This Week
Friday, Feb. 5, Pacific Boxers (9-10/4-6 NWC) @ Whitman Missionaries (15-3/8-2)
Sherwood Athletic Center, Walla Walla, Wash., 6 p.m.
All-Time Series: Whitman leads 29-26, Missionaries won 66-45 this year, they split two games in '14-15.
 
Saturday, Feb. 6, Pacific Boxers @ Whitworth Pirates (11-8/6-4)
Whitworth Fieldhouse, Spokane, Wash., 4 p.m.
All-Time Series: Whitworth leads 38-17. Pirates have won six straight in series, including 62-45 win in Forest Grove last month.
 
The Boxers split road games last week, falling to unbeaten George Fox on Friday (Jan. 29) but they rebounded to knock off Willamette on Saturday (59-57). Up next is a tough road trip to eastern Washington to take on the second place team in the Northwest Conference (Whitman) and the fourth place squad (Whitworth).
 
Revenge is Sweet: Pacific opened the second half of NWC play by taking short road trips to play a pair of teams that defeated them in Forest Grove back in November. While revenge wasn't meant to be against No. 2 nationally ranked George Fox on Friday (L, 87-50), the Boxers did reverse the outcome against a solid Willamette squad, 59-57. Pacific outscored the Bearcats 17-6 in the third quarter to rally from a 32-26 halftime deficit to hand Willamette its seventh loss of the season (12-7).
 
Long Ball Accuracy: The Boxers, who have hit 132 three-pointers in 19 games, an average of 6.95 per contest, went 6-of-17 against the Bruins and 8-of-19 versus the Bearcats. On the season the Boxers are shooting .367 from beyond the arc and have 51 more treys than their opponents. The 132 three's is third best in the NWC and the .367 percentage is tops in the league. Karli McHone leads the team with 47 makes, Kyla Siri has 20, Nikki Gilbert 19, Sarah Curl 19 and Jillian Ross has 17. Gilbert was injured in the Lewis & Clark game on Jan. 30 and has not played in the last three games for the Boxers.
 
Taking Care of the Ball: Pacific averages just 15.9 turnovers a contest, the second lowest mark in the NWC, only behind Whitman's 15.1.
 
Go Figure: The Boxers are an impressive 6-3 on the road this season but are just 3-7 in in home games at the Stoller Center.
 
Case for Curl: Junior forward Sarah Curl continues to post all-conference type numbers for the Boxers in 2015-16. She is averaging 17.6 points a game, 6.9 rebounds and has 56 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 42. In the Northwest Conference, she is fourth in rebounds, third in scoring and second in steals. She wrote her name into the Pacific University record books with her 38 points and 16 field goals against Puget Sound on Jan. 15. The former Westview HS star connected on 16 of 28 shots, tying the school mark for field goals in a game 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 13.3 points a game is second on the team only to Curl, and her three-point percentage (.435) is tops for the Boxers and second in the Northwest Conference. McHone's .813 marksmanship from the free throw line is the top stat for the Boxers and she 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—Kyla Siri (5-6, Spring Creek, Nev.), who is has started all 19 games and is averaging 9.4 points and 4.6 rebounds a game. But a batch of 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 15 games while averaging 4.7 points and 5.5 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://nwcsports.com/sports/wbkb/2015-16/standings
 
Time to Make Hay: The Boxers are 4-6 in conference play, two games behind Whitworth (6-4) for the fourth and final NWC playoff spot. Heading to the land of wheat and hay, Coach Mountain's team needs to make some this weekend if they want to keep those post-season hopes alive. Victories against the Pirates and/or Missionaries (8-2) would be pivotal in that quest.
 
Whitman Words: At 15-3 overall and 8-2 in NWC play, the Missionaries have proven to be one of the two toughest outs in the conference, with No. 2 nationally ranked George Fox the other. Whitman's only losses this season have been to California Lutheran (74-64), George Fox (66-50) and Puget Sound (68-60). The Missionaries have won three in a row, and are 5-2 at home this year. Casey Poe (So., 5-10, Hilo, Hawaii) leads a balanced Whitman attack with 11.6 points a game, followed by Alysse Ketner's (Jr., 5-8, Pleasanton, Calif.) 10.4 ppg. Hailey Ann Maeda (Sr., 5-10, Kailua, Hawaii) adds 8.4 points and 7.5 rebounds a contest, and had a double-double (10-10) in January's win over the Boxers. That rebound total in the best in the NWC. Head coach Michelle Ferenz is in her 15^th season at Whitman and has a career mark of 232-148. She has led the Missionaries to five straight NWC tournaments. In 2013-14, Whitman went 31-2, reaching the NCAA Division III national title game. Last year, Ferenz's squad finished 16-10 overall and 11-5 in the NWC, good for fourth place. The Missionaries will host Whitworth on Tuesday (Feb. 2) before facing the Boxers.
 
Pirate Proclamation: Heading into Tuesday's game at Whitman, Whitworth is 11-8 overall and 6-4 in NWC play. The Pirates split games last weekend, losing to Linfield (73-62) and topping Lewis & Clark (55-52). In fact, Whitworth has split their last eight games (.500) since the beginning of the calendar year. Points, and a lot of them, come from basically two sources. KC McConnell (Sr., 5-7, Clarkston, Wash.) leads the Northwest Conference in scoring (20.3) and also pulls down 5.8 rebounds a game. She also leads her team with 36 steals and is second on the Pirate squad with 40 assists. She had 17 points in the win over the Boxes last month. Faith Emerson (Sr., 6-0, Santa Barbara, Calif.) is the only other Whitworth player in double figures with 11.7 points and 5.7 rebounds. The dean of NWC coaches, Helen Higgs is in her 22^nd season at Whitworth and has a career mark of 330-215—more wins than any women's basketball coach in NWC history. The Pirates have three straight 20+-win seasons to boast of and they were 21-5 a year ago.
 
What's Next: The Boxers will return for their final two home games of the season, hosting Pacific Lutheran on Friday (Feb. 12) and Puget Sound on Saturday.
 
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.