Women’s basketball begins pre-season play

The women’s basketball team ended last season with an overall record of 11-18. Head coach George Wolfe is confident his newly assembled squad will add more games to the win column.

“I’m really excited about this group,” Wolfe stated in a recent press release. “Overall, we are stronger than last year, but more importantly, this team has good chemistry and is prepared to win.”

Among the seven returning players are guard Nikki Petticrew, senior point guard Michelle Thueson, junior guard Jane Gowans, sophomore guard Heidi Stuart and post players Sarah Hedgepeth and Niki Sadowski. Center Carrie Spencer, 6-foot-3, may also return to the team this year after sitting out the last few seasons with an injury.

There will be an even mix of old and new players on the 2002-03 team, with seven new talents rounding out the 14-woman roster.

Kristin Boyd, a transfer point guard from Highline Community College, and Lena Grant, a 6-foot-3 center from Clackamas Community College, will be joining the team. Freshman Jenna Washington comes to the Viking team from Thurston High School, where she was an All-State honorable mention. Kathy Garbacz, who does double-duty on the Viking volleyball squad, will red-shirt this season.

The team will have two months to get used to playing together in a series of exhibition and nonconference games before its first Big Sky Conference match-up against Sacramento State on Jan. 16. The Viking nonconference schedule should be a challenging one this season, with games against the University of Portland, Oregon State and Arizona State in the line-up.

The first exhibition game of the season will be Saturday night against the Western Oregon Wolves in Monmouth. There is no doubt that returning Viking players will come into this game remembering a similar scenario last year, when PSU lost to Western Oregon, 65-55, in its first and only exhibition game of the 2001-02 season.

Sarah Hedgepeth, who is the top returning rebounder in the Big Sky Conference, led the Vikings in that game with 19 points on 8-14 shooting and 15 rebounds. As a team, PSU out-rebounded Western Oregon 49-39, but ended the game with only a 30.3 shooting percentage.

In comparison, the Wolves played a very consistent game, with six of their players scoring eight or more points.

The Vikings were 1-13 on the road last season.