Pacific Index

Pacific’s women’s basketball team has lost a lot of experienced players, but they haven’t lost their ambition

   “The team goal always stays the same,” says Senior guard Emily Holsan. “Be the top in the conference and win a championship.” 

   Coming off a 17-9 season (division, 12-4) in which they lost by four points in the Northwest Conference Championship to Puget Sound, the Boxers have some demons they’re ready to exorcise. In that final game last season, the women’s basketball team trekked to the state capital of Salem, and everyone in the stands at Cone Field House knew how close the Boxers were to gold. Neck and neck throughout the entire affair, a couple bounces of the ball here and there and the result could’ve been flipped. And it wasn’t the first time. They’ve been right on the cusp of championship glory many times; the Northwest Conference runner-up three years in a row. 

“We have to work hard every day and leave everything out on the floor,” Holsan stated. “We need to take it one day at a time, and one game at a time, while keeping our end goal in mind.” Junior guard Shaade Williams echoed her sentiment. “We just have to continue to work hard and push ourselves every day at practice,” she stated. “We can’t take days off and can’t worry about what other teams may say due to losing so many main players; we need to focus more on ourselves and getting better.” 

   Alecia Parker returns for her seventh year as head coach of the Boxers, and she is tasked with leading one of the most inexperienced squads she’s ever had. Only five players carry over from last year’s roster to this one: Holsan, Williams, junior guard Lindsey Bardem, grad student Anya Henderson, and junior forward Ava Cook are the only varsity holdovers. 

   To put it into perspective, those five players totaled 1,260 minutes played for the Boxers last season, out of a total 5,275. That’s just shy of 25 percent of the total minutes played returning. 

And the four starters from the 2023-24 squad are particularly note-worthy: All-NWC First Teamer and 1,000-point scorer Brilie Kovaloff is out the door, along with Second Teamer and starting point guard Rilee Price. Honorable Mention Sydney Gray is off to the corporate world, and gone with her is starting center Alexis Intong, as well as key reserves Danica Schmidt and Taya McCallum. Kovaloff and Gray both finished top 15 in scoring in the NWC. Price and Kovaloff were top 15 in assists. Intong and Gray were in the top 15 in rebounds. Altogether the Boxers lose over 75 percent of their total scoring production from last season. 

It is an understatement to say this team has some big shoes to fill.

   Holsan specifically will need to step into a bigger role this season. The only returning starter from last year’s team, this young team will look to her to guide them. Fortunately, she is a Swiss Army knife, do-everything type of player who makes the winning plays that sometimes aren’t reflected in the stat sheet. Even her goal for the season reflects her selflessness. “My individual goal for the season is to help my team win the championship. I need to stay consistent on offense and defense and be the best teammate possible.”

   The upperclassmen are excited about the young players coming up. “We have so many talented players coming in. I feel like they would also step up into very much needed roles,” Williams affirmed. Holsan added, “With a younger team, everyone will have to step up this year and fill the roles that we lost. We have a ton of skilled players, and everyone brings something to the team.”

   The Boxers are ready to stomp on the “always a bridesmaid but never a bride” mantra. They have a bunch of young talent chomping at the bit who are ready to go for the beginning of the season on November 9 against Multnomah. The next weekend they head to the Rocky Mountains for the two-game Colorado Tip-Off Classic. League play starts in January against Linfield, and that’s where the Boxers will find out who they are.