WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NOTES:Â The Evergreen State College closes out the home portion of its 2016-17 schedule at 2 p.m. Sunday when it hosts the Walla Walla University Wolves inside Costantino Recreation Center.
SENIOR DAY: Following the conclusion of Sunday's game against Walla Walla, a pair of Evergreen women's basketball players – both of whom have played two seasons for the Geoducks – will get their Senior Day moment.
Gabi Fenumiai, who came to Evergreen from Peninsula College, and
Autumn Moorcroft, who played at Lower Columbia College, will be honored for their two outstanding seasons as Geoducks.
FOLLOW THE GEODUCKS:Â Evergreen fans unable to attend Geoducks games, whether at home or on the road, can follow the action via live stats and/or a live video stream by clicking on the stats and video links under the Events tab on www.gogeoducks.com. John Hammargren provides the play-by-play for Evergreen home games.
PLAYOFF PICTURE: The Geoducks are 5-19 overall, and with a 4-13 record are in ninth place in the conference standings. That puts Evergreen within striking distance of one of eight conference postseason tournament berths – the tournament starts Tuesday, Feb. 21, with four quarterfinal contests. The Geoducks are currently one-half game in the loss column behind current eight-place Multnomah, and those teams square off on the final night of the regular season in Portland, Ore. Evergreen's remaining three games are against Walla Walla at home and Warner Pacific and Multnomah on the road. Multnomah has four games still to play, two on the road this Friday and Saturday and the final two at home the next weekend.
GEODUCKS BY THE NUMBERS: Senior post
Gabi Fenumiai leads the team with averages of 12.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per game and is also among the league leaders with a .548 field goal percent. The team's other senior, post
Autumn Moorcroft, contributes 9.5 points and 5.7 boards per contest. Freshman point guard
Zaria Jones averages 8.3 points and 3.3 assists per game, 3.2 assists per game, junior guard
Corina Tacardon adds 6.1 points and 1.8 steals per game, and junior guard
Kylie Gorton chips in 5.2 rebounds per contest. The Geoducks average 53.3 points and 38.4 rebounds per game compared to their opponents' 70.4 points and 37.5 rebounds.
FENUMIAI ON FIRE: After a slow start, senior post
Gabi Fenumiai has returned very close to the form that saw her average 17.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game during the 2015-16 season. She ranks among the NAIA Division II women's basketball leaders in three categories – she ranks 18th with a .548 field goal percentage, is tied for 19th with nine double-doubles, and is tied for 31st nationally with an average of 8.4 rebounds per contest.
RECORD SETTER: No matter what happens over the remaining games,
Gabi Fenumiai will own the Evergreen women's basketball program record for career field goal shooting percentage. She enters the final three games of the regular season with a .555 mark, which compares to the .464 percentage compiled by Brittany Gray from 2013-15.
ABOUT WALLA WALLA: The Wolves are 2-20 overall and with a 0-16 record are the only winless team in Cascade Conference counters. Alyssa Blankenship is the team leader with 15.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, followed by Emily Downs with averages of 10.8 points and 5.5 rebounds. The Wolves score 55.0 points and allow 87.7 per contest.
FIRST MEETING: In what has been Walla Walla's closest conference result to date, Evergreen outscored the hosts by 25 points in the middle quarters on the way to a 65-54 win on Feb. 15.
Autumn Moorcroft led the scoring with 20 points, and she added eight rebounds for the Geoducks. Other standouts for Evergreen were
Gabi Fenumiai with 16 points and 17 rebounds,
Corina Tacardon with 12 points and
Zaria Jones with 11 points.
RECENT RESULTS: Evergreen beat Walla Walla by 98-41 and 88-43 scores last season. The Geoducks set records for points (98) and assists (32) in a game, and
Gabi Fenumiai set an Evergreen single-game scoring record with 36 points in the 98-41 victory.
NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN 50, EVERGREEN 49: Northwest Christian hit a pair of free throws with 0.5 seconds to play last Friday night to escape Costantino Recreation Center with a 50-49 win over the Geoducks. Evergreen led by seven points with 2:52 to play but the Beacons scored the game's final eight points. Evergreen guards
Corina Tacardon and
Zaria Jones both played 40 minutes and led the team in scoring, Tacardon with 13 points and Jones with 11.
Gabi Fenumiai led all players with 13 rebounds.
EVERGREEN 64, CORBAN 61: The Geoducks ended a five-game losing skid with a 64-61 victory over the visiting Warriors last Saturday night inside Costantino Recreation Center.
Gabi Fenumiai, who drained a pair of free throws with 3.1 seconds remaining to ice the win, had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
Chloee Hunt added 14 points and
Autumn Moorcroft had 10 in a winning cause.
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