This Week
Thursday, Dec. 17, Pacific Boxers (3-4) at La Verne Leopards (2-3)
Sports Pavilion, La Verne, Calif., 4 p.m.
All-Time Series: Pacific leads 1-0, won 71-68 (12/21/10) at La Verne
 
Friday, Dec. 18, Pacific Boxers at Whittier Poets (1-4)
Dave Jacobs Court, Whittier, Calif., 6 pm
All-Time Series: Whittier leads 2-1, Pacific won last meeting 70-58 (12/18/10)
 
Monday, Dec. 21, Pacific Boxers vs. California Lutheran Regals (3-3)
Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 1 pm
All-Time Series: Pacific leads 1-0, won 78-53 @Hayward (11/17/01)
 
The Boxers will head to southern California this week to take on three teams from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. This will be the last action for Pacific until a January 3 game at Walla Walla College.
 
SCIAC Swing: The Boxers will experience what life in the SCIAC would be like during a three-game swing in southern California. It will be a good opportunity to scrape off the rust and rigors of final exams before heading into a full holiday break.
 
Erasing Evergreen: In Pacific's last outing on Dec. 8, the Boxers dismantled Evergreen State at the Stoller Center, 78-59. Ten different players entered the scoring column for coach Jennifer Mountain's team as the hosts led from start to finish. All five Boxer starters had scored just four minutes into the contest on a night where Sarah Curl (Jr., 6-0, Portland/Westview HS) nearly had a triple-double with 19 points, eight rebounds and seven steals. Karli McHone (Jr., 5-4, Glenns Ferry, Idaho/Walla Walla CC) added 13 points and four assists and Charli Elliott (Fr., 5-9, Seattle, Wash./West Seattle HS) contributed ten points.
 
Conference Counters: Northwest Conference play began early this year (Dec. 4-5), and the Boxers will have to wear their 0-2 start without an opportunity for improvement to their league record for another month. Pacific lost to Willamette (67-60) and No. 2/4 nationally ranked George Fox (75-64) and now won't have another conference counter until January 8.
 
New Look Boxers: Pacific has a new look in 2015-16 on a number of fronts, including at the top of the food chain. First-year head coach Jennifer Mountain replaces Sharon Rissmiller, who stepped down last spring after eight seasons at the Boxer helm to become the Director of Basketball Operations at Oregon State. Mountain comes to Forest Grove after one season as the Associate Head Coach at Portland State and six years as the head coach at the University of Santa Clara. She also has seven years experience as an assistant at Gonzaga.
 
Scoring Frenzy: With this the first season for the new women's collegiate rules,  playing four 10-minute periods, no "quarter" records are yet available for comparison. But surely, Pacific's 27 second quarter points during a loss to No. 2 nationally ranked George Fox and certainly their seven-for-seven marksmanship from three-point range would sit in the record books for quite some time. Pacific netted ALL seven of its trey attempts during a wild second period where the Boxers outscored the Bruins, 27-22. Point guard Nikki Gilbert (Jr., 5-0, East Wenatchee, Wash/Whatcom CC) had three of those long bombs while Sarah Curl and Karli McHone had two each. In total, the Boxers hit 9-of-15 field goal attempts in the quarter.
 
Clippings for Curl: Pacific's offensive attack through seven games has been spearheaded by junior forward Sarah Curl. The returning starter is averaging 19.3 ppg, 6.9 rebounds, 19 steals and four blocks—all team bests. She ranks third in the Northwest Conference in each of those first three categories. The Boxers' other returning starter Kyla Siri (Sr., 5-6, Spring Creek, Nev.) is putting up 10.9 points a contest and 4.9 boards a game.
 
Raining Three's: The Boxers have hit 47 three-pointers in seven games, an average of almost seven per contest and 20 more treys than their opponents. Junior guard Jillian Ross (5-5, St. Helens, Ore.) came off the bench to hit five of seven for a career-high 17 points in an upset attempt of nationally ranked (NAIA) Carroll College on Nov. 22 and is 10-of-23 (.435) on the season. Karli McHone leads the team with 14 makes (.412) and Sarah Curl has ten (.370 percent).
 
15-foot Marksmanship: The Boxers are shooting 72 percent as a team from the free throw line. Karli McHone leads the way, having canned 18 of 20 charity stripe attempts (90 percent), followed by Kyla Siri at .778 (14 for 18) and Sarah Curl at .792 (19 for 24).
 
Probable Starters: Coach Mountain likely will send this group to the floor this week when the starters are announced.
*G—#10 Karli McHone (5-4, Jr., Glenns Ferry, Idaho/Walla Walla JC)
*G—#24 Nikki Gilbert (5-0, Jr., East Wenatchee, Wash./Whatcom JC)
*G—#30 Kyla Siri (5-6, Sr., Spring Creek, Nev./Southwestern Oregon CC)
*F—#5 Sarah Curl (6-0, Jr., Portland, Ore./Westview HS)
*F—#34 Charli Elliott (5-9, Fr., Seattle, Wash./West Seattle HS)
 
Pre-Season Look: Pre-season No. 4 nationally ranked George Fox is the coach's pick to win the Northwest Conference again this season. The Bruins went 16-0 in NWC play last year and were 32-1 on the season, losing only to Thomas Moore College in the NCAA Division III national championship. After the Bruins, Whitworth and Whitman tied for second in the poll followed by Puget Sound, Lewis & Clark, Pacific, Linfield, Willamette and Pacific Lutheran. For the latest NWC standings, click here.
http://www.nwcsports.com/sports/wbkb/2015-16/standings  
 
Leopard Line: The Boxers will take on La Verne for the first time in five seasons. The Leopards are 2-3 thus far, with wins over Puget Sound and Bristol and losses to Hope International, La Sierra and Bethesda. Six-foot senior post Emily Myers (Vancouver, Wash.) averages 17.4 points a game for La Verne, who finished 10-15 last year and were 7-7 in the SCIAC.
 
Whittier Words: The Poets are 1-4 this winter, with a win over Colorado College and losses to George Fox, Linfield, St. Katherine's and UC Santa Cruz. Whittier, who went 12-12 overall last year and 8-8 in the SCIAC, are led by a pair of guards—Priscilla Rodriguez at 13.4 points per game and Carly Buechler at 11.6.
 
Regal Writings: California Lutheran, who went 19-8 last year and 13-2 in the SCIAC (second place) is 3-3 to begin the year. One of those losses was a 71-69 setback to No. 2 nationally ranked George Fox, and the other two were to NAIA powers Westmont and The Master's. The Regals have wins over Northwest Conference teams Whitworth, Whitman and Lewis & Clark. CLU returns 11 players and four starters from a team that was one win from making the NCAA tournament last year. All-SCIAC and All-West Region selection Chelsea Jacoby is one of those returnees and is currently averaging 16.0 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. Jessica Salottola leads the team with 16.2 an outing.
 
Watch and Listen: Pacific's NWC home basketball games are streamed live at goboxers.com with Matt Richert handling the play-by-play. Go to goboxers.com for the link to Live Stats and Video Stream.