SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University women's basketball team returns to Oregon for games at Pacific University and Lewis & Clark College this weekend. The Pirates play Pacific on Friday (6:00 pm) and L&C on Saturday (4:00 pm). Both games can be heard live on KSBN radio (1230 am) as part of women's-men's doubleheaders.
Check the Whitworth women's basketball schedule for live links to this weekend's action.
The Pirates: Whitworth (7-12 overall, 4-6 NWC) split a pair of games for the third weekend in a row, defeating Pacific Lutheran and falling to first place Puget Sound at home last weekend.
The Pirates opened the second round of their Northwest Conference schedule with a 53-40 win over visiting PLU on Friday. Whitworth dominated the first half, outscoring the Lutes 29-16 before halftime. The Bucs played controlled basketball, turning the ball over only eight times. Olivia Mayer led Whitworth with 18 points, but did not hit double figures in rebounds for the first time this season. Tara Kaneshiro added ten points. Kimberly Dewey and Devyn Cope led the Pirates with eight rebounds apiece. Cope added two assists, two blocks and a steal. Whitworth swept the season series against the Lutes.
Puget Sound controlled Saturday night's game from the opening minutes, running out to an 80-52 victory. The Loggers used their strong full court press to great effect until the game's final whistle, forcing 34 Whitworth turnovers and scoring 31 points off those turnovers. Mayer finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Dewey had seven points and a team-high nine boards. Dewey also finished with four assists. UPS won both games against the Pirates this season.
The Opponents: Pacific (Ore.) has won three straight games to answer a three-game skid immediately prior. The Boxers beat Lewis & Clark 68-43 and Linfield 74-54 last weekend. Pacific leads the NWC in scoring defense (52.2%). Senior guard Brillie Kovaloff averages 16.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, while making 38% of her three-pointers. She is the only Boxer averaging double figures. Senior point guard Rilee Price contributes 9.1 points and 3.8 assists per contest. Pacific won the first game between the Boxers and Pirates 53-43 in Spokane on January 7th. Olivia Mayer had 21 points and 12 rebounds for Whitworth.
Lewis & Clark heads into the weekend 2-17 overall and 1-9 in the NWC prior to a game against Whitman on Friday. The Pioneers followed their loss at Pacific last Friday with a 63-43 loss at home to Willamette on Saturday. L&C's only NWC win this season was a 93-90 double overtime victory at Whitworth on January 6th when the Pioneer's rallied from a 20 point deficit. Junior guard Karli Mukai tied an L&C team record with 38 points in that victory and she leads her squad in scoring (15.4 ppg) this year. Junior forward Charlotte Carroll adds 11.6 points per game and adds 10.1 rebounds per game (second in the NWC). Kim Dewey had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Pirates in that first match up this season.
McDeid Gets It Done: Quincy McDeid has been a part of the Whitworth starting lineup since her first year. McDeid has started 73 of the 77 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 12.1 points per game. She has 914 points and has a chance to become the 14th player in Pirate women's basketball history to surpass 1,000 career points.
Mayer Makes it Happen: Olivia Mayer is already off to a better start then her phenomenal first season at Whitworth. She leads the Northwest Conference in scoring (17.7 ppg), leads the league in rebounding (11.6 rpg) and she ranks third in all of NCAA Div. III in double-doubles (15). Mayer is also second in the NWC in blocked shots (1.3 per game) and 10th in steals (1.7 per game). She has been selected as the NWC's student-athlete of the week in women's basketball three times this season.
Last season Mayer averaged 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.
Pirates picked 6th in 2022-23: Whitworth was sixth in the NWC's preseason coaches poll with 27 points. The Pirates are coming off a seventh place finish in 2021-22 after finishing 10-15 overall and 5-11 in the NWC. Puget Sound (61 points, 5 first place votes) edged Whitman (58 points, 4 first place votes) for first place in the poll.
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 host Whitman on Tuesday, Feb. 7 before returning to Oregon for the third time in four weeks to play at George Fox on Friday, Feb. 10.
