Women's Basketball Weekly Notebook

Women's Basketball Weekly Notebook

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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
LINFIELD AT PACIFIC
Game No. 23/Home Game No. 13
Fri., Feb. 21, 6 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Stats | Live Audio & Video

PACIFIC AT PUGET SOUND
Game No. 24/Away Game No. 9
Sat., Feb. 22, 6 p.m., Memorial Field House, Tacoma, Wash.
Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video

BOXERS LOOK TO SEND SENIORS OUT ON HIGH NOTE
After getting through their three-game week with a 1-2 record, the Pacific women's basketball team will look to finish the 2013-14 season strong and send their three seniors out on a high note.  The Boxers will honor the seniors in their home finale on Friday against Linfield before closing the season on Saturday at Puget Sound.

BOXER BYTES
• George Fox got it done with volume on Tuesday, making six more field goals and nine more free throws on nine more attempts by the Boxers in an 87-66 victory.  Sarah Curl led three Pacific players in double figures with 18 points.

• Alex Pfefferle put together one of her most potent performances of her Pacific career, scoring all of her 20 points in the second half on 6 of 8 from three-point range and 2 of 2 from the free throw line to lead Pacific to a 67-62 win at Pacific Lutheran.  The Boxers finished the game shooting 43.5 percent from three-point range.

• After a close first half on Saturday, Lewis & Clark pulled away with a couple of solid surges to score a 66-57 victory over the Boxers.  Olivia Cook led Pacific with 18 points while Sarah Curl and Olivia Mayorga-Overtone each scored 10.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
LINFIELD
The Wildcats enter the week in sixth place in the NWC at 3-10 and are 7-15 overall.  Linfield will play three games this week, opening Tuesday with a snow make-up game against Willamette.  Linfield opened a three-game week on Tuesday with an 82-71 victory at Lewis & Clark.  The Wildcats trailed 44-27 at the half, but then shot 63 percent from the field and 72.7 percent from three-point range to score 55 points in the second half.  Taylor Solomon led Linfield with 21 points while Kaely Maltman had a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds.  The Wildcats then dropped both games on the eastern Washington swing.  Linfield dropped an 82-60 decision to Whitworth on Friday.  Linfield led 32-28 at the half, but the Pirates made 19 of 21 free throws to help outscore the Wildcats 54-28 in the second half.  Solomon led Linfield with 14 points while Katelyn Henson had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.  On Saturday, Linfield never led in an 80-53 loss to undefeated Whitman.  Linfield shot 35 percent from the field, led by 15 points by Henson.  Maltman leads the Linfield with  averages of 15.2 points per and 8.6 rebounds per game.  As a team, Linfield is averaging 63.1 points and 37.5 rebounds per game.  Robin Potera-Haskins is in her fourth year as Linfield head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific leads 30-23        AGAINST RISSMILLER: Pacific leads 7-6
LAST MEETING: Pacific won 87-69 at McMinnville, Ore., on Jan. 25, 2014

PUGET SOUND
The Loggers find themselves in the thick of the playoff hunt, entering the week in fourth place in the NWC at 8-6 and 15-8 overall.  Puget Sound helped their own cause with two wins last week.  On Tuesday, Puget Sound scored a 70-57 victory over cross-town rival Pacific Lutheran.  The Loggers rebounded from a 29-24 halftime deficit to score 46 points in the second half en route to the win.  Emily Sheldon led Puget Sound with 18 points.  Puget Sound then came up with abig 85-58 victory at Willamette on Saturday.  The Loggers shot 53.2 percent from the field and 16 of 17 from the free throw line.  They also out-rebounded the Bearcats 47-22.  Katy Ainslie went off for 30 points, hitting on 13 of 17 from the field.  Amanda Forshay leads Puget Sound with averages of 14.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.  As a team, Puget Sound is averaging 71.5 poinrs and 39.7 rebounds per game.  They are outscoring opponents by an average of six points per game.  Loree Payne is in her fourth season as Puget Sound head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Puget Sound leads 3-17    AGAINST RISSMILLER: Puget Sound leads 12-2
LAST MEETING: Puget Sound won 76-60 in Forest Grove on Jan. 24, 2014

PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
PFEFFERLE FOR THREE: A fairly quiet season for Alex Pfefferle (Sr., Twin Falls, Idaho) became loud on Friday as the senior posted a career night at Pacific Lutheran.  Pfefferle led Pacific with 20 points, scoring all of her 20 in the second half on 6 of 8 from three-point range and 2 of 2 from the free throw line.  She provided much of the momentum for the Boxers to come back from a six-point deficit for a 67-62 victory.  The momentum carried over to Saturday as she scored 10 points at home against Lewis & Clark.  Pfefferle enters the final week of her collegiate career as the Boxers' fourth leading scorer this season, averaging eight points per game.  She is tied for seventh in the NWC with 33 three-pointers made and is second for the Boxers in three-point percentage at .351.

