This Week
Friday, Feb. 12, Pacific Boxers (10-11/5-7 NWC) vs. Pacific Lutheran Lutes (7-14/3-9)
Stoller Center, Forest Grove, Ore., 6 p.m.
All-Time Series: Pacific Lutheran leads 32-25, but Pacific has won last four games.
 
Saturday, Feb. 13, Pacific Boxers vs. Puget Sound Loggers (14-7/9-3)
Stoller Center, Forest Grove, Ore., 4 p.m.
All-Time Series: Puget Sound leads 34-8, but Pacific snapped a 5-game skid in series this past January with a 78-70 OT win.
 
The Boxers won their first game over a ranked opponent last Friday, topping No. 21 Whitman on the road. This weekend, they return home for the final two games of the year in the Stoller Center, taking on Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound.
 
Winning in Walla Walla: Pacific stunned Whitman on Feb. 5, handing the Missionaries their fourth loss of the season (15-4) while pushing them back into a tie for third place in the Northwest Conference. Sarah Curl's steal and ensuing lay-up with just seconds left on the clock closed out the 50-46 win. Curl had 16 points in the game, leading the Boxers to the upset against a team that beat them 66-45 back in January in Forest Grove. The Boxers also played Whitworth tough before falling the next night in Spokane, 73-64, behind Curl's 26 points and nine rebounds.
 
Remember When?: The Boxers host Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound this weekend at the Stoller Center. Back in January, when Pacific traveled to Tacoma to take on both, the visitors won both games including a thrilling 78-70 overtime win over UPS. It will be remember at Pacific's most successful road weekend of the season as Sarah Curl had 38 points against the Loggers and Karli McHone had 29 against the Lutes—the two highest scoring outputs by a Pacific player this season.
 
Winning Goal: If Coach Jennifer Mountain's team can win three of its final four games, they can finish the 2015-16 campaign with a winning record. The Boxers were 9-16 last year and 8-16 in 2013-14. The program's last winning season was in 2012-13 (14-10).
 
Boxers are No. 1: Pacific is now officially the most accurate three-point shooting team in the nation. The Boxers lead NCAA Division III in trey percentage at .374, having made 144-of-385 attempts. The 144 three's made is third best in the NWC. Karli McHone leads the team with 54 makes, tied for tops in the NWC, and her .454 percentage is best in the league and ranks seventh in the country. Kyla Siri has 22 as does Sarah Curl, Nikki Gilbert has 19 and Jillian Ross has 17. Gilbert was injured in the Lewis & Clark game on Jan. 30 and has not played in the last five games for the Boxers.
 
Taking Care of the Ball: Pacific averages just 16.1 turnovers a contest, tied for the top mark in the NWC with Whitman.
 
Go Figure: The Boxers are an impressive 7-4 on the road this season but are just 3-7 in  home games at the Stoller Center.
 
Senior Salute: Pacific will honor seniors Kyla Siri and Abby Talboy prior to the game against Puget Sound on Saturday. Siri is in her second year on the team after transferring from Southwestern Oregon CC two years ago. She is averaging 9.7 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. She is second on the squad in steals (38) and third in assists (31). Talboy played for two seasons before injuries put her on the shelf this season.
 
Case for Curl: Junior forward Sarah Curl continues to post all-conference type numbers for the Boxers in 2015-16. She is averaging 17.9 points a game, 7.0 rebounds and has 58 steals. Those three totals are tops on her team, as are her 13 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 13.4 points a game is second on the team only to Curl, and her three-point percentage (.454) is tops for the Boxers and first in the Northwest Conference. McHone's .810 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 has has started all 21 games and is averaging 9.7 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. 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 this season (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 4.3 points and 5.4 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
 
Lute Lessons: Pacific Lutheran snapped a six-game losing streak on Saturday (Feb. 6) with a 70-65 win over Linfield. Ironically, that skid began with Pacific's 62-53 win in Tacoma over the Lutes. Megan Abdo (Sr., 5-7, Arlington, Wash.) leads her team with 10.9 points a game, followed by Samantha Kelleigh (Jr., 5-7, Stanwood, Wash.) at 9.2 and Ionna Price (Jr., 5-10, Tacoma, Wash.) at 9.1. Lacey Nicholson (Jr., 5-8, Sammamish, Wash.) is the club's top rebounder at 6.3 boards a contest and she also averages 7.1 points. 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 Western Washington.
 
Puget Sound Soundbites: The Loggers are the second hottest team in the NWC, only behind undefeated and No. 2 nationally ranked George Fox. UPS has won six of their last seven contests, falling only to the Bruins (78-72) during that stretch and they are in sole possession of second place in the NWC. They have also won eight of their last ten, with the only other loss coming at the hands of the Boxers. Emily Sheldon (Sr., 5-11, Portland, Ore.) leads her team and is second in the NWC in scoring at 19.4 points a contest. She also adds 6.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Alex Noren (Jr., 5-10, Milwaukie, Ore.) is another Logger player with a balanced game, averaging 12.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists a contest. She is also fourth in the conference in field goal percentage at .532. Samone Jackson (Fr., 5-4, Edmonds, Wash.) adds 13.0 points an outing and is second in the NWC in three-point percentage at .435. The Loggers average 73.6 points a game, second in the league. 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 99-54 at Puget Sound and hasn't had a losing season in any of her six campaigns. She will be going for career win No. 100 on Friday night at Linfield. She came to the Loggers after assisting for three seasons at the University of Washington, where she was also an outstanding player.
 
What's Next: The Boxers play their final two games of the season on the road at Linfield (Feb. 19) and Lewis & Clark (Feb. 20).
 
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.