UCI, Vanguard standouts

* UC Irvine senior forward Jordan Harris has been named the Big West

Conference Player of the Week after averaging 15.5 points and 6.0

rebounds in road wins over Utah State and Idaho last week.

Harris, who has overcome partial tears of anterior and posterior

cruciate ligaments in his knee suffered this past summer, scored 13

points, including nine in the second half, as the Anteaters topped

Utah State, 59-58, Thursday. The victory marked the first

regular-season sweep of the Aggies by UCI since 1995-96 and was the

first time the Anteaters had won two consecutive games in Logan in 17

years. Harris scored a team-high 18 points in UCI’s 65-52 win at

Idaho Saturday night.

He shot 52.4% from the field for the week and 87.5% from the

free-throw line. He also added four assists and three steals in the

two wins. Harris leads UCI in scoring at 12.0 points per game. He is

averaging 4.3 rebounds and has hit 80.4 percent of his free throws

(86 for 107).

* UC Irvine senior guard Wendy Gabbe has been selected to the

2003 Verizon Academic All-District VIII second team in women’s

basketball.

Gabbe is majoring in English at UCI. She has been a three-time Big

West Conference Scholar-Athlete and is UCI’s 2002-03 Big West

Conference female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Gabbe, the Anteaters’

lone senior, is currently averaging 13.3 points per game and leads

UCI with 48 three-point field goals.

To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must have at least

a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average, must be a starter or important

reserve, and be in at least their second season of athletic and

academic eligibility at their current school.

* Vanguard University senior Robbin Dittenbir recorded two

double-doubles, averaging 14.5 and 13.5 rebounds, to earn Golden

State Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors. She led the

Vanguard women’s basketball team to two GSAC victories last week.

She was 11-for-18 (.611) from the field, including 3-of-4 (.750)

from beyond the three-point line in the two games. In the 86-73 win

against Fresno Pacific, Dittenbir scored 13 points, grabbed 14

rebounds, dished out six assists and collected seven steals. In the

66-59 victory at fifth-ranked The Master’s, she scored 16 points,

while sinking all three of her three-point shot attempts. The

5-foot-7 guard from Dinuba, also grabbed 13 rebounds.

* Lisa Jackson, a 2001 graduate of Troy High in Fullerton, has

been named the newest Lion of the Week by the Vanguard University

Sports Information Department. Jackson is a 5-foot-4 sophomore who is

in her second season as the starting shortstop for the Vanguard

softball team.

The Lions were rained out on Wednesday, but resumed play with a

non-conference double header at NCAA Division II CSU San Bernardino

on Saturday. After a week’s layoff the Lions were excited to take the

field and made the Coyotes pay as Vanguard exploded for 26 hits and

14 runs between the two games.

Jackson’s bat was loaded and ready from the start and she

delivered early and often offensively throughout the day. In the

opener, she doubled and scored in the first inning, and doubled again

to lead off the fifth inning. Jackson whacked her third hit of the

game with a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning in a

9-5 victory.