Whitworth women remain undefeated
There’s a reason the Whitworth women’s basketball team is ranked as high as 19th in the NCAA Division III polls.
Four reasons in fact.
The Pirates’ four seniors.
The quartet – Tiffany Speer, Sarah Shogren, Wenchi Lui and Dani Bielec – showed their talents Wednesday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse. The immediate result: The Pirates raised their record to 8-0 with a 78-68 win over Carroll College of Helena, Mont., in the Quality Inn Whit Classic.
In the night’s opener, Concordia College of Moorhead, Minn., rallied to defeat tourney co-host Whitman, 56-47.
The stat lines for the Pirates’ four seniors were impressive, with Shogren leading the way with 27 poiints and 14 rebounds. But shooting guard Bielec’s was also eye-catching (20 points, 3 of 6 from beyond the arc, five rebounds and assists), as she also filled in at the point while Lui battled early foul trouble.
Despite the handicap of playing with three first-half fouls, Lui added seven assists and turned the ball over just twice.
“We have a lot of firepower,” Shogren said. “We’ve played together so long, we know each other so well, when someone is having an off night, we can support her.”
Speer, the team’s leading scorer (22.6 coming in) and a preseason All-American, struggled with early foul trouble as well, compounded that with a 5-of-10 night at the free-throw line (she came in shooting 88 percent) but still finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Plus the senior forward took her turn guarding Carroll’s leading scorer Emili Woody. The Saints’ post worked her way to 18 points and 13 rebounds – eight on the offensive end – but hit just 6 of 18 shots. Andrea Hall came off the bench to pace Carroll (12-4 and ranked 12th in the NAIA Division I rankings) with 22 points, though 12 of those came in the final 3 minutes, 27 seconds after Whitworth led by 12.
The Pirates had built an edge late in the first half on two 3-pointers by Bielec, weathered a Saints’ second-half rally when Lui banked home a 3-pointer and center Kristie Coppin followed a Bielec air-ball with a layup, and hit enough free throws done the stretch to stay unbeaten.
“We didn’t have much chance to prepare,” Whitworth coach Helen Higgs said of her team’s slow start. “It took us a while to adjust to their pressure. We wanted to keep the court spread and make back cuts and when we started to do that, it made a difference.
“This team is so easy to coach because they’ve played for me for so long, they know what I want and what to do.”
Central Valley’s Katie Rodgers and her Community Colleges of Spokane teammate Carly Syverson both started for the Saints, though Rodgers was scoreless and Syverson had six points and four assists before fouling out.
The Pirates were playing a little short, with freshman Holly Ridings, from Shadle Park High, still hobbled by a sprained ankle suffered a couple of weeks ago. Ridings has been coming off the bench, averaging 18 minutes and 4.3 points per game.
Concordia 56, Whitman 47: The co-host Missionaries jumped in front 13-0 in the first game, frittered that away before halftime, then went cold in the second half before falling. Whitman from Walla Walla, one of the Northwest Conference preseason favorites, dropped to 5-3 despite the 18 points of Katie Patneaude and the 13 of Lizzy Washburn, who added eight rebounds.
The Cobbers, members of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, moved to 4-2 with the victory. They had four players in double figures, including 13 from shooting guard Anne Keeley and 11 each from preseason All-American point guard Mandy Pearson, post Melanie Hagerman and guard Jamie Visness.
Whitman and Whitworth switch opponents tonight, though the times stay the same.
Whitworth 78, Carroll (Mont.) 68
Carroll (12-4) – Woody 6-17 5-8 18, Rodgers 0-3 0-2 0, High 5-12 1-2 13, Syverson 2-7 0-0 6, Fuzesy 1-7 0-0 2, Shaw 0-3 0-0 0, Jensen 0-2 0-0 0, Priddy 0-1 3-4 3, Tomco 0-1 0-0 0, Bromiley 2-6 0-0 4, Hall 7-13 5-6 22. Totals 23-72 14-22 68.
Whitworth (8-0) – Speer 4-8 5-10 14, Shogren 12-15 2-3 27, Coppin 3-9 1-4 7, Liu 2-5 2-5 7, Bielec 5-10 7-8 20, Gradley 0-1 0-0 0, Zeitler 0-0 0-0 0, Hendrickson 1-4 0-0 3. Totals 27-52 17-30 78.
Halftime—Whitworth 33, Carroll 24. 3-point goals—Carroll 8-26 (Hall 3-6, Syverson 2-4, High 2-6, Woody 1-4, Shaw 0-2, Fuzesy 0-4). Whitworth 7-15 (Bielec 3-6, Shogren 1-1, Liu 1-1, Hendrickson 1-2, Speer 1-4). Fouled out—Syverson, Bromiley. Rebounds—Carroll 42 (Woody 13), Whitworth 43 (Shogren 14). Assists—Carroll 11 (Syverson 4), Whitworth 21 (Liu 7). Total fouls—Carroll 27, Whitworth 16. A—250.