SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth women's basketball team hits the road to compete in the Northwest Classic this weekend. The Pirates play host Northwest University on Friday (7:30 pm) and the Haskell Indian Nations College on Saturday (3:00 pm).
Check the Whitworth women's basketball schedule for live links to this weekend's action.
The Pirates: Whitworth (1-0) opened the season with a 63-57 win over visiting Walla Walla University last Thursday night. The Pirates opened a big first half lead despite committing 10 turnovers in the first quarter and 14 overall in the first half. Quincy McDeid scored right before the halftime buzzer for a 39-21 lead at the break, then Olivia Mayer scored the first basket of the second half to increase the advantage to 20 points. But Whitworth suffered through some second half scoring droughts, allowing the Wolves to climb back into the game. WWU got within 56-55 with less than three minutes to play before Mayer converted a three-point play to stem the tide. Mayer finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Devyn Cope also scored a career-high 15 points. McDeid tallied 13 points, while Sydney McLean dished eight assists in her Pirate debut.
The Opponents: Northwest University, located in Kirkland, Wash., is a member of the NAIA Cascade Collegiate Conference. The Eagles return one starter from a team that finished 17-13 in 2021-22. That starter is senior Maya DuChesne. Northwest opened the season with a split at home last weekend, falling 77-49 to William Jessup (Calif.) before defeating NWC-member Pacific Lutheran 65-59. Whitworth won the last meeting between the schools 77-61 on December 30, 2014.
Haskell Indian Nations, located in Lawrence, Kansas, is a member of the NAIA Continental Athletic Conference. The Fighting Indians are 3-6 overall this season. Their most recent game was a 71-64 win over McPherson College in St. Louis. Haskell went 14-14 overall and 10-3 in the CAC last season. Whitworth and Haskell have never played in women's basketball.
McDeid Gets It Done: Quincy McDeid has been a part of the Whitworth starting lineup since her first year. McDeid has started 55 of the 59 games over her four seasons and has never missed a contest in that time. McDeid has averaged double figures in scoring, with a career scoring average of 12.4 points per game. She has 734 points and has a good chance to become the 14th player in Pirate women's basketball history to surpass 1,000 career points.
Mayer Makes it Happen: Olivia Mayer had a phenomenal first season at Whitworth, averaging 11.8 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game. She led the team in steals (32). In just Northwest Conference games only, her stats were even better with averages 13.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game against NWC opponents. She claimed honorable mention All-NWC recognition.
On the Air Again: Many of Whitworth's games are once again carried live this season on KSBN 1230am in Spokane. The broadcast schedule includes non-conference games against Walla Walla and California Lutheran and all Northwest Conference contests. The relationship between Pirate athletics and KSBN goes back to 1994, a span of more than 25 years. Bud Nameck is in his eighth season as the voice of Whitworth basketball. Nameck has more than 30 years of experience calling college basketball at Gonzaga University and Washington State.
The Coach: Kenny Love is in his first season guiding the Pirate women. He moved over from the men's coaching staff, where he was an assistant coach since 2017 and was involved in all aspects of the men's team operation, including scouting, recruiting, budget management, conditioning and summer camp organization. Love is a former Pirate player who claimed first team All-NWC recognition three times and was the 2015 NWC Player of the Year.
Looking Ahead: Whitworth will travel to Santa Cruz, California to play a pair of games against Caltech and UC Santa Cruz over the Thanksgiving weekend.
