This Week
Friday, Dec. 4, Pacific Boxers (2-2) vs. Willamette Bearcats (3-1)
Stoller Center, Forest Grove, Ore., 6 p.m.
All-Time Series: Pacific leads 34-22, split two games in 2014-15
 
Saturday, Dec. 5, Pacific Boxers vs. George Fox Bruins (4-0)
Stoller Center, Forest Grove, Ore., 4 p.m.
All-Time Series: George Fox leads 41-15, Bruins have won last 25 games
 
Northwest Conference play begins this weekend when the Boxers host Willamette and George Fox at the Stoller Center.
 
Sneak Preview: For the first time, Northwest Conference teams will open with a pair of counting games before the Christmas break. Clubs will have a chance to get a leg up on the rest of the league before returning to non-conference action to close out the calendar year.

Soles for Souls: Students, faculty and staff attending Friday night's Boxer women's game against Willamette University at the Stoller Center are encouraged to donate new and gently used shoes as part of the university's soles-4-souls gently used shoe drive. To show their support, the Boxer coaching staff will coach during the game in their bare feet.

New Look Boxers: Pacific will have 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 at 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.
 
Clippings for Curl: Pacific's offensive attack through four games (2-2) has been spearheaded by junior forward Sarah Curl (6-0, Portland/Westview HS). The returning starter is averaging 20.5 ppg, 5.8 rebounds and has 10 steals—all team bests. She had 27 points in a season-opening win over New Hope Christian and has scored at least 22 counters in three of Pacific's four games. The Boxers' other returning starter Kyla Siri (Sr., 5-6, Spring Creek, Nev.) is putting up 14 points a contest and 4.5 boards a game.
 
Raining Three's: The Boxers have hit 26 three-pointers in four games, an average of just over six per contest. 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 8-of-18 on the season. Siri and Karli McHone (G, 5-4, Glenns Ferry, Idaho) have six treys each and Curl has five.
 
Probable Starters: Coach Mountain likely will send this group to the floor this weekend when the starters are announced.
*G — Karli McHone (5-4, Jr., Glenns Ferry, Idaho/Walla Walla JC)
*G — Nikki Gilbert (5-0, Jr., East Wenatchee, Wash./Whatcom JC)
*G — Kyla Siri (5-6, Sr., Spring Creek, Nev./Southwestern Oregon CC)
*F — Sarah Curl (6-0, Jr., Portland, Ore./Westview HS)
* F— 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 More 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.

Bearcat Bits: Willamette (3-1) is off to a hot start with wins over Dallas Christian, Pomona-Pitzer, Multnomah Bible and a loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Kylie Towry (5-8, So., Klamath Falls, Ore./Henley HS) paces the Bearcats with 16.3 ppg and has picked up where she left off from her freshman season, when she was one of the top three-point shooters in the nation. Towry has already hit 11-of-28 treys in four games. In fact, as a team, Willamette averages 8.8 three-pointers a contest, tops in the NWC thus far. Madi Andreson (5-10, So., Forest Grove, Ore.) and Marisa Hamilton (6-0, So., Beaverton, Ore./Southridge HS) check in at 11 points a game each. Fourth-year leader Peg Swadener hopes to turn around a Bearcat team that finished 7-18 last year and 2-14 in NWC action.
 
Bruin Bites: The more things change, the more they stay the same for George Fox (4-0). Even after losing a few keys players off of last year's national finalist squad, the Bruins are still the team to shoot for in the NWC. They have opened with wins over California Lutheran, Corban, Redlands and UC Santa Cruz. Justine Benner (6-0, Sr., Naches, Wash./Naches Valley HS), who averaged 16.6 points and 6.2 rebounds a game last winter, is off to an even better start at 18.8 ppg and 8.3 boards. Sammy Naluai (5-7, Sr., Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) gives the Bruins a 1-2 punch with 16.8 ppg and 6.5 rebounds. The Bruins, who won a national championship in 2009 and were runner-ups in 2012, are led by sixth-year head coach Michael Meek. Meek has a 134-20 record on the Newberg campus.
 
Looking Ahead: After the early NWC tip-off, Pacific will return to non-conference play to close out the 2015 portion of its schedule. The Boxers will host Evergreen State on Tuesday (Dec. 8), followed by road games at La Verne (Dec. 17), Whittier (Dec. 18), California Lutheran (Dec. 21) and Walla Walla (Jan. 3), before resuming league action on Jan. 8 versus Whitworth.
 
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.