Pacific Index

Pacific women’s basketball is looking to take a step forward from last season

When I asked Pacific women’s basketball Head Coach Alecia Wilson what her hopes for this season were, her response couldn’t have been more clear. “We have to get back to the playoffs.”  

For the team, the 2024-2025 season didn’t match up to the expectations the team had leading up to it. The Boxers had said goodbye to a whopping 13 seniors the year before, and with all those departures, new team dynamics and leadership roles needed to be imposed for the new season. “We had lost a lot of leadership, and last year we thought it would come naturally,” said Wilson. However, that leadership didn’t come as naturally as the Boxers may have hoped, and the Boxers finished 11-14 overall last season, and 7-9 in league play, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018. 

Despite this, Wilson has high hopes for the upcoming 2025-2026 season. “Not making the playoffs was a real wake up call,” she said, adding that, “Our returning players are in a good place.” The team ran a leadership program before the season started and Wilson believes that her experienced players are ready to help the team return to the place they know they can be at. “Last year we learned how to do it,” said Wilson. “Our older girls are leaders”.

Part of Wilson’s strategy to get the team back to the playoffs is changing up the way the offense functions. In previous seasons, the offense had functioned around the dribble drive, with the goal of having the guards attacking the paint. While the offense will still have this as a fundamental part of the offense, they will also transition into an offense that incorporates a larger post presence. With more post players on the squad than last year, Wilson hopes that the tactic of playing downlow will help the Boxers gain a better advantage over the other teams in the Northwest Conference. “There’s a lot of flowing motion in the new strategy,” shared Wilson, who believes that the new strategy will give the Boxers more options on the offensive side of the ball. “It’s giving them more tools in their belt.”

Whether it’s executing offensive strategies, or simply sleeping or eating properly, Wilson really tries to stress the importance of the small stuff in her coaching style. “I want to hold them accountable to doing the little things correctly,” she proclaimed. For Wilson, the little things on and off the court are very important to the team’s success, and she knows that if her players focus on doing the little things consistently, that they can have a lot of success this year. “I think we have a lot of potential to be really good this season,” Wilson commented optimistically.

But despite all of this, it won’t be easy. Pacific’s preseason schedule is littered with very tough opponents, including some in the top 25 of the national rankings, all of which will test the team’s resolve moving forward. The season will be tough, but the Boxers are ready to bounce back.

Boxer women’s basketball’s first game is at Lewis & Clark on November ninth, and their first home game is on November 14 against Schreiner.