Wolves Wednesday Report- Wolves End the Year at Home
Paul Starkebaum, Sports Information Director
College Place, Wash. – The Wolves host Corban University and Northwestern Christian this weekend in basketball in Walla Walla's first games back from the Christmas Break. Elsewhere around the Cascade Conference, teams are entering their third weekend of conference play.
Women's Basketball
Friday, December 30, 12:00 p.m. (RV) Northwest Christian University (6-6, 3-2)
On Friday the Wolves will face the 11
th place Corban University Warriors. The Warriors came into league play with a 5-2 record, including three wins and no losses over the Cal-Pac conference. Since then, they have not had a conference win, but that have played close games with #5 Southern Oregon University and lost to (RV) Northwest Christian University by only 7 points. The Warriors are led in scoring by senior forward, Maddey Pflaumer, whose 16.7 ppg make her the 3
rd leading scorer in the conference. Maddey is an effective scorer around the basket, and also grabs almost 7 rebounds per game. Their second leading scorer is senior forward, Sadie Pilgeram. She averages 11.5 ppg and balances out Maddey's inside presence with a strong perimeter game. She shoots 33.3% from deep on the season, but over the last three games, Sadie has made 8 of 16 attempts. Despite their struggles in conference play, Corban still has a positive scoring margin (+1.4) and allows a very stingy 63.2 points per game. The Wolves can expect a team hungry for conference success in their match-up on Friday.
Saturday, December 31, 5:30 p.m. Corban University (6-7, 0-5)
Coming off their win on December 20 over Corban University, the Beacons already have three conference wins this season. Their only two conference losses are to undefeated Southern Oregon and Eastern Oregon. Northwest Christian has two junior guards who create a lot of scoring opportunities for their team. Monique Thompson leads the team in scoring at 16.4 ppg and she does so by getting to the basket. Monique has already shot 75 free throws this season, and the majority of her shot attempts are from inside the arc. Her counterpart is Niki Duncan, who averages 11.8 ppg. Niki has taken almost two-thirds of her shot attempts from beyond the three-point line, and she shoots it at 34.9%. Between Niki and Monique they have 62 of the team's 124 total assists on the season. Northwest Christian has five other players who score over 5 ppg, so expect those talented guards to not only create shots for themselves, but to setup their teammates as well. The Wolves will see how they stack up to the Beacons on Saturday night.
Men's Basketball
Friday, December 30, 2:00 p.m. #7 Northwest Christian University (9-3, 3-2)
Do not let the Warriors conference record fool you, this is a team that has lost four conference games by an average of 6.5 points, with all of those losses to the four teams that currently sit on the top of the conference standings. Corban averages 90.3 points per game and they shoot 48.7% from the field. The Warriors rebound the ball well, as a team, and they limit turnovers. Five Warriors are scoring in double figures, led by junior guard, Chris Martin, who scores 15.5 ppg and shoots just a hair under 40% from the three-point line. Chris averages 3.5 assists per game, and against College of Idaho he had 7 assists. Big man Joel Johnson is second on the team in scoring with 14.9 ppg and a nation leading field goal percentage of 72.7% from the field. Joel also pulls down 6.6 rebounds per game. Corban has 12 players averaging over 10 minutes per game and their balanced rebounding numbers speak to their excellence on the boards overall as a team. The Wolves can expect a team that likes to put up the points and create extra possessions with their effort on the boards.
Saturday, December 31, 7:30 p.m. Corban University (8-7, 1-4)
When looking at the success the Beacons have had this season, it all starts with their defense. Kylor Kelley leads the nation in blocked shots with 5.6 per game and as a team they give up a stingy 67.2 points per game. They feature a scoring margin of +15.4 and their opponents are only shooting 27.3% from the three-point line. On offense they are efficient, having shot the second fewest three-point field goals, in conference (208 attempts), but averaging the third best percentage overall (38.5%). Their league leading defensive rebounding is led by senior forward, Jay Mayernik, who pulls down 12.7 rebounds per game, currently tops in the country. Jay also leads the team in scoring (15.7 ppg) and already has seven double-doubles on the season, including a 22 & 12 performance in an 82-77 win over Corban University in the team's last game. The Beacons have five other players averaging double figures in scoring. Those five players space the floor for Northwest Christian as they shoot a combined 41.4% from the three-point line and nearly 50% from the field. The Beacons are a very tough inside-out team, who limit opponent's attempts with tough rebounding and take away open three-point attempts.
Be sure to check in this weekend for results from the games and Go Wolves!
For the Men's Basketball Schedule CLICK HERE
For the Women's Basketball Schedule CLICK HERE
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