EWU's football game against Weber State later that day, as well as Eastern's volleyball match the night before against Idaho on Oct. 3 at 6 p.m.

Information: goeags.com/hallfame/hallfame

Ex-WSU coach Bone

named Montana assistant

MISSOULA, Mont. - First-year University of Montana men's basketball mentor Travis DeCuire has selected his assistant coaches.

see NOTES, B2

DeCuire named former Pac-12 and Big Sky Conference head coach Ken Bone as an Associate Head Coach, while current Griz assistant Jono Metzger-Jones will remain at UM, and Chris Cobb rounds out DeCuire's assistant coaching staff. Marlon Stewart was chosen to serve as the Director of Basketball Operations.

Bone coached the past five seasons at WSU, going 80-86. He was fired following the 2013-14 season.

"I thought for me and the first time as a head coach, it's important to have someone on the bench and in the office that had experience with making decisions, and also having a calm mind to weather the storm in big, pressure games," DeCuire said. "For me it's important to have someone like Ken who is very experienced on the bench."

Before coming to WSU, Bone was a head coach at Seattle Pacific and Portland State, and was an assistant at Washington.

"All of his teams have probably over-achieved," DeCuire said. "Offensively, when you look at the University of Washington when they had their success and Sweet 16 runs he was a big part of that," DeCuire said. "They were probably in the top five or six in scoring, and we're looking at getting to that point in scoring, and 85 or 90 points a game, if possible. So that's important for us. He had some success at Washington State and his teams were good offensively."