Women's Basketball | 11/6/2013 9:35:00 PM

MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon University women's basketball team hosts the sixth annual WOU/Doubletree by Hilton D2 Shootout Friday and Saturday. The Wolves welcome a trio of teams for the regular season-opening contests.

Fellow Great Northwest Athletic Conference member Saint Martin's University (Wash.), Academy of Art (Calif.) and Notre Dame de Namur (Calif.) round out this year's field. The two latter teams play in the PacWest Conference. This is the 20th edition of the tournament dating back to the Wolfpack Classic in 1990. This is just the sixth season the tournament has featured a women's field.

The Wolves will play the first and second games of a seven game homestand to begin the regular season. WOU plays Notre Dame de Namur on Friday at 7 p.m., and Academy of Art at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Western Oregon fans will have their first look at the Wolves under new head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter.

Saint Martin's enters the season returning four starts and nine letterwinners from a team that finished 12-16 overall and 5-13 in the GNAC last season. SMU was picked eighth in the conference preseason poll. A scoring offense that ranked last in the GNAC with 55.1 points per game led to a scoring margin of -5.9. The Saints were good from 3-point range, notching a percentage of .332, but shot just .368 overall from the floor, the lowest in the conference.

Chelsea Haskey, who led the squad with 14 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest, provides SMU with a legitimate senior leader and all-conference caliber player. Haskey also notched 28 steals and 23 blocks in 2012-13, and her field- goal percentage of .470 was eighth-best in the GNAC. MacKenzie Taylor provides depth in the rebounding department, as she hauled in 5.9 per game while also averaging 5.9 points last season. Jori Skorpik facilitated the Saints' offense in 2012-13 as the point guard, dishing out 62 assists and contributing 43 steals, both team-highs. Jordyn Richardson is the Saints' top returning shooter, as she nailed 41-of-111 shots from long-distance for a percentage of .369.

Notre Dame de Namur returns after a 5-21 season in 2012-13. The Argos welcome back Taylor Dewees for her junior season. Last year, she averaged 8.9 points per game. Jasmine Waiters led NDNU with 107 assists last season. The senior is the leading returning rebounder as well after a 4.8 average in 2012-13. As a team, the Argos were outscored 71-54 and outrebounded 46-39 last season.

Academy of Art returns a large core of the squad who in 2012-13 defeated multiple ranked teams, won nine in a row en route to the PacWest Tournament Championship, and made the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance. In just its first year of post-season eligibility, Academy of Art showed it could hang with national contenders like No. 17 Pittsburg State, whom the Knights knocked off 82-73 in the Las Vegas Challenge, and No. 13 Grand Canyon, whom ART U put away 63-55 in overtime and later defeated again in the PacWest Championship Tournament.

A youth-heavy class features just one senior, Alisa Griggs, and three juniors, Madeline Martin, Molly O'Brien, and Sherelle Williams. Griggs was a key reserve for the Knights last season after an injury, playing an efficient 14 minutes per game with averages of nearly eight points and five rebounds and the highest field goal percentage on the team. O'Brien is a transfer from Wichita State. Regina Camera was PacWest Tournament Team in addition to registering over 10 points and two steals per game.

Fans can watch all four games for only $10 with the tournament pass. Single-game tickets are $6. Take advantage now and purchase the pass online at WOUWolves.com. The first game is Saint Martin's versus Academy of Art at 5 p.m. Friday, followed by WOU and Notre Dame de Namur. Saturday, SMU plays Notre Dame de Namur at 12 p.m., followed by the Wolves and Academy of Art. The pass will also be available for purchase at the door Friday. Live video and stats will be available for Friday's games, with live stats available for Saturday's games, on WOUWolves.com.