News Article

All Gonzaga women’s basketball games in the WCC Tournament will be broadcast on KGA radio 1510 AM throughout the Inland Northwest. Today’s semifinal game pits No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 5 Saint Mary’s at 2:20 p.m. at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the University of San Diego campus. Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 77-67 in the opening round Thursday, and Saint Mary’s beat Loyola Marymount 71-67. Santa Clara and San Diego play in the first women’s semifinal at noon today. For game stories, go to www.gozags.com.

March 8, 2008

By Dale Goodwin
(SAN DIEGO) – Gonzaga basketball player Tiffanie Shives is always pumped up. At least, most of the time. The sophomore guard wears an insulin pump to regulate her blood sugar. During games she removes the pump, but tests her blood sugar throughout the contest. If it gets too low, she sips on juice; too high, she takes an injection.

Shives was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at age 10. At the time she was playing three sports, and her parents noticed she was getting out of shape, tired and had to urinate often. Tests revealed that what they thought was a bladder infection was indeed diabetes, a condition caused when the pancreas fails to produce the insulin the body needs to metabolize glucose.

The 5-foot-10 McDonald’s All-American (as a high school senior in 2005) is not the first Zag to have a glucose monitoring machine and insulin courtside.

“I came out and visited Gonzaga because I had seen Adam Morrison testing himself during games on TV,” said the Lansing, Mich. native. “I wanted to meet Adam. So when I visited I was able to meet him, his family, meet with his doctors and get to know the players here. I knew this is where I wanted to be."

She is especially pleased with the chemistry of this team.

"I’ve never been around a group of girls who get along so well," Shives said. "From the beginning this has been a great fit for me.”

Shives, who averaged 25 points a game as a high school senior, played her first collegiate season at Michigan State. She transferred to Gonzaga last year, and had to sit out the season.

“On this team no one gets upset with themselves. Everyone sticks together and helps each other out. We share the ball and we share the success. This is a great family atmosphere,” she said.

Shives played a major role in Thursday’s opening-round win over Pepperdine, scoring 16 points, including six free-throws in as many tries in the final minute of play.

Men’s Tournament
In the WCC men’s basketball tournament, which tipped off Friday, No. 5 San Francisco beat No. 8 Loyola Marymount 79-60, and No. 6 Pepperdine beat No. 7 Portland 50-48 in overtime. Today's (Saturday) quarterfinal games include No. 4 Santa Clara vs. San Francisco at 6 p.m., and No. 3 San Diego taking on Pepperdine at 8:30 p.m. On Sunday, March 9, top-seeded Gonzaga will play the Santa Clara-USF winner at 6:30 p.m. and second-seeded Saint Mary’s will play the San Diego-Pepperdine winner at 9 p.m. Both semifinal games will be televised on ESPN2. Monday’s championship game will be televised on ESPN at 6 p.m. (All Times Pacific.)