SPOKANE, Wash. - Whitworth and Whitman will co-host the NBC Camps Whit Classic this weekend. The event will include highly-ranked Washington University (Mo.) and California Lutheran and all games will take place in the Whitworth Fieldhouse. The Pirates are coming into the weekend have won two of three games in Southern California on the back half of a ten-day, season-opening road trip that began in Hawaii.
The Pirates: Whitworth dropped two of three games in Hawaii, all against NCAA Division II opponents. The Bucs opened the season with a win at Chaminade. They lost at BYU-Hawaii and at Hawaii Pacific to close the trip to the 50th state. On the day before Thanksgiving Whitworth defeated Cal Lutheran 69-57 in Thousand Oaks. On Friday after Thanksgiving the Bucs won 76-46 at Caltech. Finally Whitworth fell 68-62 at Redlands on Saturday. Leah Pomante (Jr., G, Colbert, Wash.) led the Pirates in scoring, assists and steals during the trip to Southern California. Her 23 points at Redlands was a career high and through four games this season she averages a team-leading 15.0 points per game. NWC Coaches Poll: Whitworth finished second in the 2008 NWC coaches preseason poll. The Pirates finished just behind Whitman in the voting. Bower-ful: Alida Bower was named First Team All-Northwest Conference last season, despite missing games early in the year with a knee injury. She led the team in scoring (13.5 points per game) and rebounding (6.1 rebounds per game) and made nearly 40% of her three point attempts. She was a Second Team All-NWC selection as a sophomore after transferring to Whitworth from St. Martin's University following her freshman season. Bower is recovering from a slight knee injury early this season that has limited her playing time. Nifty Natalie: Natalie Orrell was an honorable mention All-NWC choice last winter after finishing second on the team in scoring average (12.6 ppg). She made 47% of her shots from the floor and averaged 4.1 rebounds per game. Welcome Cassie: Cassie Pilkinton (Jr., F, Chelan, Wash.) has made an immediate impact for the Pirates. She has started all six games and has averaged 13.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. She has been the team's top three-point shooter this season, making 45.2% from beyond the arc. The Opponents: Washington University is 4-1 and ranked 9th in the latest D3hoops.com poll. The Bears, members of the powerful University Athletic Association, are deep. Washington has 21 players on the roster and 15 of them have appeared in four of the five games. Leading scorer Kathryn Berger has averaged 11.2 points per game, but only started two of the five contests. Only Jamie McFarlin averages more than 20 minutes per game. The Bears have played all five of their games at home this season. Cal Lutheran is 1-3 this season after dropping both games at its own Posada Royale Classic last weekend. The Regals are young, with only two seniors and seven freshmen on a 15-player roster. Sophomore guard Kourtney Jones averages 16.5 points per game, while junior center Nita Sims averages 15.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest. The Coach: Helen Higgs continues her 15th season at Whitworth as the winningest women's basketball coach in school history. She has a record of 217-163 during her tenure as the Pirate head coach. Her current winning percentage of .571 is also the best all-time among Pirate head coaches. She has been named Northwest Conference Coach of the Year three times. 2008-09 Women's Basketball Schedule Go to Athletics Home Page > Women's Basketball > Sports Releases > |
