The South Puget Sound Women’s Basketball team has now 10 consecutive games and have started conference play undefeated, scoring big wins against Highline and Lower Columbia this past week to improve to 3-0. With that record in tow, the Clippers WBB now sit as the No. 1 team in the NWAC West Region.
“It feels really great to be 3-0 in conference and to beat a rival, it’s always a big deal,” said Sophomore Guard Bryten Gumke. “To take that one seed in the region is really important for us.”
It was a week that really tested the team as they tried to prove to the West Region, and the rest of the NWAC, what they are truly capable of. The first game of the week had the women’s team face off against the Highline Thunderbirds. Despite the T-Birds winning only two of their matchups so far, they came in with every intention of upsetting the Clippers on their home court.
The Clips got off to a big 24-10 lead in the first quarter against the Thunderbirds and, despite a slow close to the first half, WBB were able to ride that lead until the final buzzer. However, the Clippers’ defense kept allowing easy buckets that kept the T-Birds in the game for long stretches of the match.
“This game, we started off well offensively but I was not content with our defense. I think we could’ve eliminated some bad habits,” said Head Coach Darah Vining about the defensive effort against Highline.
It was the usual suspects that contributed the Clippers’ winning effort on offensive against Highline with Taylor Teeple (26 points, 14 rebounds) and Jaynee Tanner (14 points, 10 rebounds) both adding another double-double to their tallies. Also, Monroe Mastro contributed 12 big points and 3 assists during this game and D’ana Esquivel added 9 big points from the bench in 17 minutes played.
“Even though we’re on this big win streak, we’re not even paying attention to that really,” said Sophomore Guard Emma Garcia after the team’s 77-61 win against Highline. “We’re focused on our big games coming up, so we’re really preparing for those and we look forward to carrying that lead.”
Truly, the second game of the week was one of the matchups that WBB has been focusing on to really make a statement in the West. The Clippers hosted the Lower Columbia Red Devils, who came in with a 3-0 conference record and looked to battle for the No. 1 seed in the West Region.
It was a back and forth game as the Clippers got off to a 17-10 lead after the first quarter but a rally by the Red Devils in the second reduced the Clips’ lead to three at the half. A big third quarter got WBB back to a more comfortable lead and they were able to hold that lead to a 65-60 victory, despite a late rally by LCC in the fourth.
Garcia, Tanner, and Teeple were the big producers in that game as they finished the game with double-digit points. Also, Tanner ended the game with an impressive 18 rebounds, helping the Clippers finish with a +17-rebound differential.
“It felt great to win that game,” said Vining. “I feel like the two games leading up to this one there were some things that we talked about before that we needed to tweak. We faced some adversity within our team and our unit leading up to the LCC game. But I feel like our team really came together and played hard, and were able to grind out that win which was important for our morale.”
Clipper Women’s Basketball now hits the road for six consecutive games away from home, starting on Wednesday Jan. 22 against Pierce in Lakewood. WBB comes back home on Wednesday, Feb. 19 for the rematch against Pierce at 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.spsccathletics.com.