For the Pacific University women’s basketball team, the 2013-2014 season did not go as well as planned, but there’s hope for next season to be even better.
The Boxers finished with an 8-16 overall record going 4-12 in Northwest Conference play to finish seventh in the standings.
After starting the season off on the right foot with a lopsided 86-56 win against Walla Walla University on Nov. 21, 2013, the Boxers just weren’t able to sustain momentum moving forward.
One of the season’s highlights came on the last home game of the season. Taking on the Linfield College Wildcats on Feb. 21 for this year’s Spirit Night and Senior Game, the Boxers were relentless all the way to the end.
Wanting to send the seniors out on a good note, the Boxers came back to erase a seven-point first-half deficit. To open the second the half, the Boxers came out strong with a 9-2 run to tie it up 38-38. From there, the lead changed five times with six ties and the biggest lead being only six points. But the Boxers never looked back. For the last 12:50 of the game, the Wildcats were never able to regain the lead as the Boxers slugged it out to a 74-73 win.
Playing their last games in a Boxer uniform were seniors Alex Pfefferle, Kati Sheldon and Annette Highley.
A 2012-2013 All-NWC Honorable Mention, Pfefferle led the team in three-point shots made, assists and had the highest free throw percentage.
Overall, the Boxers were a very good team shooting from the free-throw line. Having shot 72 percent, the Boxers finished ranked No. 3 in the NWC and No. 77 in all of Division III.
Setting record highs, the Boxers finished their Jan. 4 game against Whitman University going perfect with 13 of 13 shots made from the free-throw line.
This set a new single game record which passed the previous mark of .914 set back during the 1990-91 season.
The Boxers repeated their perfect performance going 12 of 12 from the free-throw line on Jan. 17 against Lewis & Clark College.
With the exception of the team’s three seniors, the future is looking bright in terms of basketball for next season.
This year’s team comprised of 10 juniors including All-NWC Honorable Mention selection Olivia Cook. As the Boxers’ leading scorer and rebounder, she was the only Pacific player to receive conference honors.
Another one of the Boxers’ big impact players was freshman Sarah Curl. She played in all 24 games while racking up the second most total game-minutes on the team. She also led the team in steals and was second in scoring.
With only three seniors leaving, the lady boxers plan to grow stronger as a team and be a challenging competitor in conference next season.
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