This Week
Friday, Jan. 15, Pacific Boxers (5-8/0-4 NWC) at Puget Sound Loggers (8-5/3-1)
Memorial Fieldhouse, Tacoma, Wash., 6 p.m.
All-Time Series: Puget Sound leads 34-7, have won five straight in the series
 
Saturday, Jan. 16, Pacific Boxers at Pacific Lutheran Lutes (5-8/1-3)
Olson Gymnasium, Tacoma, Wash., 4 p.m.
All-Time Series: Pacific Lutheran leads 32-24, but Pacific has won last three
 
Pacific treks to Tacoma this weekend to take on Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran. The Boxers look to secure their first victory in Northwest Conference play.
 
Tough Task Again: Having already played three of the top four teams in the Northwest Conference standings, the Boxers will see the fourth of that foursome on Friday when they tackle Puget Sound. The Loggers are 3-1 with their only conference loss coming at the hands of No. 3 nationally ranked George Fox. By luck of the draw, Pacific has already had to play the Bruins (13-0), Whitman (11-1) and now the Loggers (8-5).
 
Boxers fall to Whits: Last weekend, Pacific fell to Whitworth (62-45) and Whitman (66-45) at the Stoller Center. In both contests, the Boxers played their eastern Washington opponent even until a blitz from the visitors allowed them to pull away for the win. Versus the Pirates, Pacific was down just three points with 5:35 remaining before Whitworth outscored them the rest of the way, 19-5. Against Whitman, the Missionaries used an 18-4 run at the end of the first half and the beginning of the third quarter to break up a one-point game and stay unbeaten in conference play.
 
Jennifer's Job: Pacific has a new leader in 2015-16. 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.
 
Jennifer has Juniors: Pacific's roster has only one senior that has seen significant playing time this season—starter Kyla Siri (5-6, Spring Creek, Nev.). Juniors account for most of the minutes thus far, with three of their names called out in the starting line-up each night (Sarah Curl, Nikki Gilbert, Karli McHone). Freshman Charli Elliott (5-9, West Seattle) breaks into the upperclassmen party, having started 11 games while averaging 5.3 points and 5.5 rebounds a game.
 
Clippings for Curl: Pacific's offensive attack through 13 games has been spearheaded by junior forward Sarah Curl (6-0, Portland/Westview HS). The returning starter is averaging 17.8 ppg and 7.2 rebounds, and has 38 steals. That point total ranks third in the Northwest Conference and she leads the league in rebounds and steals. The Boxers' other returning starter Kyla Siri is putting up 9.2 points a contest and is shooting 80 percent from the free throw line.
 
JC Juice: Two junior transfers from Washington junior college programs are making a huge impact on the Boxers. Karli McHone (G, 5-4, Glenns Ferry, Idaho/Walla Walla CC) is averaging 12.0 ppg, has 42 percent marksmanship from three-point range and 83 percent from the free throw line. That ranks seventh and sixth respectively in the conference. Point guard Nikki Gilbert (G, 5-0, East Wenatchee, Wash./Whatcom CC) adds 6.3 points and a team-best 42 assists.
 
Raining Three's: The Boxers have hit 92 three-pointers in 13 games, an average of 7.1 per contest and 43 more treys than their opponents. The 92 three's is second best in the NWC and the .361 percentage is also second best. Karli McHone leads the team with 28 makes (.418), Nikki Gilbert is 16 of 40, Sarah Curl 14 of 45, Kyla Siri 14 of 41 and Jillian Ross (Jr., 5-5, St. Helens, Ore.) is 12 of 29 coming off the bench.
 
15-foot Marksmanship: The Boxers are shooting .724 as a team from the free throw line, second best in the NWC. Karli McHone leads the way, having canned 34 of 41 charity stripe attempts (.829), followed by Kyla Siri at .800 (20 for 25) and Sarah Curl at .762 (32 for 42).
 
Scoring Frenzy: With this the first season for the new women's collegiate rules,  playing four 10-minute periods instead of two halves, no "quarter" records are yet available for comparison in the Pacific record book. 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 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.
 
Probable Starters: Coach Mountain likely will send this group to the floor this weekend 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 was 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
 
Logger List: Puget Sound is in the mix thus far in the chase for a Northwest Conference playoff berth (top four teams), sitting at 3-1 in league play. The Loggers handed Willamette a loss on Friday (67-64) and then topped Lewis & Clark on Saturday (75-56). Senior forward Emily Sheldon (5-11, Portland/Lincoln HS) leads the conference in scoring at 20.4 points per game, hitting a career high 36 in December against rival Pacific Lutheran. She has over 1,000 points in her career and was a First Team All-NWC selection last year. Fellow forward Alex Noren (Jr., Milwaukie, Ore.) adds clout with 13.2 ppg and 6.8 rebounds a contest, and she leads the NWC with .531 field goal accuracy. The Loggers are good at the free throw line, converting .723 percent of their opportunities and they list second in the conference in points per game (73.7). Under sixth-year head coach Loree Payne, UPS went 24-5 last season and gained an NCAA tournament berth—defeating Claremont-Mudd-Scripps before falling to eventual championship game participant George Fox. Payne is now 93-52 at Puget Sound and hasn't had a losing season in five starts. She came to the Loggers after assisting for three seasons at the University of Washington, where she was also an outstanding player.
 
Lutes Ledger: Pacific Lutheran comes into the week with an identical 5-8 overall record like Pacific, but with one more conference win (1-3), an impressive 69-55 victory at Willamette. The Lutes dropped both of their NWC counters last weekend, falling to George Fox (73-41) and Linfield (67-53). The Lutes are led by 5-7 senior Megan Abdo (Arlington, Wash.) who averages 12.2 points a contest, 4.5 rebounds (second on the team) and a team-best 28 assists. Samantha Kelleigh (5-7, Jr., Stanwood, Wash.), a transfer from Skagit Valley College, adds 10.7 points a game. Third-year head coach Jennifer Childress has a rebuilding project underway this season, with nine newcomers to work with. Childress came to PLU after eight years as an associate head coach at NCAA Division II power Western Washington.
 
Watch and Listen: Pacific's NWC 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.