Whitworth tips off at home

The Whitworth men’s and women’s basketball teams open their seasons tonight at Whitworth Fieldhouse, and both teams bring three new starters into programs that earned their way into the NCAA Division III tournaments last season.

Coach Matt Logie must replace All-American Dustin McConnell and All-Northwest Conference pick Colton McCargar from last season’s team that finished 23-6 and won the conference title for the fifth consecutive time.

The Pirates, who are ranked No. 17 by D3hoops.com, play D’Youville College, of Buffalo, N.Y. The Spartans finished 1-24 last season.

Logie said he expects to start 6-foot junior Matt Staudacher, who transferred from Simon Fraser, at point guard. Logie will play 6-1 Kionte Brown (Shadle Park) at shooting guard and will bring in 6-1 guard Kenny Love as the first player off the bench.

The other starters are leading returning scorer Christian Jurlina, a 6-5 sophomore from Sydney, Australia; senior 6-8 post Taylor Farnsworth (Mead); and 6-4 junior forward George Valle.

“We’ll have the luxury of putting different offensive threats on the floor and still maintain good perimeter defense,” said Logie, who is 75-14 in three seasons. “We’ve tried to prioritize our defensive identity to start and finish games.”

Higgs excited

Like Logie, women’s coach Helen Higgs has to replace three starters, including leading scorer Kayla Johnson. The Pirates are hosts to Eastern Oregon tonight.

The Pirates finished 21-8 last year and earned a bid to the NCAA tournament by knocking off Whitman in the conference championship.

D3hoops.com has the Pirates ranked No. 20 while Whitman is ranked No. 2.

Whitworth will be led by returning starting guards Lexie Zappone and KC McConnell.

“We are excited to play somebody to find our depth and our rotation,” Higgs said. “We are trying to find the best combination to play solidly both offensively and defensively.”

Higgs, who has a career mark of 305-207 in 20 years, said other players to watch include 5-5 senior guard Kendra Knutsen (Shadle Park), 5-9 senior forward Katara Belton-Sharp (Ferris), 5-9 senior forward Jessica Kramer, 5-8 junior guard Alexis McLeod and 5-8 junior forward JoJo Nicolas.