ARCATA, Calif--- The 2021-22 Humboldt State Lumberjack Women's Basketball Team will begin their regular season this weekend with a pair of non-conference match-ups with Western Washington and Seattle Pacific this Friday and Saturday, November 12-13 at Brougham Pavilion on the campus of Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Wash. The 'Jacks will face Western Washington this Friday, November 12 at 1pm and Seattle Pacific this Saturday, November 13 at 3pm.
COACHING STAFF: The 'Jacks are coached by sixth-year head coach
Michelle Bento-Jackson. Coach Bento-Jackson is 216-188 in her sixteen years as a head coach. During those 16 years, she also has had two losing seasons. She is assisted by Humboldt State Alum and former Lumberjack men's basketball player Guillermo Blas.
BRAND NEW TEAM: The Lumberjacks have a brand-new team since they last played in the CCAA Tournament on March 3, 2020. Eight of the nine players were on the teams during the pandemic year. The only current player that wasn't on the 2020-21 team is freshman
Jadence Clifton. Besides Clifton, the 'Jacks have three freshmen on this year's teams in
Mariah Barraza,
Madison Parry and
Kaz Parks. All the other 'Jacks are juniors in
Samantha Caires,
Sharon Roldan,
Julia Iman,
Ashley Taylor Peralta and
Citlaly Davalos. Roldan is a transfer from Notre Dame de Namur University while the four others are junior college transfers.
IMPORTANT REGION GAMES: Even though these games are conference games, these two games matter for the end of the season regional rankings as they are in-region opponents. Both Western Washington and Seattle Pacific are members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). HSU's other two non-conference games will be against Dominican (Nov. 17 at Dominican and Nov. 27 at HSU). Dominican is a member of the PacWest Conference. The CCAA, GNAC and PacWest Conferences are all members of the NCAA Division II West Region.
22-GAME CCAA SCHEDULE: The 'Jacks will open up their 22-game CCAA schedule on December 2-4, when they host SF State and Cal State Monterey Bay. HSU will host the Gators on Dec. 2 and the Otters on Dec. 4. Tip-off for both games are set for 5:30pm at Lumberjack Arena.
CCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LUMBERJACK ARENA: Humboldt State will host the 2021-22 CCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, March 3-5 at Lumberjack Arena. The top six teams will receive a berth to the CCAA Championships. March 3 will be the quarterfinal round with the top two seeds receiving a bye. The semi-final round games are set for March 4 with the championship game set for March 5. The winner of the CCAA Championships will receive the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Championships.
WESTERN WASHINGTON: The Vikings went 6-0 during the pandemic year with Mollie Olson leading the way with her 11.5 scoring average followed by Kelsey Rogers' 10.0 scoring average while Emma Duff averaged a team leading 8.2 rebounds per game. During the 2019-20 season, Western Washington went 22-9 including 15-6 in the GNAC.
ALL-TIME SERIES (HSU vs. WWU): Western Washington leads the all-time series with the 'Jacks 4-3 including defeating the Lumberjacks 76-73 in Arcata on November 9, 2019. HSU defeated the Vikings 76-66 in Bellingham, Wash., on Nov. 9, 2018.
SEATTLE PACIFIC: The Falcons went 7-7 during the pandemic year and were led by Ashley Alter's 13.3 points per game average followed by Rachel Berg (11.1 ppg) and Natalie Huff (10.0 ppg). During the 2019-20 season, SPU went 8-20 overall and 6-14 in the GNAC. Before facing the 'Jacks on Saturday, Seattle Pacific will host Corban University at 3pm on November 12.
ALL-TIME SERIES (HSU vs. SPU): Seattle Pacific leads the all-time series 7-2. HSU won the last time the two teams faced each other on November 8, 2019, 70-54 in Arcata. The last SPU win was on November 10, 2018 in Bellingham, Wash., 79-77.
ALL FOUR GAMES ON YOU-TUBE: You can watch both of Humboldt State games on https://www.youtube.com/SPUsports. For live stats, go to https://spufalcons.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary.
UP NEXT: Humboldt State will return to the court on Wednesday, November 17 at 5:30pm in San Rafael, Calif., when the 'Jacks begin a home-away series with Dominican University. Dominican will travel to face HSU ten days later to Arcata on November 27 at 2pm in the Lumberjacks' home opener.
