SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth women's basketball team continues on the road for a pair of games in Tacoma this weekend. The Pirates play at Pacific Lutheran University on Friday (6:00 pm) and at the University of Puget Sound on Saturday (4:00 pm). Both will be carried live on KSBN radio 1230 am and on the web at KSBN.net.
Both schools require wearing of masks, regardless of vaccination status, to attend any indoor athletic event. Please plan accordingly. Fans unable to attend the games can find live links on the Whitworth women's basketball schedule.
The Pirates: Whitworth (8-13 overall, 3-9 NWC) dropped a pair of hard-fought games in Oregon last weekend.
Linfield University picked up its first win of the season when the Wildcats drained a three-pointer as time expired to defeat the visiting Pirates 62-59 on Friday night. Whitworth rallied from a seven-point deficit in the third quarter to tie the game twice late in the contest. Quincy McDeid scored a season-high 21 points and led the team with seven rebounds. Tara Kaneshiro added ten points and dished four assists. The Pirates made 18-48 (37.5%) from the field, 17-23 (73.9%) from the free throw line. Whitworth and Linfield split the season series.
The Pirates nearly pulled off an upset at Pacific University on Saturday night. Whitworth played one of its best quarters of the season in the second, outscoring the Boxers 24-9 to take a 39-31 halftime lead. However, Pacific rallied for a 69-66 victory. Olivia Mayer led the team with 14 points in only 17 minutes, while Devyn Cope added 11 points and seven rebounds. Tara Kaneshiro had six more assists. Whitworth made 21-50 (42%) from the floor, 19-22 (86.4%) at the charity stripe. The Bucs were 5-10 from beyond the arc. Pacific swept the season series between the teams.
The Opponents: Pacific Lutheran University comes into the weekend 5-13 overall, 2-9 in the NWC. The Lutes fell 77-61 at Willamette last Friday and 75-64 at George Fox on Saturday. PLU will host Linfield in a makeup game on Wednesday this week before Whitworth visits on Friday. Josie Napoli (Fr., G) leads the team in scoring average at 14.1 points per game and in assists (4.6 apg). Sophomore forward Ava Edwards adds 11.5 ppg and 6.0 rebounds per game. PLU defeated Whitworth 66-64 in Spokane in the first game between the teams on January 15th. The Pirates had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but the shot rolled off the rim. Olivia Mayer had 21 points and eight rebounds, while Quincy McDeid had 12 points.
The University of Puget Sound (17-3 overall, 10-2 NWC) stands firmly in second place in the NWC women's basketball standings. The Loggers won 69-66 at Lewis & Clark last Friday, then won 68-54 at Willamette on Saturday. Sophomore guard Sophie Nilsson averages 15.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Sophomore guard Kennedy Brown contributes 10.9 points per game and leads the team with 30 three-pointers made this year. Puget Sound rolled to an 82-59 win over a short-handed Pirate squad on January 14th, despite 17 points and 16 rebounds from Olivia Mayer.
Road Trifecta: During its Thanksgiving trip to California, Whitworth won three true road games in a row for the first time since the Pirates won their first six road games in a row on the way to a 14-0 start during the 2014-15 season.
Dorney Does it: Megan Dorney has developed into Whitworth's leader on the court this season. She leads the team in scoring (12.4 ppg) and is second in rebounding (5.7 rpg) and makes 53.3% of her field goals. All this despite missing the first ten conference games with a knee injury. She returned in limited capacity during the weekend at Linfield and Pacific (Ore.).
Mayer Makes it Happen: Olivia Mayer is having a phenomenal first season at Whitworth, averaging 12.0 points per game and leading the team in rebounding (5.9 rpg) and steals (27). In just conference games only, her stats are even better. She averages 14.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game against NWC opponents. She has four of Whitworth's six double-doubles this year.
Talia's Time: Senior guard Talia Brandner's Pirate career came to an unfortunate end when she suffered a season-ending knee injury during the first half of Whitworth's game against Whitman on December 7th. One of the team's best three-point shooters, Brandner finished her Pirate career making 35.4% from beyond the arc. She totaled 558 points, 175 rebounds and 104 assists in 64 games.
NWC Preseason Poll: Whitworth is fifth in the NWC preseason coaches poll this season with 33 points. The Pirates just missed the conference playoffs in fifth position in both 2019 and 2020. There was no conference tournament in 2021 due to Covid-19. Whitman leads the poll with eight first place votes and 64 points. Pacific (Ore.) is second with one first place vote and 50 points.
NCAA Championship is Back: The NCAA Division III tournament is back in 2021-22 after getting cancelled last season. The first two rounds will take place March 4-5 on campus sites, as will the rounds of 16 and 8 on March 11-12. The Division III final four will be held at the A.J. Palumbo Center March 18-19 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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 in California 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 seventh 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: Joial Griffith is in her fourth season as the women's basketball coach at Whitworth University in 2021-22. She has guided the Pirates to a record of 31-27 in her two years, including two fourth place finishes in the Northwest Conference and a 4-4 mark during the COVID-19 schedule of 2020-21. Griffith took over for long-time Whitworth head coach Helen Higgs, who resigned after 24 seasons as the winningest coach in Pirate women's basketball history. Griffith spent one season with the Williams (Mass.) Ephs' women's basketball program. Prior to her year at Williams, she was the assistant coach at Claremont-Scripps-Colleges in Southern California, near where she grew up. The Athenas made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances during her two seasons, finishing 20-9 in 2017 and 23-6 in 2016.
Looking Ahead: Whitworth will return home to conclude the regular season against George Fox and Lewis & Clark on Feb. 18-19.
