Hillsboro, Ore.- The Whitman Blues and Puget Sound Loggers have tied for the top spot in the 2023-24 Northwest Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll, as voted on by head coaches. Both programs earned four first-place votes and 58 points to sit atop the leaderboard. The Blues and the Loggers were regular season co-champions in the 2022-23 season, each finishing the season with a 14-2 conference record. The Blues went on to be the NWC Women’s Basketball Tournament Champions.
Pacific (Ore.) earned the third place spot in the poll with one first-place vote and 55 points. Willamette landed in the fourth spot with 42 points, followed by George Fox with 33 points. Linfield earned 29 points for sixth. Pacific Lutheran (21 points), Whitworth (16 points), and Lewis & Clark (12 points) round out the poll.
Conference play begins November 28th as Puget Sound hosts Pacific Lutheran for the first conference schedule game of the season. The Northwest Conference women’s basketball tournament will take place at the #1 seed on February 23rd-24th, 2024.
(Points awarded on an 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Coaches could not vote for their own teams; numbers in parentheses indicate first place votes)
|
Team
|
Pts.
|
2023 NWC Finish
|
|
Puget Sound (4)
|
58
|
1st
|
|
Whitman (4)
|
58
|
1st
|
|
Pacific (1)
|
55
|
3rd
|
|
Willamette
|
42
|
4th
|
|
George Fox
|
33
|
5th
|
|
Linfield
|
29
|
7th
|
|
Pacific Lutheran
|
21
|
8th
|
|
Whitworth
|
16
|
6th
|
|
Lewis & Clark
|
12
|
9th
|