WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Teams from California and Wisconsin come to Walla Walla later this week to battle Whitman and Whitworth colleges in the WHIT Classic II women's basketball tournament in Whitman's Sherwoood Center.
Whitworth, one of Whitman's Northwest Conference rivals, hosted the WHIT Classic I earlier this month in Spokane.
This week's tournament gets underway when Whitworth plays California's University of La Verne at 4 p.m. Friday. Whitman takes the court at 6 p.m. Friday against Wisconsin Lutheran College. The tournament, an all-NCAA Division III affair, concludes Saturday with Whitworth and Wisconsin Lutheran playing at 2 p.m. followed by a Whitman-La Verne matchup at 4 p.m.
A Most Valuable Player Award, as well as an all-tournament team, will be announced following the final game.
Admission to all tournament games is free.
Here's a brief look at the four tournament teams:
One season after graduating five seniors, Whitman is off to a 5-4 start this season, which includes a 2-0 record in early NWC games. As a team, the Missionaries lead the NWC in field goal shooting, assists, and assist-to-turnover ratio. They are outrebounding opponents by an average 7.4 rebounds per game, which ranks them second in the conference in that statistical category.
Kelsey Krumdieck, a 6-foot junior forward, is shooting 59.3 from the floor, which tops the conference, while averaging a team-high 14.4 points. She's also pulling down 5.3 rebounds per game.
Other key players in a balanced Whitman attack include senior guard Katie Patneaude (10.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg), junior guard Kristina Francis (8.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg), first-year forward Michelle Krall (8.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg), and senior Shea Morrissey (6.8 ppg). Emily Shubin, a junior forward, is averaging 6.9 points (shooting 51.1 per cent from the floor) and grabbing a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game.
Krumdieck, Patneaude and Krall are all averaging 2.89 assists per game, which has them tied for third in the NWC in that category. Morrissey is right behind at 2.78 assists per game. As a team, Whitman collected 24 assists against Montana Tech and 23 against Eastern Oregon. Those are the two highest single-game assist totals in the NWC this season.
The Missionaries got off to a hot start this season, shooting 57.1 percent in a victory over Montana Tech and scoring 90 points in an overtime triumph over Corban College. The 90 points against Corban is the single-game high-point total in the NWC so far this season.
After beating Lewis & Clark and Pacific in two early NWC games, Whitman lost in overtime at Eastern Oregon and dropped close decisions to Warner Pacific and Dominican. The loss to Dominican came in the opening round of the WHIT Classic I in Spokane. The Missionaries bounced back to beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in that tournament's second round.
Despite losing four starters to graduation, Whitworth is off to a 7-2 start this season, which includes a 6-0 record on its home floor. Like Whitman, the Pirates got their NWC season off to a successful start earlier this month with victories over two conference opponents.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As a team, Whitworth is making 6.22 three-pointers per game, which leads the NWC. The Pirates, who also lead the conference in free throw shooting, are No. 2 in both assists and assists-to-turnover ratio.
Natalie Orrell, a 5-foot-9 first-year guard, has made a remarkable 17 of 28 three-point attempts, good for a conference-leading 60.7 percent. Orrell leads the team in scoring at 13.4 points per game and averages 4.8 rebounds. She also tops the conference in free throw shooting, having made 24 of 27 from the line.
Other Pirates scoring in double figures are junior Alida Bower (12.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg), sophomore Tiffany Corigliano (10.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg) and sophomore Susan McDaniel (10.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg). Cassie Snyder, a junior point guard, leads the NWC in assists, averaging 4.0 per game.
Whitworth bolted to a 5-0 start his season before losing by 17 points at both Eastern Oregon and Albertson. The Pirates bounced back to with both of their games at the WHIT Classic I.
|
|
|
With 5-foot-9 sophomore forward Treneca Jones leading the way, La Verne is off to a 5-2 start this season. The Leopards return a strong nucleus from a year ago, when they were 12-13 overall and 9-5 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC).
Jones, who earned All-SCIAC Second Team honors last winter, is averaging 16.4 points and 12 rebounds per game, which leads the conference in both cases. Jones is shooting 60.6 percent from the floor and has hit double digits in points and rebounds in six of her first seven games.
Marissa Raya, a junior guard, is averaging 15.7 points and 5.9 rebounds for the Leopards. Lindsey Shiomi, a 5-foot-3 point guard, is averaging 11.1 points and 4.14 assists per game. Shiomi also earned a spot on the the All-SCIAC Second Team last season.
Other key players for La Verne include first-year forward Emily Carrillo (7.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and junior forward Leslie Elrod (6.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg).
La Verne won five of its first six games before losing to Ohio's College of Wooster 62-57 on Dec. 19.
Wisconsin Lutheran returns its entire starting line-up from a year ago, when the Warriors posted a 14-11 season record and fourth-place finish in their conference. After splitting their first four games in November, the Warriors have won three of their last four games to push their season mark to 6-3.
Emily Laete, a 5-foot-10 junior forward from Spokane, Wash., leads Wisconsin Lutheran in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.8 points and 6.2 boards. Laete earned all-conference honors in each of her first two seasons.
Three Warrior sophomores are also scoring in double figures: forward Whitney Miller (11.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and guards Kristen Dillon (11.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg) and Britany Lindert (10.6 ppg). Kami Ten Pas, a 5-foot-11 senior who missed all but two games last season due to injury, is averaging 7.9 poings and 6.1 rebounds. Lauren Lanzen, a junior guard, is shooting 47.1 percent from the three-point line (16 of 34) and averaging 7.4 points off the bench.
Wisconsin Lutheran's overall record this season includes a 4-1 mark in the newly formed Northern Athletics Conference, a 12-school league.
Dave Holden, Whitman Sports Information,
(509) 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu