SPOKANE, Wash. - For the third consecutive season Whitworth College and Whitman College will co-host the Whit-Quality Inn Women's Basketball Classic. This season the Pirates and Missionaries welcome a pair of California schools to the Northwest. UC Santa Cruz, a participant in 2003-04, returns to play again this season. Cal State University East Bay will be making its first ever appearance in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

The tournament schedule is as follows: Whitman will play CSU-East Bay on Thursday night at 6:00 pm, followed by Whitworth vs. UC Santa Cruz. On Friday night, Whitman will play UCSC in the 6:00 pm game, followed by Whitworth vs. CSU-EB at 8:00 pm.

Ridings leads the Pirates in scoring, assists and steals.

The Pirates: Whitworth comes into the week with a record of 4-4. The young Pirates could easily be 6-2, but inexperience played a part in losses down the stretch at Linfield and Montana State Northern. Whitworth is playing this season with five new starters and nine of the 13 players on the roster are either freshmen, sophomores, or redshirt sophomores. Holly Ridings (So., G, Spokane, Wash. - Shadle Park) leads Whitworth in scoring at 12.9 points per game. She also leads the team in assists (26) and steals (16). Emily Hendrickson (So., F, Valleyford, Wash. - Freeman) adds 11 points per game and leads the squad in rebounds per contest (7.3). The Pirates are shooting 33% from three point range as a team. They have also been tough at the free throw line, making 76% of their attempts.

Bower Out: Unfortunately for the Pirates, one of their few players with collegiate experience, Alida Bower (So., F, Onalaska, Wash. - St. Martin's Univ.) is out for the season with a knee injury, suffered during the team's trip to Montana at the end of finals. She was averaging 11.0 points per game and had started all eight contests. The injury came early in the second half of the win at Great Falls.

The Slugs: Whitworth has played UC Santa Cruz each of the past two seasons, winning both meetings. Whitworth won last year's contest 75-43 in a tournament at PLU in early December. The Banana Slugs went on to finish 4-20 last winter. The team has shown signs of improvement this year at 3-9, nearly matching last season's win total at the halfway mark of the schedule. Senior forward Jenna Chabot averages 15.4 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game, while making 47% of her three point attempts. Freshman guard Kayleigh Calandri adds 11.1 points per contest.

The Pioneers: Whitworth and Cal State East Bay have never met in women's basketball. The Pioneers come into the week as one of the hottest small college teams on the west coast. CSU-EB is 8-1 and ranked 12th in the latest NAIA Division II ratings. A big reason for the team's success is senior guard Iman Young, who is fourth in NAIA DII in scoring average (24.1 points per game). Sarah Thornton is a strong post player as well, averaging 13.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. The Pioneers are coming off of a 17-10 season in 2004-05.

The Missionaries: With five returning starters, including plenty of experience from the 2003-04 co-NWC championship team, Whitman was picked second in this year's NWC preseason coaches poll. But the Missionaries have struggled to a 2-6 record. Kate Patneaude leads the team in scoring (15.4 points per game). Former All-NWC forward Lizzy Washburn adds 11.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Whitworth and Whitman will meet for the first time on January 17th in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.