CONTINUING TO COOK: Olivia Cook (Jr., Beaverton, Ore.) continues to be the Boxers' scoring leader, finishing in double-digits in all thre eof Pacific's games last week.  Cook opened the week with a 12-point performance at George Fox.  She was the only Pacific starter to finish in double figures.  She added 10 points and a game-hihg eight rebounds at Pacific Lutheran on Friday before leading the Boxers with 18 points on 8 of 15 from the field in the loss to Lewis & Clark on Saturday.  Cook enters the week as the Boxers' leading scorer, averaging 12.5 points per game.  She is one of the Boxers' top free throws shooters, ranking seventh in the NWC with a .795 free throw percentage.  She also ranks eighth in the NWC with 7.2 rebounds per game and 159 total rebounds.

FRESHMAN FIREPOWER: Sarah Curl (Fr., Portland, Ore.) has shown the potential all season to grow into a great player for the Boxers over the next three years.  Curl averaged 12 points over last week's three games. She led the Boxers with 18 points at George Fox on Tuesday, connecting on 6 of 10 from the field and 2 of 2 from three-point range.  She added eight points at Pacific Lutheran on Friday and followed that up with 10 points on 4 of 7 from the field and two three-pointers against Lewis & Clark on Saturday.  Curl enters the final week of her freshman season third for the Boxers in scoring at 9.9 points per game and fourth in reboudning at 4.1 boards per game.

SHOUT OUT FOR SHELDON: She hasn't gained many of the headlines during her Pacific career, but Kati Sheldon's (Sr., Paso Robles, Calif.) role for the Boxers has been a critical one.  A starter in 17 of the Boxers' 22 games this season, Sheldon enters her final week averaging 4.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.  Her biggest contributions came early in the season as she scored 14 points against Simpson (Calif.) on Nov. 27 and 12 points against Walla Walla on Dec. 3.  Sheldon joined the Boxers last year after two seasons at Cuesta JC in San Luis Obispo, Calif., where she was a first-team all-league selection.

GOING OUT ON HIGH: Annette Highley (Sr., Juneau, Alaska) will finish up her Pacific career this weekend afte rmaking her way back from a knee injury.  Kept out for the entire 2012-13 campaign, Highley has setlled in to a reserve role.  She has played in 21 games this season, averaging 2.2 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.  Highley had her best performance in the season opener at Walla Walla on Nov. 21, scoring eight points on 3 of 7 from the field.

YOU'VE GOT TO MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS: Pacific has been a solid free throw shooting team all season long and will finish the season as one of the top teams in Division III from the line.  The Boxers rank third in the NWC and 54th in Division III with a .724 free throw percentage.  In the NWC stats, the Boxers trail Puget Sound (.750) and Whitworth (.737).  The Boxers went 23 of 34 over their three games last week, topped by a 6 for 8 performance on Saturday against Lewis & Clark.  Olivia Mayorga-Overtone (Jr., Oakland, Calif.) ranks fifth in the NWC with an .809 free throw percentage while Olivia Cook is sixth with a .795 percentage.  Alex Pfefferle has a .917 free throw percentage (22-24), but does not meet the minimum of two made free throws per game to qualify for the NWC statistics.

RECORD PERFECTION: Pacific could not have been better from the free throw line in their game against Whitman on Jan. 4.  The Boxers went a perfect 13 of 13 from the free throw line, setting a new single game record.  The effort surpass the previous mark of .914 (31-34) against George Fox during the 1990-91 season.  The Boxers repeated the perfect performance against Lewis & Clark on Jan. 17, going 12 for 12 from the charity stripe.

IN THE NCAA STATS: Pacific is ranked as a team in two categories in the NCAA Division III national statistics.  The Boxers are ranked 54th in free throw percentage at .724 and 91st in turnovers, averaging 15.9 per game.

PACIFIC PICKED SIXTH IN NWC PRESEASON POLL: Northwest Conference coaches have picked Pacific to finish sixth in the league this season according to results of the annual coaches poll, released on Nov. 8.  The Boxers received 27 of a possible 80 votes in the poll, finishing 8 points of ahead of Linfield, who was selected seventh. Puget Sound is 10 points ahead of the Boxers, picked to finish fifth.  Whitman was picked to win the NWC title, gaining seven first place votes and a total of 70 points.  Lewis & Clark is selected to finish second with 55 points, including two first place votes.
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