This Week
Friday, Jan. 22, Pacific Boxers (7-8/2-4 NWC) vs. Lewis & Clark Pioneers (2-13/1-5)
Stoller Center, Forest Grove, Ore., 6 p.m.
All-Time Series: Series is tied, 30-30. The two teams split their two games last season.
 
Saturday, Jan. 23, Pacific Boxers vs. Linfield Wildcats (8-7/1-5)
Stoller Center, Forest Grove, Ore., 4 p.m.
All-Time Series: Pacific leads, 32-24. The two teams split last year.
 
The Boxers go two-for-two on a road trip to Tacoma to secure their first Northwest Conference victories of the year and notch the first league wins for first-year head coach Jennifer Mountain. Pacific now returns home to host Lewis & Clark and Linfield.
 
It's Almost a Wrap: The Boxers will wrap up the first half of the Northwest Conference schedule this weekend when they host the Pioneers (Friday) and the Wildcats (Saturday). A pair of wins would give them a .500 mark in conference play and a rebound from a slow 0-4 start.
 
Scoring Outbursts and Upsets: Pacific pulled off a pair of upsets over the weekend in picking up wins on the road over Puget Sound (78-70, ot) and Pacific Lutheran (62-53). The Boxers stunned the Loggers, who were 3-1 in conference play on Friday and followed that up a sound victory over PLU (now 6-9 and 2-4). In both games, the visitors used scoring outbursts from an individual player to carry the day—Sarah Curl on Friday (38 points) and Karli McHone on Saturday (29 points).
 
Curl's Command Performance: Junior forward Sarah Curl wrote her name into the Pacific University record books with her 38 points and 16 field goals against the Loggers. Curl (6-0, Portland/Westview HS) connected on 16 of 28 shots, tying the school mark for field goals in a game now shared with DeeDee Arnall (vs. Whitman, 2004) and Amy Johnson (vs. Linfield, 1993). Curl came just two points shy of tying the Boxer milestone for most points in a game—40, by Chris Tarabochia (vs. Willamette, 1985). Curl scored 12 of her points in overtime during a dominating performance that helped fuel a Boxer comeback. Curl's line included 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range, seven rebounds, three blocked shots and four steals.
 
McHone's Monster Weekend: One night after Curl's record night, junior guard Karli McHone took her turn in the spotlight with 29 points in the victory over the Lutes. Like Curl, McHone (5-4, Glenns Ferry, Idaho) scored almost half of her teams' points in the 62-53 victory. The transfer from Walla Walla CC missed only two shots from the field (7-of-9) and drained six-of-seven three-point attempts. She also knocked down nine-of-twelve free throw opportunities. Her 29 points was the second highest for a Boxer this year, only behind Curl's 38 against UPS. Additionally, McHone had 16 points against the Loggers, giving her 45 points for the weekend. She also had 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals. She converted 10 of 17 trey attempts in the two games and for her efforts was named the Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week.
 
Conference Congestion: Two wins for Pacific was huge in vaulting them into the chase for a Northwest Conference tournament berth. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams qualify. With two games left before we reach the halfway point, the top four teams are George Fox (6-0), Whitman (5-1), Puget Sound (4-2) and Whitworth (4-2). Pacific now sits in the next batch of contenders at 2-4 with Willamette and Pacific Lutheran. This weekend's opponents Linfield and Lewis & Clark follow at 1-5.
 
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 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 13 games while averaging 5.0 points and 6.2 rebounds a game.
 
Clippings for Curl: Pacific's offensive attack through 15 games has been spearheaded by junior forward Sarah Curl. The returning starter is averaging 18.5 ppg and 7.3 rebounds, and has 42 steals. That point total ranks third in the Northwest Conference, she leads the league in rebounds and is second in steals. The Boxers' other returning starter Kyla Siri is putting up 9.0 points a contest.
 
JC Juice: Two junior transfers from Washington junior college programs are making a huge impact on the Boxers. Karli McHone (Walla Walla CC) is averaging 13.4 ppg, has 45 percent marksmanship from three-point range and 79 percent from the free throw line. Her three-point percentage is third in the NWC, free throw marksmanship is fifth and in scoring she is eighth. Point guard Nikki Gilbert (G, 5-0, East Wenatchee, Wash./Whatcom CC) adds 6.6 points and a team-best 3.1 assists a game.
 
Raining Three's: The Boxers have hit 112 three-pointers in 15 games, an average of 7.5 per contest and 54 more treys than their opponents. The 112 three's is best in the NWC as is the .377 percentage. Karli McHone leads the team with 38 makes, Nikki Gilbert has 19, Sarah Curl 18, Kyla Siri 16 and Jillian Ross (Jr., 5-5, St. Helens, Ore.) has 13.
 
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 on December 4 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
 
Pioneer Paperwork: Lewis & Clark picked up its first NWC victory on Tuesday last week, edging Linfield, 53-52. The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Pioneers. They also fell to Pacific Lutheran over the weekend (56-49) and are now 2-13 overall and 1-5 in league play. Miyah Leith (So., 5-8, Chandler, Ariz.) leads the Pioneers with 14.2 points a game and she pulls down 4.7 rebounds. 2014-15 Second Team All-NWC selection Ayisat Afolabi (Jr., 5-11, West Hills, Calif.) adds 11.6 points and 7.7 rebounds. Head coach Asha Jordan is in her second year on the Lewis & Clark bench, after assistant coaching stints at Occidental, Pepperdine and Anderson (SC). The Pioneers finished 8-17 overall last year and were 5-11 in Northwest Conference action.
 
Linfield Ledger: After a torrid start, the Wildcats have cooled in the early part of 2016. Linfield began the year 5-1, and their only loss during that run was a one-point setback to Northwest Christian (51-50). But they have gone 3-6 since and are 8-7 overall and 1-5 in the NWC. Still, the Wildcats post impressive numbers in many categories. They are first in the conference in opponent field goal percentage (.364), blocked shots (3.8 per game) and rebounds (41.6). They are also third in the league in points per game (67.9). Quincy Gibson (5-8, Jr, Issaquah, Wash.) paces the team with 12.2 points per game and also leads the Wildcats with 29 steals and 45 assists. Hannah DePew (5-9, Jr., Bainbridge Island, Wash.) was second on the squad in scoring last year and holds the same spot again this year at 10.5 ppg. Jessica McMillan (6-0, Jr., McMinnville) adds 8 .4 points and 7.3 rebounds. Last year's leading scorer as a freshman, Amantha Hood (5-7, So., Portland/Central Catholic HS) had two double-doubles in the teams' first five games but has been on the shelf since then. The Wildcats are coached by first-year leader Casey Bunn, the former Oregon State standout. The past three seasons, Bunn had been the head coach at Tualatin High School and was an assistant at Lake Oswego HS before that. For the Beavers, she led the Pac-10 in scoring (20.0) in 2007 and ranks seventh on OSU's all-time rebound list.
 
What's Next: The Boxers will begin the second half of Northwest Conference play with road games at No. 2 nationally ranked George Fox (Jan. 29) and Willamette (Jan. 30).
 
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.