LACEY, Wash./SALEM, Ore. – The Western Oregon University women's basketball team will play in two different states to open the 2021-22 regular season. The Wolves will face #25 Hawaii Pacific in Lacey, Wash., this Thursday at 3 p.m. and then against Willamette in Salem on Sunday starting at 2 p.m.
WOU played an exhibition game at home on Nov. 2 picking up the 71-61 victory against Lewis & Clark. It was a big game for Kaelin Williams-Kennedy who went for 18 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists. Cali McClave added 11 points, four rebounds and three steals and Casandra White gave the Wolves three in double-figures with 10 points and four rebounds.
WOU finished the 2019-20 season strong with an 89-52 win over Alaska. It was Senior Night for Shariah Green and she led the way with 17 points. Returner Tresai McCarver added 16 points and Keyonna Jones gave the team three in double-figures at 15 points. A few other returners on this year's team saw time in that game including Alexis Wright who scored eight points, Amber Winkler who added six points and seven rebounds and Meadow Aragon added four points and six rebounds. For the season, WOU picked up five wins at home that included a double-overtime win over Western Washington.
Top-scorer Jones concluded her career at WOU during the 2019-20 season leading the team in points per game (11), shot 44 percent from the field and added 79 rebounds, 65 assists and 20 steals in 25 games. Shariah Green also finished up her career that season and averaged 10.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, shot 46 percent from the field and added 11 blocks in 27 games. The next two scorers from that year are back in McCarver and Cali McClave. McCarver averaged 8.7 points and 3.9 rebounds, along with 71 assists, 30 steals and connected on 23 three-pointers in 27 games. McClave played right away as a true freshman and averaged 6.4 points and 3.4 rebounds, along with 38 steals and made 30 three-pointers.
Aragon is back after a true freshman campaign as well in which she played in 27 games, averaging 4.3 points and 4.1 rebounds, along with 22 blocks, 19 steals and shot 45 percent from the field. Amber Winkler returns after playing in 27 games and averaging 4.1 points and 4.3 rebounds, along with 50 blocks, 34 assists and 14 steals. Alexis Wright is back after seeing time in 26 games, tallying 3.1 points per game and pulled down 33 rebounds, three blocks and shot 49 percent from the field. Kaelin Williams-Kennedy is back this year as well, as she was on the team in 2019-20, but was a redshirt season.
Joining this year's team will be a big group of freshmen including Erika Glenn, Caitlin Wheeler, Ana McClave, Madisyn Clark, Kylee Arzner, Kilyn Dawkins and Averi Young. Transfer Jewel "Princy" Paaluhi-Caulk joins the team after playing for Concordia (OR) her first season. Other transfers include Casandra White who played her first two seasons and Peninsula CC and Makenna Gambee who will play as a graduate student after playing four seasons at Hawaii Pacific.
Hawaii Pacific opened the season with an exhibition game at Hawaii falling by just 10, 86-76. Tavia Rowell had a big game going for a game-high 29 points, while Julia Razo added 15 points. The Sharks connected on 14 three-pointers.
WOU and Hawaii Pacific have played each other three times since 2011 with the Sharks holding a 2-1 edge. The last two meetings were in Monmouth during the 2012-13 season with WOU winning the first game by 12 and Hawaii Pacific coming back for a four-point win two days later. HPU went 29-1 during the 2019-20 season, advancing to the NCAA Regional Tournament before it was canceled by COVID and then went 13-1 during the shortened 2020-21 season where they advanced to the first round of the NCAA Regional Tournament.
Third-leading scorer from the 2019-20 season is back for the Sharks in Amy Baum who averaged 12.3 points per game. Gambee played for Hawaii Pacific during the shortened 2020-21 season where she averaged 7.1 points and 4.6 rebounds.
WOU will close the weekend with a short trip down the road to Salem to face Willamette on Sunday. WOU is 2-1 in the series since 2006, winning the past two meetings. The last game came in 2013-14 with WOU winning by 25. The last meeting in Salem was in 2012 with the Wolves taking the 18-point victory. Willamette went 13-12 during the 2019-20 season.
So far this year, the Bearcats are 1-0 in official games having defeated Multnomah, 73-66, this past Monday in Salem. They also played two exhibition games defeating Corban (56-47) and falling at Portland (79-35). In the game against Multnomah, Sami Riggs led Willamette with 17 points and seven rebounds, as four Bearcats scored in double-figures. Ava Kitchin added 15 points and nine rebounds. Willamette returns two of their top three scorers from 2019-20 in Riggs who averaged 9.9 points and Kitchin who averaged eight points per game.
Live video and stats will be available for both games.
For the Hawaii Pacific game: Live video can be found here and live stats can be found here.
For the Willamette game: Live video can be found here and live stats can be found here.
