By: Cody Wright
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University women's basketball team heads to Oregon this week to square off against Lewis & Clark on Friday (8:00pm) and Willamette (6:00pm) on Saturday. 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 (7-12 overall, 4-6 Northwest Conference) split a pair of games in Tacoma last weekend.
The Pirates suffered an 84-45 loss t0 Puget Sound on Friday night. The Loggers utilized a disruptive full court press that Whitworth struggled to break. After a 22-13 lead at the end of the first, UPS broke open the game by scoring 10 straight points to start the second. The Bucs settled down and were able to cut the lead to 13 at halftime. Ashlyn Peterson made a three-pointer to get within 12 early in the third, but the Loggers put the game away by outscoring the Pirates 24-4 the rest of the third quarter and 22-13 in the fourth. Alex Goetz led Whitworth with 11 points and Peterson added 10. The Pirates shot 26% (15-58) from the field and 21% (5-21) from distance.
Whitworth snapped a five-game losing streak with a 62-60 win at Pacific Lutheran on Saturday. The Pirates used a 9-1 run to open a 28-21 lead in the second quarter after a pair of Ashlyn Nielsen free throws. The Bucs led by four at halftime and opened a 37-28 lead early in the third quarter, their largest of the game. PLU battled back and took a six-point lead in the fourth quarter. Keely Maves helped get the Pirates back to a tie with a pair of baskets. Each team had chances at the free throw in the final minute, but Ashlyn Peterson knocked down three of four free attempts to secure the win. Peterson put up 22 points while Alex Goetz scored 19. Mya Bair put up six points, eight rebounds and six assists. The Pirates shot 36% (20-56) from the floor and made 15 of 18 (83%) free throw attempts.
The Opponents: Lewis & Clark (4-15, 1-9) hosts Whitworth amidst a four-game losing streak. The Pioneers dropped a close game to Willamette 61-58 on Tuesday and fell 56-39 to Pacific on Friday. Their lone conference win came on January 18th in a 73-76 home win over Puget Sound. L&C has struggled to put points on the board with an eighth ranked scoring offense (54.7 ppg) during conference play. They have been stronger on defense and have allowed NWC opponents to shoot just 39.1% against them. Sophomore wing Lauren Frederickson is third in the conference in scoring at 14.5 points per game and first in rebounding (9.0) to lead the Pioneers. Sophomore Madilyn Palosi is second on the team with 12.3 points per game and averages 1.2 steals. Whitworth defeated L&C 69-59 in their last matchup on January 11th in Spokane.
Willamette (7-12, 4-6) takes on Whitworth after splitting two games last week. The Bearcats edged Lewis & Clark 61-58 on Tuesday before falling to George Fox 71-58 on Saturday. Willamette will host Whitman on Friday before the Pirates visit on Saturday. The Bearcats are a strong three-point shooting team and lead the conference in three-point field goals made per game (7.7). Despite the formidable shooting, they struggle to get stops and allow the most points per game in the NWC (69.7). Willamette is led by junior forward Kaitlin Imai who is putting up 14.3 points and 2.0 assists per game. Senior forward Elyse Waldal is second on the team in both points (12.6) and rebounds (4.6) per game. Whitworth took down Willamette 65-49 in their latest matchup on January 10th in Spokane to break a four-game skid against the Bearcats.
NWC Standings: Whitman (10-0) remains undefeated in conference play and sits atop the standings. Linfield (7-3) moved into sole possession of second place and George Fox (6-4) dropped to third. Puget Sound (5-5) took hold of fourth while Pacific, Pacific Lutheran, Whitworth and Willamette all have 4-6 records and look to separate.
From Downtown: The Pirates have not been shy putting up shots from beyond the arc this season. The Bucs average 25.5 three-point attempts per game, ranking first in the NWC. They are making these shots at a 27.5% clip and their seven three-point field goals made per game rank second in the NWC. Ashlyn Peterson leads the Pirates with 31 three-pointers and Alex Goetz is close behind with 30.
The Charity Stripe: In NWC games this season, the Pirates have gotten to the free throw line at an impressive rate. During this stretch, Whitworth shot 195 free throws, six more than the next team and made 155 of them, 15 more than the team below them. Their 76.1 season team free-throw percentage ranks first in the conference and 16th in Division III. 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 8.7 points, a team-leading 8.1 rebounds (third in the NWC), 2.8 assists (eighth in the NWC), 0.9 blocks (sixth in the NWC) and 1.9 steals (sixth in the NWC) per game. Bair tied career-highs with 17 points and 14 rebounds against Linfield on January 24th.
The Maestro: Ashlyn Peterson has shown her ability to orchestrate the offense in an impactful freshman season. Peterson's 69 total assists and 3.6 assists per game rank second in the NWC. Along with her ability to distribute, she is fourth in the NWC in scoring and leads the Pirates with 14.5 points per game. Her 1.8 steals per game rank seventh in the conference and she is second in free throw percentage (.827). She has been the top scorer for the Pirates in ten of 19 games this season and rarely comes off the court, leading the conference in minutes per game (36.1).
Tune in: Whitworth's home women's basketball games are streamed live at whitworthpirates.com from the "watch link" for home games and the "listen link" for road games on the women's basketball schedule page. Pirate basketball games are called by Bud Nameck who is in his tenth season as the voice of Whitworth basketball. An Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Famer, Nameck has more than 30 years of experience calling college basketball at Gonzaga University and Washington State.
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 26-43 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 return to Spokane to host Pacific on February 14th and George Fox on February 15th.
