COMING UP: Evergreen (0-3 overall) opens its 2018-19 Cascade Collegiate Conference schedule this weekend at home against the Warner Pacific University Knights and the Multnomah University Lions. The Geoducks play the Knights on Friday night and the Lions on Saturday night inside Costantino Recreation Center with both games scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m.

FOLLOW THE GEODUCKS: Evergreen basketball fans unable to attend home games can still follow their favorite team through live stats (http://sidearmstats.com/evergreen/wbball/xlive.htm) or pay-per-view video stream (https://portal.stretchinternet.com/evergreen/#).

ABOUT THE GEODUCKS: Evergreen is off to a slow start this season with three road losses against NCAA Division III opponents in Oregon. The Geoducks average 58.7 points and allow 68.7 per game, and are also behind in rebounding average per game, 34.0 to 41.0. Senior forward Deidra Miller is off to a strong start this season, averaging 17.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. After a slow start in the first two games, senior guard Alexcis Higginbotham had a great game against Pacific and now averages 11.7 points per game. Junior post Merrily Jones contributes 10.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game for the Geoducks.

ABOUT WARNER PACIFIC: The Knights (3-2 overall) are a high-scoring team with an average of 75.0 points per game compared to 73.8 for their opponents. Much like Evergreen, Warner Pacific trails in the rebounding game, averaging 35.0 per game compared to 42.0 for their foes. The scoring leader is sophomore guard Gabriella Bruno with 17.0 points per game, while senior guard Deepika Kapil chips in with 9.8 points and 8.6 boards per contest.

RECENT RESULTS: Warner Pacific has won 13 of the 23 meetings between the two teams dating back to the 2007-08 season, though the Geoducks have won six of the past nine. Last year, Evergreen won at Warner, 67-57, before the Knights returned the favor in Olympia by a 62-53 score. 

ABOUT MULTNOMAH: The Lions (4-3 overall) who play at Northwest University in Kirkland on Friday night, have gotten off to a solid start despite a 0-2 road record. Multnomah averages 69.3 points and 44.9 rebounds per game compared to averages of 62.9 points and 41.4 rebounds for their opponents. Junior guard Sequoia Wheeler is the team's scoring leader with an average of 15.1 points per game, while 6-6 junior forward Erykah Campbell puts up 9.1 rebounds and a NAIA Division II-leading 3.8 blocks per game.

RECENT RESULTS: Evergreen has won six of the seven games between the two clubs since Multnomah joined the conference prior to the 2015-16 season. The Geoducks swept the Lions last season, winning 67-48 in Portland and 72-40 at home.

PACIFIC 70, EVERGREEN 62: Alexcis Higginbotham scored 23 points but Evergreen scored just nine points in the fourth quarter in falling to the Pacific Boxers, 70-62, last Saturday afternoon in Forest Grove, Ore.

ABOUT THE HEAD COACH: Gil Rigell is in his third season – his second full campaign – after guiding last year's team to the conference postseason tournament. For 10 seasons, Rigell was a highly successful women's basketball head coach at Pacific Lutheran, leading his teams to an overall 196-69 record and five outright or shared Northwest Conference championships from 1997-2007. His PLU teams participated in six national tournaments, twice advancing to NCAA Division III Elite Eight status.

CCC PRESEASON POLL: The Evergreen women's basketball program came out in eighth place in the annual preseason poll of Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball head coaches. The Geoducks, who advanced to the conference postseason tournament a season ago by virtue of their 8-12 record and eighth-place finish in the standings, received 49 total points in the voting. Warner Pacific finished ninth in the balloting with 43 points, followed by Multnomah in 10th with 19 points.