MONMOUTH, Ore.—After going 2-0 at home during the Hampton Inn DII Shootout last week, the Western Oregon women's basketball team will play its first road game of the season with a Friday contest at Notre Dame de Namur. The Wolves will return home with an early week game against Humboldt State on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
ABOUT NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR: The Argonauts opened the year with a 1-1 record and will face Humboldt State on Wednesday before facing the Wolves... NDNU fell to Sonoma State, 68-58 in the season opener and defeated Chico State, 82-80… The Argos went 15-13 overall last season with a 13-8 mark in the PacWest, seeing their season end with a 95-60 loss to Azusa Pacific in the first round of the PacWest Tournament as the No. 4 seed... The Argonauts were picked to finish seventh out of 14 teams, according to the PacWest Preseason Poll… NDNU returns three of its top four scorers from last season in senior guard Marissa Caballero (16.1 ppg), junior forward Jerusha Paine (13.0 ppg) and senior guard Aubrey Mendonca (7.7 ppg).
ABOUT HUMBOLDT STATE: The Lumberjacks have started the season 0-2 with losses to a pair of GNAC teams last weekend… HSU fell to Seattle Pacific, 69-49, and to Western Washington, 54-50, while playing in Fresno… The team went 8-19 last season and 7-13 in CCAA contests… The 'Jacks were picked to place 10th out of 13 teams according to the CCAA Preseason Poll… HSU averaged 56.3 points while giving up 65.8 points per game last season… Sophomore guard Tyra Turner returns to lead the Lumberjacks after leading the team with 11.8 points per game… Second-leading scorer senior guard Catherine Rees (9.5 ppg) also returns.
TICKETS: Single game tickets for WOU basketball games are $7 for adults and $5 for seniors and students... WOU students receive free entry to all regular-season WOU athletic events with a student ID... Contact the WOU box office at 503-838-8917 for information regarding season tickets >>>
Single Game Tickets
HAMPTON INN RECAP: The Wolves went 2-0 to start the year for the second straight season with an 81-70 win over Dixie State in the season opener followed by a 70-50 victory against Cal State San Bernardino while hosting the Hampton Inn DII Shootout on Nov. 11-12…
Sydney Azorr led the team with 13.- points per game in the opening weekend and was immediately followed by
Shelby Snook (12.5 ppg).. Snook also grabbed 8.0 rebounds per game over the weekend while
Kaylie Boschma posted an even 8.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in the two contests… The Wolves were steady at the free throw line in the opening weekend, hitting 48-of-58 for an 82.8 percent conversion rate,
SEVEN RE-UP: The Wolves top seven scorers from the 2016-17 season all return to the club this year with
Shelby Snook (13.6 ppg) and
Sydney Azorr (10.0) averaging double figures… Snook's average was good for No. 8 in the GNAC listings… Overall, WOU returns 1,438 of the 1,660 points (86.6 percent) from last year's team.
HIGH SCORERS: Six different players led the team or tied for the team lead in points in games last season…
Shelby Snook led the team with 13 games where she led the team in scoring and was followed by
Kaylie Boschma (5),
Jasmine Miller (5),
Savannah Heugly (3),
Sydney Azorr (3) and
Ali Nelke (2).
FOR STARTERS: Of the 135 starting spots from last year over the course of the team's 27 games, 128 are returning this season (94.9 percent)… The lone senior last season, guard
Launia Davis, started seven contests and averaged 3.3 points and 1.2 rebounds per game… Four players started at least 20 games a year ago:
Shelby Snook (24),
Kaylie Boschma (23),
Jasmine Miller (22) and
Ali Nelke (22) while
Sydney Azorr was called on for 19 starts.
SNOOK GOES FOR 30: Shelby Snook recorded 31 points against Saint Martin's on Dec. 3, 2016 for a WOU single-game high a year ago… The total tied for the fourth most in a single game by a GNAC player last season… Snook connected on 10-of-17 from the field and 5-of-7 from 3-point range in the 70-56 win over the Saints... Snook reached the mark again with 30 points at MSU Billings on Jan. 14 where she converted 8-of-15 attempts from deep… Her eight makes from beyond the 3-point line was a GNAC single-game high… Snook was one of only four players in the GNAC to record multiple 30-point games last season.
AZORR FOR THREE: Sydney Azorr made at least two 3-pointers in 10 separate games a year ago, including at least four makes on three occasions… Azorr hit a season-best five 3-point attempts at home against Concordia on Feb. 7.
PRESEASON ALL-GNAC: Senior guard
Sydney Azorr was one of 15 players selected to the 2017-18 Preseason All-GNAC Team... Nine guards were chosen out of the top 15 players in the league with all but three honorees entering their senior season.
2017-18 GNAC PRESEASON POLL: The Wolves were picked to finish in ninth place according to the GNAC Preseason Coaches' Poll… Picking up six first-place votes, Alaska Anchorage was chosen to repeat as conference champions after going 30-2 overall and 20-0 in GNAC play a year ago… Also picking up first-place votes were: Seattle Pacific (2), Central Washington (2) and Northwest Nazarene (1).
2016-17 REVIEW: The Wolves ended last year with an 8-19 overall record and a 4-16 record in GNAC play to place 10th in the league standings… were ranked ninth in the GNAC after scoring 61.5 points per game while also ranked ninth by allowing 69.9 points per contest.
