This Week
Friday, Feb. 19, Pacific Boxers (10-13/5-9 NWC) @Linfield Wildcats (12-11/5-9)
Ted Wilson Gymnasium, McMinnville, Ore., 6 p.m.
All-Time Series: Pacific leads 32-25. Linfield won in January (59-53), they split in '15.
 
Saturday, Feb. 20, Pacific Boxers @ Lewis & Clark Pioneers (2-21/1-13)
Pamplin Sports Center, Portland, Ore., 4 p.m.
All-Time Series: Pacific leads 31-30, Boxers won in January (64-53), they split in '15.
 
The Boxers will put a wrap on the 2015-16 season with a pair of road games this Friday and Saturday at Linfield and Lewis & Clark. They dropped home encounters this past weekend to Pacific Lutheran (69-65) and Puget Sound (76-62).
 
Does Not Compute: Pacific dropped games at home to the Lutes and Loggers this past weekend, two teams that they had defeated on the road in January. While the win over UPS in Tacoma was surely considered an upset (the second-place Loggers have only lost three NWC games all season), the Boxers and Lutes are evenly matched and both games could have gone either way. You would expect if there is to be a split, each team would win on their own home court. But for some odd reason, the Boxers are an impressive 7-4 on the road this season but finished 3-9 in the Stoller Center.
 
Winning Goal: If Coach Jennifer Mountain's team can win its final two games, they can finish the 2015-16 campaign one game below .500. 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).
 
Tournament Set: The top four teams in the Northwest Conference qualify for the post-season tournament, held at the site of the conference champion, and that group is set heading into the final weekend of play. Here is a look at the standings, for conference games only.
George Fox                14-0
Puget Sound              11-3
Whitman                     9-5
Whitworth                   9-5
Pacific                                      5-9
Linfield                                    5-9
Pacific Lutheran         5-9
Willamette               4-10
Lewis & Clark                        1-13
 
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 .377, having made 160-424 attempts. The 160 three's made is tied for second best in the NWC. Karli McHone leads the team with 58 makes, tied for tops in the NWC, and her .453 percentage is best in the league and ranks seventh in the country. Sarah Curl has 28 treys, Kyla Siri has 23, and Jillian Ross has 22. Nikki Gilbert has 19, but was injured in the Lewis & Clark game on Jan. 30 and has not played since.
 
Taking Care of the Ball: Pacific averages just 15.9 turnovers a contest, second best in the Northwest Conference.
 
Senior Salute: Pacific honored 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 4.7 rebounds a game. She is second on the squad in steals (41) and fourth in assists (35). 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 18.3 points a game, 6.9 rebounds and has 62 steals. Those three totals are tops on her team, as are her 15 blocked shots and 48 assists. 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.
 
Four Figures: Curl needs just 14 points this coming weekend to crack the 1,000 point barrier. She has 420 points this year, had 312 last year and 254 as a freshman. She is unofficially tenth on Pacific's all-time career scoring list. Amy Johnson is on top of the board with 1,671 points (1989-93).
 
Welcome Addition: Junior transfer guard Karli McHone has been a huge addition to the Boxer program in 2015-16. Her 13.1 points a game is second on the team only to Curl, and her three-point percentage (.453) is tops for the Boxers and first in the Northwest Conference. McHone's .815 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 had a new leader in 2015-16. First-year head coach Jennifer Mountain replaced 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 23 games. 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 19 games while averaging 4.3 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)
 
Wildcat Words: Linfield has split its last four contests and sits at 12-11 overall and 5-9 in the NWC—tied with the Boxers. The Wildcats' balanced offense is led by Quincey Gibson (Jr., 5-8, Issaquah, Wash.) who paces the team at 10.7 points a game. She also adds five rebounds a contest and is shooting .895 from the free throw line, second best mark in the NWC. Hannah Depew (Sr., 5-9, Bainbridge Island, Wash.) is next at 9.5 ppg, while Jessica McMillan (Sr., 6-0, McMinnville) adds 8.7 points and and a robust 7.3 rebounds. That rebound average is third in the conference. When the Boxers and 'Cats met in Forest Grove this year, Linfield outscored Pacific 11-1 over the final four minutes to sneak out of town with a 59-53 win. 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.
 
Pioneer Press: Lewis & Clark has lost nine games in a row but their last two outings have seen them come up just five points short on the scoreboard against Linfield and Pacific Lutheran. They also lost by just three (55-52) against playoff-bound Whitworth on Jan. 30. The Pioneers also led at the half when they and the Boxers hooked up last month, but Pacific scored the first 11 points of the third quarter to pull away for the 64-53 win. Miyah Leith (So., 5-8, Chandler, Ariz.) leads the Pioneers with 13.2 points a game and she pulls down 4.2 rebounds. 2014-15 Second Team All-NWC selection Ayisat Afolabi (Jr., 5-11, West Hills, Calif.) adds 10.3 points and 6.2 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.
 
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.