The Puget Sound women’s basketball team has had a great start to their season so far with a four game winning streak. This past weekend on Saturday, Dec. 1 and Sunday, Dec. 2 the Loggers participated in the Hampton Inn Classic in Santa Cruz, Calif. The Loggers won both games, pushing them to 6-1 overall as they head into their conference games next weekend.
In Saturday’s game the Loggers faced off against La Verne for their first game at the Hampton Inn Classic. It was an easy win for the Loggers as they bounced back from an early 7-0 hole to win 59-46. They smothered La Verne defensively throughout the game, allowing them to shoot an impressively low 29 percent from the field.
The defense did its best work from beyond the three-point line, as they limited La Verne to only five successful three-pointers on 28 attempts. During the game the Loggers never gave La Verne a chance to take control of the action.
Overall, it was an impressive performance against La Verne offensively and defensively, giving the Loggers their fifth win this season.
Senior Kelsey McKinnis (Ashland, Ore.) led the Loggers once again, scoring 19 points for the team with seven rebounds as well. Freshman Emily Sheldon (Portland, Ore.) scored nine points, while senior Sarah Stewart (Burlington, Wash.) had 10 rebounds with a majority coming from the defensive end.
This win allowed the Loggers to face off against UC Santa Cruz— the hosts of the tournament—on Sunday.
The game against UC Santa Cruz was important on many levels for the Loggers, but most importantly because they lost their only game of the season against UC Santa Cruz during the Loggers’ season opener.
Their game on Sunday was a very different story, however. Once the first half of the game concluded, the Loggers were almost 20 points ahead of UC Santa Cruz, leading 39-20. During the second half UC Santa Cruz attempted to come back, but it still was not enough to catch up to the Loggers. Going into the game there was a lot of pressure for the Loggers to win, but they easily pulled through and won the game 70-52.
The Puget Sound women’s basketball team begins its conference season games tonight, Friday, Dec. 7 against Whitman and tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 8 against Whitworth.
