This Week
Friday, Jan. 29, Pacific Boxers (8-9/3-5 NWC) @ George Fox Bruins (17-0/8-0)
Wheeler Sports Center, Newberg, Ore., 6 p.m.
All-Time Series: George Fox leads 42-15, Bruins have won last 26 games
 
Saturday, Jan. 30, Pacific Boxers @ Willamette Bearcats (11-6/3-5)
Cone Fieldhouse, Salem, Ore., 4 p.m.
All-Time Series: Pacific leads, 34-23. Willamette has won the last two games
 
The Boxers begin the second half of Northwest Conference play with a short road trip to George Fox and Willamette. In the Bruins, they play an undefeated, No. 2/3 nationally ranked team on their own floor. Versus, the Bearcats, they will try and get revenge for a conference opening-loss back in early December.
 
Second Half Tip-Off: The Boxers begin the second half of the Northwest Conference schedule this weekend with a pair of tough challenges at George Fox and Willamette. Pacific is 3-5 in league play, and sits two games back of the fourth NWC playoff spot with eight games to play.
 
Feast and Famine: Pacific went on a torrid run during a comeback rally for a win over Lewis & Clark on Friday night, and then was on the receiving end of the same treatment on Saturday during a loss to Linfield. Against the Pioneers, the Boxers used a 17-5 blitz to rally from a halftime deficit to come back for a 63-53 verdict and their third straight victory. But the Wildcats did the same the next night, outscoring their hosts 11-1 in the final four minutes to pull out a 59-53 win.
 
Long Ball Break: The Boxers, who have hit 118 three-pointers in 17 games, an average of 6.9 per contest, had a hard time finding the range this past weekend. Even in victory against Lewis & Clark, the home team hit a season-low 1-of-5 and converted only 5-of-22 against Linfield. Still, on the season the Boxers are shooting .364 from beyond the arc and have 55 more treys than their opponents. The 118 three's is third best in the NWC and the .364 percentage is tops in the league. Karli McHone leads the team with 40 makes, Nikki Gilbert has 19, Sarah Curl 19, Kyla Siri 16 and Jillian Ross has 15. Gilbert was injured in the Lewis & Clark game and did not play on Saturday night against the Wildcats.
 
Converting Charity Opportunities: While the Boxers went cold from long range, they were warm from the free throw line. Pacific converted a season-high 25 free shots in 34 attempts against the Pioneers (.735) and hit 14-of-17 (.824) versus the Wildcats. On the season, the Boxers are shooting .702 from the line, the fourth most accurate mark in the conference.
 
Clippings for Curl: Pacific's offensive attack through 17 games has been spearheaded by Sarah Curl. The 6-0 junior is averaging 18.2 p.p.g., 7.2 rebounds, and has 50 steals. Those three totals are tops on her team, as are her 11 blocked shots. She is also second on the Boxers in assists with 39. In the Northwest Conference, she is second in rebounds, third in scoring and second in steals.
 
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 Puget Sound on Jan. 15. Curl (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.
 
Welcome Addition: Junior transfer guard Karli McHone has been a huge addition to the Boxer program in 2015-16. Her 13.4 points a game is second on the team only to Curl, and her three-point percentage (.426) is tops for the Boxers and second in the Northwest Conference. McHone's .803 marksmanship from the free throw line is the fifth most accurate in the conference.
 
McHone's Monster Weekend: One night after Sara Curl's record performance at Puget Sound (see above), Karli McHone took her turn in the spotlight with 29 points in a victory over Pacific Lutheran on Jan. 16. 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.
 
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.), who is has started all 17 games and is averaging 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds a game. But juniors account for most of the minutes thus far, with three of their names called out in the starting line-up most nights (Sarah Curl, Nikki Gilbert, Karli McHone, Jillian Ross). Freshman Charli Elliott (5-9, West Seattle) breaks into the upperclassmen party, having started 13 games while averaging 4.9 points and 5.6 rebounds a game. Sophomore Kelsey Viani-Wittwer (5-8, Hawthorne, Nev.) also has two starts on the season.
 
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 Pacific 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—#3 Jillian Ross (5-5, Jr., St. Helens, Ore.)
*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
 
Bruin Boasts: The No. 2 nationally ranked George Fox Bruins continue to impress. They are unblemished at 17-0 on the season, with their last loss coming in the NCAA Division III national championship game last March. The Bruins, who defeated the Boxers by 11 (75-64) back in early December, are beating their opponents by an average of 18 points a game. Their closest game in the NWC has been a 10-point victory over Whitworth. GFU's balanced attack is led by Justine Benner (Sr., 6-0, Naches, Wash.), who is averaging 15.7 points and 7.0 rebounds a game. Sammy Naluai (Sr., 5-7, Sammamish, Wash.) adds 11.9 points and Kaitlin Jamieson (So., 6-3, Forest Grove) contributes 10.4 points and 6.3 rebounds. Anjenae Torresgano (Jr., 5-7, Portland/Central Arizona) keeps teams honest with a NWC-best .439 percentage from three-point range. The Bruins, who won a national championship in 2009 and were runner-ups in 2012 and 2015, are led by sixth-year head coach Michael Meek. Meek has a 151-20 record on the Newberg campus.
 
Willamette Words: The Bearcats, picked to finish seventh in the NWC pre-season poll, have been one of the surprise teams in the conference this year. At 11-6 overall, they ran off five consecutive wins from mid-December through the first part of January. Last week, the Bearcats fell to George Fox (76-55) and topped Lewis & Clark (64-57). Willamette is tough on defense, holding opponents to just 57.7 points a game. They are also second in three-point accuracy in the NWC at .363. Kylie Towry (So., 5-8, Medford) leads that three-point brigade at .411 (4^th in NWC) and also leads the Bearcats in scoring at 13.5 points a contest. Marissa Hamilton (So., 6-0, Beaverton) adds 9.4 points a game and Ashley Evans (So., 5-4, Canby) contributes 8.3 points and 3.3 assists an outing. Fourth-year leader Peg Swadener has turned around a Bearcat program that finished 7-18 last year and 2-14 in NWC action.
 
What's Next: The Boxers will hit the road again, this time for a much longer trip to eastern Washington to take on Whitman (Feb. 5) and Whitworth (Feb. 6).
 
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.