Bitter rivalries look to be rekindled as the Whitman women’s basketball team faces the No. 3 ranked team in the nation, George Fox, on Feb. 26 in their first playoff game since the 05-06 season.
In conference play, George Fox dominated Whitman, rolling to victory by a margin of 10 points or more in both games the teams played during the season.
Whitman had a rocky conference season, losing three conference games in a row at one point. But the team rallied to post a respectable conference record of 10-6 at the end of the season, tying them with Pacific University for third place.
Due to a tie-break, Pacific was seeded third and Whitman, fourth. This means that Pacific will play second-seeded UPS while Whitman will play number-one ranked George Fox.
Coming into the season, the Whitman women were picked to finish atop the Northwest Conference in a coaches poll, with last year’s co-champions, UPS and George Fox, picked to finish fourth and fifth respectively.
“It is a tough conference and a long season,” said coach, Michelle Ferenz. “We had a stretch where we just weren’t playing well that really hurt our chances at getting second and hosting. But the last few weeks we have gotten back to playing very unselfishly at the offensive end and tough, organized team defense and we are back to playing the way we know we are capable of playing.”
First-year, Jennifer Keyes, is also optimistic about the team’s chances of making a deep run in the playoffs. She says the team is excited about the chance to play George Fox and that the team is unintimidated by Fox’s unbeaten season.
“They are a good team but we definitely have the ability to beat them,” said Keyes. “We’ll have to play well but it will be nice to go into their gym and get a win to continue our season: and end theirs.”
Keyes’ teammate, Michelle Krall, says that it isn’t as much a matter of beating George Fox as it is about not beating themselves.
“We need to be ready to play the game of basketball that we know how to play and we will be just fine,” said Krall. “We expect a tough game since it will be our third time playing George Fox. We know we can beat them, we just have to not beat ourselves.”
Krall says that the team will prepare for their playoff game the same as they would a regular season match up.
“We’re going to approach the game just like any other: have a shoot around, a pre-game meal, do some homework, warm-up, and play,” said Krall. “I don’t think this game should be any different from our previous games.”
Keyes echoed her teammates feelings about the game.
“You go to play hard, play well and to win,” said Keyes. “The only difference between this game and the regular season games is that this one could possibly: knock on wood: be our last. So you really have to go in with the intentions of leaving it all on the floor: giving everything you have to the team’s effort.”
The game will be played away at the George Fox campus in Newberg, Ore.
