Northwest Notes Aug. 19, 2020

Former Lake City softball star

back at Oklahoma State as

volunteer assistant

Former Lake City High and Oklahoma State softball star Vanessa Shippy Fletcher is returning to Oklahoma State as a volunteer assistant coach, the Cowboys announced.

Fletcher was a three-time All-American at Oklahoma State, and the 2018 Big 12 Player of the Year.

“We can’t say enough good things about Vanessa,” Oklahoma State coach Kenny Gajewski said in a news release. “When the opportunity presented itself to bring her back to Stillwater, we jumped at the chance. She’ll be a great influence on our program and we’re fortunate to have her back home with us.”

Fletcher served as an assistant coach the past two seasons at Syracuse after one season in the National Pro Fastpitch league.

Fletcher joins a Cowgirl team that made the 2019 Women’s College World Series and finished the shortened season 2020 ranked No. 16 in the nation.

“The energy around Stillwater is something anyone would want to be part of,” Fletcher said. “The opportunity to come back here and join this staff means so much to me. I want to add as much value as possible to this program because I care so deeply about it.”

Payette football team

put into quarantine

All 33 players of the Payette High football team are under a two-week quarantine after exposure to the coronavirus in its season-opening practices, The Idaho Statesman newspaper of Boise reported. The quarantine and canceled practices will cost the Pirates their season opener Aug. 28 against Cole Valley Christian.

Payette is the second known Idaho team to enter a quarantine this fall, The Statesman said. Mackay also entered isolation Friday after a potential exposure and is awaiting test results.

The quarantine does not affect Payette’s soccer, volleyball or cross country teams.

Last week, Moscow announced it canceled its fall sports seasons, and St. Maries pushed back the start of its preseason practices to Sept. 10.

Hatley finishes six strokes back

at Northwest Open

WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Amateur Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake tied for 19th at the Northwest Open Invitational which concluded Tuesday at Wine Valley Golf Club.

Hatley shot 70-70—140, 4 under par and six shots behind the winner. Amateur Nathan Cogswell, a junior at Seattle University, shot 68-66—134 for a one-stroke victory in one of six major championships conducted by the Pacific Northwest PGA Section.

New channel lineup for the

Big Sky coming to Pluto TV

FARMINGTON, Utah — The Big Sky Conference has a new channel lineup on Pluto TV. Fans can download the free streaming app and watch Big Sky content on Ch. 752 and Ch. 1000, while the school channel listings have moved to 1001-1013.

Pluto TV announced on Tuesday that the channel categories and channel sequencing within Pluto TV’s linear TV experience has been updated. The reorganization was designed to enhance content discovery and improve the overall viewing experience, Pluto TV said.

The Big Sky channel moves from 531 to 752, and the Big Sky school-specific channels move from 532-545 to 1000-1013.

The Big Sky Conference Live channel will now be at 1000.

The school-specific channels are: Portland State 1001, Sacramento State 1002, Eastern Washington 1003, Weber State 1004, Southern Utah 1005, Montana 1006, Montana State 1007, Northern Arizona 1008, Northern Colorado 1009, Idaho 1010, Idaho State 1011, Cal Poly 1012 and UC Davis 1013.

The Big Sky school-specific channels on gamedays will still function like previous seasons, as they will become active on the guide two hours before each live game.

Former Zag Loera signs

pro contract in Iceland

Former Gonzaga women’s basketball player Jessie Loera will continue her basketball career overseas as she has signed a professional contract for the 2020-21 season.

Loera, from Moses Lake High, will suit up for Breidablik Kópavogur out of the Iceland-Dominos League, the premier women’s league in Iceland. Located in Kópavogur, Iceland, Breidablik finished the 2019-20 season with a 4-21 overall record, averaging 65.4 points per game, 36.5 rebounds per game and 13.8 assists per game.

Loera finished her four-year career with the Bulldogs in 2020, helping Gonzaga to a 110-21 overall record, four WCC regular-season titles, three NCAA Tournament appearances, two WCC Tournament titles and the highest regular-season rankings in program history at No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 11 in the Associated Press Top 25. Loera ranks fourth all-time in career assists with 445, and she ranks in the top 10 in single season assists (9th with 150, 2019-20) and steals (10th with 68, 2019-20). Loera was selected All-WCC honorable mention in 2020 following Gonzaga’s best regular-season record in history.