NW Briefs | Condoleezza Rice for Pac-10 commish?

Condoleezza Rice as the next Pac-10 commissioner?

Two sources told The Seattle Times on Thursday that Rice, who spent the last four years as U.S. secretary of state, has thrown her name into the pool of candidates to replace Tom Hansen, who will retire July 1.

Rice was provost of Stanford from 1993 to 1999, during which time she was active in athletic affairs, including overseeing the hiring of Tyrone Willingham as football coach.

She has long talked about her love of football and once said her dream job would be to become NFL commissioner.

Hansen has been conference commissioner since 1983. A final selection for his replacement is set to be made by the Pac-10's presidents and chancellors sometime this spring or summer. It's unclear who other candidates for the position are.

Men's basketball

Chris Banchero and Rafael Moreira combined for 44 points, helping Seattle Pacific remain atop the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with a 96-70 victory over Western Oregon in Monmouth, Ore.

The Falcons (12-5, 5-1) defeated the Wolves for the eighth straight time and lead the series 29-12.

• Morris Anderson scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting as Western Washington (12-3, 4-1 GNAC) defeated Saint Martin's 83-76 in Bellingham.

• Johnny Spevak matched his season high with 15 points, and Central Washington (11-4, 5-2 GNAC) scored seven of the final 11 points on the way to a 72-69 victory over Northwest Nazarene in Ellensburg.

Women's basketball

Amanda Dunbar scored a game-high 19 points to lead Western Washington (11-5, 3-2 GNAC) to an 84-44 upset of 14th-ranked Seattle Pacific in Bellingham.

The Falcons (12-4, 5-2) have suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since late in the 2006-07 season.

Note

• Seattle's Greg Romaniuk rink is in first place at 5-0 and the Jason Larway rink is 3-1 after the second day of competition at the 2009 Men's Curling Challenge Round in Bismarck, N.D.

Contains information compiled

from sports-information reports.