WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NOTES: The Evergreen State College opens Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball play on Tuesday night when it faces the Northwest University Eagles at the NU Pavilion in Kirkland. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m.
SPECIAL NOTE ON THE SCHEDULE: The following is a revision to the schedule - Evergreen's game against Douglas College from New Westminster, B.C., scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Friday at Costantino Recreation Center, is now considered a scrimmage because the game is a non-countable contest according to NAIA rules. As a result, there will be no live stats or live video stream.
FOLLOW THE GEODUCKS: Evergreen fans unable to follow their Geoducks can do so via live stats and/or a live video stream at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/evergreen/. Evergreen is happy to have John Hammargren back as the voice of Geoducks basketball on the live video stream.
GEODUCKS BY THE NUMBERS: Evergreen has compiled a 1-4 record to this point and enter Tuesday night's contest riding the euphoria of a buzzer-beating 67-66 win over Pacific Lutheran the day before Thanksgiving. Senior post Gabi Fenumiai averages 10.6 points per game to lead the Geoducks, who also get 9.4 points per game from freshman guard Zaria Jones. Senior post Autumn Moorcroft is the rebounding leader with 6.2 per game and she is also the third-leading scorer with 8.6 points per contest.
ABOUT NORTHWEST: The Eagles, 3-4 overall this season, has a trio of double-digit scorers. Charmaine Bradford averages 11.1 points, Miranda Langenhorst 10.3 and Mikayla Sites 10.0. Langenhorst is averaging a double-double this year, adding 10.1 rebounds per game to her point scoring average.
RECENT RESULTS: Northwest defeated the Geoducks twice by six points last year, winning 67-61 in Kirkland and 69-63 in Olympia. The previous season it was Evergreen that swept Northwest, winning 72-63 in Olympia and 62-51 in Kirkland.
ABOUT DOUGLAS: The Royals are 5-1 overall and have won five straight games. Rachel Beauchamp, a 5-11 forward, leads the team with 16.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.
LAST WEEK: The Geoducks split a pair of non-conference games last week, losing at NCAA Division II Seattle Pacific, 88-47, before beating Pacific Lutheran at home, 67-66, when Chloee Hunt hit a shot jumper at the buzzer. Gabi Fenumiai scored a season-high 20 points for Evergreen.
PRESEASON POLL: In their 2016-17 preseason poll, Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball coaches have picked The Evergreen State College to repeat its ninth-place finish of a season ago. After finishing in the top spot a season ago, Southern Oregon has been selected to repeat as conference champions, claiming eight first place votes in coaches' poll. The Raiders finished with a 19-1 conference record and a CCC tournament championship, in addition to finishing as national runner-up, last year. Eastern Oregon earned 107 points and two first-place votes in the poll to come in second after a 16-4 conference record and a 21-10 overall mark last season. Oregon Tech claimed the third spot in the poll after tying for second place in the conference standings with EOU last season at 16-4. The Owls are coming off an appearance in the CCC tournament championship game, and making it to the Sweet 16 in the national tournament.
