By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University women's basketball team will hit the road for its first conference road trip this weekend. The Pirates visit George Fox on Friday at 8:00pm and Pacific (Ore.) on Saturday at 6:00pm. Both games are scheduled as the second half of men's-women's doubleheaders.
Check the Whitworth women's basketball schedule for live links to this week's games.
The Pirates: Whitworth (6-7, 3-1 Northwest Conference) earned two wins last week to sweep a home weekend in conference for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
The Pirates took down defending NWC champion Willamette 65-49 on Friday night. This was Whitworth's first win over the Bearcats since 2022. The Pirates got off to a strong start and led 20-11 after the first quarter and went to halftime ahead 31-24. The offense slumped to start the third quarter and Willamette clawed back to a two-point deficit. Alex Goetz caught fire and made a trio of three-pointers to close the third quarter on a 9-0 Pirate run. Whitworth fought through the Bearcats full-court press and made nine of 10 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter to secure the win. The Pirates shot 36.8% (21-57) from the field. Mya Bair filled up the stat sheet with eight points, 13 rebounds, four assists and four steals. Goetz scored a team-high 12 points and Ashlyn Peterson had 11.
On Saturday, the Pirates defeated Lewis & Clark 69-59. The Pioneers got out to an early lead and outscored Whitworth 20-14 in the first quarter. Ashlyn Peterson led the Pirates' comeback by scoring 15 points in the first half and giving the Bucs a 35-31 lead at halftime. Whitworth pulled away in the third quarter thanks to six points from Keely Maves and five from Bri Talley. After leading by 13 early in the final quarter, Lewis & Clark cut the lead to 60-55 before the Pirates closed on a 9-4 run to extend the lead and get the win. Peterson tied her career-high point total with 24 and added six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Keely Maves scored 14 points and Mya Bair added seven rebounds and four assists.
The Opponents: George Fox hosts Whitworth with a 10-3 overall record and 2-2 mark in the NWC. Last week, the Bruins beat Pacific 60-55 on Tuesday before a 53-44 loss to Pacific Lutheran on Saturday. George Fox is an aggressive defensive team that ranks second in the NWC in scoring defense (53.9). The Bruins protect the paint and chase opponents off the three-point line, demonstrated by a NWC leading 23.8 opponent three-point percentage and 4.5 blocks per game. While strong defensively, George Fox sits at eighth in the conference in scoring average (57.9), fifth in field goal percentage (38), and last in three-point percentage (24.5). They are led by senior guard Alyssa Wells who averages a team-high 12 points and 1.6 blocks per game. Sophomore point guard Hanne Hopkins leads the team with 3.5 assists per game while senior forward Alexa Borter grabs 7.7 rebounds per game. Whitworth has won three of the last four matchups with the Bruins, with the lone loss coming on January 12th last season by a score of 51-44 in Newberg.
Pacific is coming into this weekend with a 5-8 overall record and 1-3 record in the NWC. The Boxers dropped two games last week, the first being a 60-55 loss to George Fox and the second being an 80-62 defeat at Puget Sound. Pacific is a strong offensive team and puts up 67.4 points per game, second in the NWC. They are aggressive on the offensive glass and average a conference leading 14.8 offensive rebounds per game. Defensively, the Boxers disrupt opposing offenses with just over 10 steals per game (second in the NWC) and lead the conference in turnovers forced per game (20.4). After a 12-4 conference record last season and appearance in the NWC tournament championship, the Boxers graduated three All-NWC honorees from last season. This season, five Boxers average at least eight points per game, with junior guard Shaade Williams leading the team at 11.0 points per game. Senior guard Emily Holsan is a sharpshooter who can fill up the stat sheet, putting up 10.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 3.2 steals per game. Whitworth has lost eight straight games against Pacific, with the last win coming on January 25th, 2019, in Forest Grove.
NWC Standings: Whitman holds the top spot in the NWC with a 4-0 conference record. Whitworth and Puget Sound each sit at 3-1 and are tied for the second spot. Linfield, George Fox, and Willamette all are 2-2 looking to grab the fourth spot. Pacific (1-3) and Pacific Lutheran (1-3) are fighting for seventh while Lewis & Clark has yet to get a conference victory (0-4).
From Downtown: The Pirates have not been shy putting up shots from beyond the arc this season. The Bucs average 28.1 three-point attempts per game, ranking 17th in all of Division III and first in the NWC. They are making these shots at a 27.7% clip and their 7.8 three-point field goals made per game rank second in the NWC. Ashlyn Peterson leads the Pirates with 23 three-pointers and Alex Goetz is close behind with 19.
The Charity Stripe: Over the first four NWC games this season, the Pirates have gotten to the free throw line at an impressive rate. During that stretch, Whitworth shot 97 free throws, 23 more than the next team and made 77 of them, 16 more than the team below them. The Pirates rank second in the NWC with a 79.4 team free-throw percentage in conference play. Whitworth's effectiveness at the charity stripe may be a key to upcoming conference matchups.
Lone Vet: With the Pirates' new look roster, junior guard Mya Bair is the only player to have previously started a game in a Whitworth uniform. Bair started 24 of 25 games for the Pirates in the 2023-24 season while putting up 7.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Her energy, effort and experience show on both sides of the ball while leading a fresh team looking to make its mark. This season, she is stuffing the stat sheet, averaging 9.2 points, a team-leading 8.7 rebounds (second in the NWC), 3.2 assists (sixth in the NWC), 1.2 blocks (fourth in the NWC) and two steals (tied for fifth in the NWC) per game. Bair is also second in the NWC in assist/turnover ratio at 2.1.
The Maestro: Ashlyn Peterson has shown her ability to orchestrate the offense and have a major impact during her freshman season. Peterson's 55 total assists and 4.2 assists per game lead the NWC. Along with her ability to distribute, she is fifth in the NWC in scoring and leads the Pirates with 14.5 points per game. Her two steals per game are tied for fifth in the conference. She has been the top scorer for the Pirates in seven of 13 games this season and rarely comes off the court, leading the conference in minutes per game (36.5).
Efficiency: Whitworth junior Keely Maves has made her presence felt in the paint and scored in an incredibly efficient manner to start the season. She is averaging 8.5 points per game on 49.4% shooting from the field, ranking 10th in the NWC. Mya Bair is shooting 44.8% from the field, which ranks 15th in the NWC.
The Coach: Kenny Love is in his third season as the Whitworth women's basketball coach. He moved over from the men's coaching staff in 2021 where he was an assistant coach since 2017. Love has a career head coaching record of 25-38 at Whitworth. Love himself is a former Pirate player who earned first team All-NWC recognition three times and was the 2015 NWC Player of the Year.
Looking ahead: The Pirates will be back at Whitworth Fieldhouse to host Whitman on Tuesday, January 21st and Linfield on Friday, January 24th.
