Northwest Notes: Jan. 8, 2021

Former Post Falls assistant

steps down as Sandpoint coach

SANDPOINT — Wade Engelson resigned as Sandpoint High boys basketball coach Thursday morning.

Assistant coach Mike Roos, a 1993 SHS grad, was named interim head coach. The Bulldogs' next game is tonight at home vs. Moscow.

Sandpoint athletic director Kris Knowles was unable to share any further details due to confidentiality reasons, but he thanked Engelson for his commitment to the program over the last few years.

Engeleson, a former Post Falls High assistant, was in his third season as Bulldogs coach.

In 2018-19 season, Sandpoint finished 7-12 record and last year the Bulldogs went 10-12.

This season, Sandpoint is 2-3 and most recently lost to St. Maries 57-26 at home on Saturday.

One of Roos' sons, Colin, is a sophomore on this year's team. Knowles said Roos has been helping out with the program since 2015.

Three Zags on Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List

LOS ANGELES — Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert, Jalen Suggs and Drew Timme were named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List, as chosen by a poll of national college basketball experts based on their performances during the 2020-21 season thus far.

Gonzaga is the lone program in the country to have three players on the watch list. The Zags are one of three teams that have multiple players on the list. Illinois (Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu) and Villanova (Collin Gillespie and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl) both have two players listed.

Suggs is one of three players on the Midseason Top 25 who were not on the original preseason top-50 list.

Through 10 games (prior to Thursday night's game vs. BYU), Kispert is averaging 21.6 points per game, which leads the West Coast Conference. He also tops the WCC in field goal percentage (63.4) and 3-pointers made per game (3.1). The senior is second in the league in 3-point field goal percentage (50.8) and free-throw percentage (87.9).

Suggs leads the conference in steals per game (2.38). He is 15th in scoring (13.8), third in assists (5.3), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.05) and seventh in field goal per centage (53.8). He’s been named the WCC Freshman of the Week three times and Player of the Week once.

Timme, a sophomore, is fourth in the league averaging 18.4 points per game and seventh pulling down 7.3 rebounds per game. His 2.6 offensive rebounds per game is third. He is fourth in the conference shooting 59.3 percent from the field.

Former Mead, CCS setter transfers to Eastern

CHENEY — Eastern Washington University volleyball coach Leslie Flores-Cloud announced the addition of 6-foot-1 setter Lindsey Russell, to the program.

Russell, a junior from Spokane, played two years at Community Colleges of Spokane and briefly joined the Gonzaga program before transferring to Eastern Washington. She is immediately eligible to compete and join the Eagles. Russell's sister, McKenna, is also a junior on the EWU team. The two are triplets and also played with sister Allison at CCS.

The Russell's mother Shannon, formerly Horn, played volleyball at Eastern Washington in 1989 where she helped the Eagles advance to their first NCAA Tournament and win a Big Sky title.

Eastern Washington officially gets the season underway on Jan. 22 and 23 at Weber State.