WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NOTES: Evergreen's women's basketball team seeks to end a five-game losing streak when it travels to Oregon this weekend for a pair of Cascade Collegiate Conference contests. The Geoducks play the Corban Warriors in Salem on Friday night and the Northwest Christian Beacons in Eugene on Saturday. Both games are slated for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.
FOLLOW THE GEODUCKS: 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.
ABOUT THE GEODUCKS: Evergreen brings a 3-11 overall record, including a 2-5 conference mark, into this weekend's game. All three of the Geoducks' wins have been at home, and they must overcome a 0-5 road record if they are to put an end to their five-game losing skid this weekend. The Geoducks are last among conference teams in scoring average at 53.6 points per game, and they are eighth in scoring defense, allowing 72.0 per contest. Throughout the season, and despite its record, Evergreen has proven its ability to rebound right along with its opponents. The Geoducks are currently negative 0.1 rebounds per game, on average. Turnovers continue to plague the Geoducks, who average 22.7 per contest. Improvements are also needed in three-point shooting percentage (.245) and free throw shooting (.613, 10th among 11 conference teams).
COACHING CHANGE: Gil Rigell will serve as Evergreen women's basketball interim head coach through the remainder of the 2016-17 season. He replaces Jennifer Schooler, who submitted her resignation. Rigell was women's basketball head coach at Pacific Lutheran University from 1997-2007, where his Lutes teams won outright or shared five Northwest Conference titles and made six national tournament appearances.
GEODUCKS BY THE NUMBERS: Gabi Fenumiai, the senior center from Juneau, Alaska, continues to lead the team with 13.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Additionally, she is the league's top field goal percentage shooter at .615. Another senior post,
Autumn Moorcroft, averages 9.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, freshman post
Zaria Jones chips in 2.9 assists per game, and junior guard
Corina Tacardon is among the CCC leaders with 2.1 steals per contest. Jones (35.2) and Moorcroft (35.1) rank third and fourth in the conference, respectively, in number of minutes played per game.
FENUMIAI ON FIRE: After a slow start, senior post
Gabi Fenumiai has been on fire in recent games. Fenumiai has scored in double figures in eight of the last 10 games, including a season-high 27 points against Warner Pacific on the opening week of conference play.
MOORCROFT MAKING HER MARK: Senior post
Autumn Moorcroft has played some of her best basketball in recent games with double-figure scoring in six of her last seven games.
ABOUT CORBAN: The Warriors, with a 7-7 overall record, picked up their first conference win of the season against five losses in their last outing at Walla Walla, and thus they sit in ninth place in the CCC standings. They average 67.7 points and allow 62.8 per game, and they are on the positive side by 4.6 rebounds per game. Corban shoots the ball at .435 percent, second best in the CCC, and it ranks second with 15.2 assists per game. Senior forward Maddey Pflaumer leads the Warriors with 17.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game and she ranks right behind Evergreen's
Gabi Fenumiai with a .581 field goal percentage. Other standouts are senior forward Sadie Pilgeram with 11.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, senior forward Payton Wilcox with 10.5 points per game, and junior guard Maci Benedick with 4.2 assists and 1.9 steals per contest.
SINCE 2007-08: Looking back through online statistics reports dating back to the 2007-08 season, Evergreen has won seven of 19 games played against Corban. The Geoducks swept the Warriors last year, winning 59-56 at home and 59-49 in Salem.
ABOUT NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN: The Beacons provide an interesting challenge in that, while they are 4-2 and tied for fourth in the conference standings, they have been outscored by an average of 6.3 points per game and outrebounded by 4.7 per contest. Those are overall season numbers, however, so one shouldn't put a lot of stock in those numbers. NCU averages only 15.9 turnovers per game, nearly three less than its opponents, but with just 10.2 assists per game it ranks last among the 11 CCC teams in that category. A pair of junior guards are the team leaders. Monique Thompson averages 15.8 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game, and Niki Duncan chips in 12.2 points per game while shooting nearly 35 percent from three-point range. Hanna Mack is a 6-4 senior center who leads the CCC with 1.5 blocks per game, and she is her team's rebounding leader with 5.2 per contest.
RECENT RESULTS: Dating back to the 2007-08 season, Evergreen has won 12 of 18 games played against the Beacons. Last year, however, NCU swept aside the Geoducks, winning 69-57 in Olympia and 67-42 in Eugene.
COLLEGE OF IDAHO 82, EVERGREEN 66: The visiting Coyotes dictated the game's tempo in racing to a 16-point win in a game played last Friday night in Costantino Recreation Center.
Gabi Fenumiai led the Geoducks with 19 points and seven rebounds.
EASTERN OREGON 70, EVERGREEN 38: Nationally ranked EOU outscored Evergreen by 20 points in the third quarter last Saturday in Costantino Recreation Center to remain unbeaten in conference play.
Corina Tacardon scored 14 points to lead the Geoducks.
LINFIELD 64, EVERGREEN 60: The Geoducks built a 24-point lead in the second quarter but couldn't fend off Linfield's second half rally in a game played Monday night in Costantino Recreation Center. The Wildcats finished off the rally by outscoring Evergreen, 24-10, in the game's final 10 minutes.
Gabi Fenumiai scored 15 points before fouling out late in the game.
