WBB: Northwest Conference

[bballfan05]

I agree.....Fox is still definitely the team to beat, but I would be surprised if UPS finished third. They lost their coach and their best player who averaged 20 pts. thats a huge lose. I think LC and Whitman will be the other two competitors for those top 3 spots.

[bballfan05]

–

 

Defending Champion George Fox is Picked to Repeat

 

Spokane, Wash. - George Fox University, which has won or shared four straight Northwest Conference women's basketball titles, has been picked by conference coaches as the favorite to finish atop the conference standings again in 2010-11.

 

The Bruins picked up five of nine first place votes and tallied 81 of 90 possible points in the poll.  George Fox, under first-year head coach Michael Meek, returns First Team All-NWC guard Keisha Gordon and First Team All-NWC post Hannah Munger among three starters.

 

Lewis & Clark College is second in the poll with 71 points and picked up two of the other first place votes.  The Pioneers look forward to the return of First Team All-NWC guard Christina Herring and Second Team All-NWC guard Kristina Williams.

 

Whitman College (62 points) is third in the poll and received the other two first place votes.  The Missionaries battled through an injury-plagued 2009-10 season and will look to sophomore point guard Kelly Peterson to lead the way.

 

The University of Puget Sound is fourth in the poll with 54 points.  The Loggers also have a new coach in Loree Payne.  UPS will look to Second Team All-NWC guard Jocelyn Riordan to step in for Claire Ely, who graduated as the 2010 NWC Player of the Year.

 

Whitworth University is fifth in the poll with 44 points.  The Pirates do not return any starters from 2009-10, when they tied for third place.

 

Pacific Lutheran University (37 points) is sixth.  Six-foot post Traci Goehri will anchor the Lutes in the middle this season.

 

Linfield College (26 points) and Pacific University (25) are seventh and eighth in the poll, respectively.  Robin Potera-Haskins of Linfield is the third new head coach in the NWC this season and Second Team All-NWC forward Gretchen Owens returns for the Wildcats.  Likewise, Second Team All-NWC forward Julianne Erbe is back to lead the Boxers.

 

Willamette University (15) is ninth in the poll.  Senior guard Alex Zennan will look to lead the Bearcats up the standings this winter.

 

The Northwest Conference will use a conference tournament, comprised of the top four teams in the final regular season standings, to decide the automatic (Pool A) bid to the NCAA tournament.

 

The season officially gets underway on November 15th.

 

2010-11 Women's Basketball Coaches Pre-Season Poll:

                                                                                09-10     09-10

School                                   (1st)       Pts.        All           NWC

George Fox (Ore.)           (5)          81           28-3       16-0

Lewis & Clark (Ore.)        (2)          71           16-10     10-6

Whitman (Wash.)            (2)          62           12-13     7-9

Puget Sound (Wash.)                     54           24-5       14-2

Whitworth (Wash.)                         44           14-12     10-6

Pacific Lutheran (Wash.)               38           7-18       5-11

Linfield (Ore.)                                    26           6-19       4-12

Pacific (Ore.)                                      25           7-16       4-12

Willamette (Ore.)                            15           4-21       2-14

(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on 10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis).

 

=

[Lutefisk]

"Six-foot post Traci Goehri will anchor the Lutes in the middle this season."


Uhhh, Traci graduated last year.

[Lutefisk]

Also should note that Micha Pringle is big time addition for Linfield.

[Lutefisk]

Linfield is moving up....  clearly now likely to beat plu.

[Lutefisk]

In the words of Pink Floyd: is there anyone out there?

[Pat Coleman]

Good question -- don't give up, though.

[Bird Dog]

It's been slow all over.  Hopefully it will pick up after the holidays and when the league championships and tournaments pick up. 

[Lutefisk]

Good Job LC beating such a good George Fox team.  Also good job to the lutes for ending the losing streak with such a strong win over Whitworth.  If the Lutes can shoot like that the rest of the year, they might make a little noise in the NWC.

[bballfan05]

How did LC beat Fox? Was anyone at the game? Who shut down munger and gordon?

[Lutefisk]

Don't know how LC beat Fox..... But it looks like an interesting year given that LC lost to Whitworth.  Who in turn got blown out by PLU.  But then Whitworth comes back to beat UPS.... And Linfield is exceeding expectations... Should be an interesting 6 weeks.

[Lutefisk]

Good competition within the league is hurting the league in the national rankings....

[Lutefisk]

Uncle!!!

[BruinFan]

Game at UPS vs. LC tonight will determine which team finishes the first half on top. George Fox had better be ready for Linfield as that does not appear to be a gimme.

If GF does win today, then it will be a battle to the end between UPS, LC, GF for the conference regular season title. GF will have both teams at home in the 2nd half - advantage Bruins.

I think the conference is down this year and I will be surprised if any team from the NWC gets to the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament. I hope it happens, but will need to see some improvement during the next 4-5 weeks.

[Handles]

So BruinFan.....Do you think the conference is down simply because your precious Bruins have now lost 2 conference games this year?? The Loggers really took it to them last night!!   Personally, I think the conference is young and with youth anything can happen on any night.  Plus, with several new coaches each team takes on a different mentality than what everyone is used to seeing.  The league is exciting for sure