Story by: Grant Clark
OLYMPIA, WA- The South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) women's basketball team is on the verge of accomplishing something the program hasn't done since 2016. Advance to the playoffs.
The Clippers can wrap up a postseason berth in the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament with a home victory over visiting Green River College at the Health & Wellness Center on Wednesday, March 2.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the NWAC Sports Network.
With three regular season games remaining, the Clippers hold the fourth seed in the NWAC West Region with a 5-4 record. SPSCC is a game behind Centralia College (6-3) for second place and a half-game behind Tacoma Community College (6-4) for third.
The top four teams out of the region qualify for the NWAC Tournament, which will be held March 17-20 and March 26-27 at the Walt Price Fitness Center at Everett Community College.
Lower Columbia College (20-1) has already secured the West Region championship. The Red Devils take a perfect 10-0 record into their final two games of the season. Lower Columbia will host Highline College before closing out its regular season slate at South Puget Sound on Saturday, March 5.
The Clippers will conclude their regular season at Pierce College on Wednesday, March 9. SPSCC defeated Green River College, 58-50, in the first match-up on February 5. Jennie Goldsberry had a game-high 18 points and 14 rebounds, while the Clippers also received 13 points from Sharay Trotter and 12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals from Payten Foster in the win over the Gators.
Green River (5-15 overall, 4-6 conference) brings a season-high two-game winning streak into the rematch. The Gators also remain in contention for a playoff spot but would need to win their last two games while having SPSCC lose its final three games to claim an outright berth. Freshman Bayleigh Harder, a 2022 Yelm High School graduate who leads Green River in scoring this season at 10.6 points a game, paced the Gators during the first meeting against the Clippers, scoring 18 points and pulling down 7 rebounds.
SPSCC, which has won four out of its last six games, has been one of the best rebounding teams in the NWAC all season. The Clippers rank second overall in the conference in total rebounds per game (44.2) and are first in offensive rebounds a game (18.2). Goldsberry is the team leader in rebounds at 10.8 boards a game, which places her sixth overall in the conference. The freshman post is followed by Foster (7.5 rpg), Trotter (5.8 rpg) and Brandie Tobin (4.9 rpg).
South Puget Sound Community College also is among the leaders this year in steals per game. The Clippers average 12.4 steals a contest, the third highest total this season in the conference.
Trotter is fourth in the NWAC in steals per game (3.4) and Foster is sixth (2.8), making SPSCC the only team in the conference with two players in the top 10. Trotter and Foster are two of six Clippers who average at least a steal a game. The list also includes Honey Let Padasdao (1.6 spg) Kayla Jackson (1.4 spg), Nikeshia King (1.4 spg) and Tobin (1.3 spg).
Trotter also leads SPSCC in scoring, averaging 16.4 points a game, which ranks seventh in the conference overall. Trotter, who scored a career-high 27 points in the Clippers' 63-57 win over second-place Centralia College, is one of four SPSCC players to average double digits. Joining Trotter is Goldsberry (13.3 ppg), Foster (10.8 ppg) and Jackson (10.4 ppg).