Riverhawk women eye NWAACC basketball tournament trophy
Riverhawk women enjoy a 14-5 record in a four way tie for second place

Another trip to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges tournament is at the finger tips of the UCC women’s basketball team.

The state tournament play is nothing new to the Riverhawk women who are looking to make their 19th appearance. In the standings now, the team is tied for second place in league with Clackamas, SWOCC, and Lane; each team has only two losses this season.

As the second round of league play begins, the women hold a 14-5 record and look to shake things up.

They aren’t the only ones. Coach Dave Stricklin has accomplished a personal and state best. After the Portland win on Saturday, Jan. 29, Stricklin set a new state standard for coaches of college women’s teams. The win was the 650th he’s coached.

“The NWAACC tournament only takes the top four teams,” said coach Dave Stricklin, “I certainly expect us to be in that group.” However, the season hasn’t always been nothing but net.

Their biggest disappointment was against Clackamas; UCC was ahead at half time and, with just four minutes to go, were up by six points, but Clackamas turned around to take the win.  In spite of this setback, scoring has been hot.

The team’s top scorers are Chelsey Christensen, averaging 18 points a game, Jameia McDuffie averaging 16 and Kristen Swim averaging12.

The main strategy was explained by Stricklin; “We play very fast. We try to get the ball out and run as much as we can. We get a lot of people involved, looking for the hot hand.”

In the game against Portland, Christensen was the team’s hot hand, scoring 33 points, six of which were three pointers. McDuffie tied the school record of 15 assists and post Pua Kailiawa tied the record with eight blocks as well.

Although Stricklin has been changing strategies to counter opponents strengths and weaknesses, the Riverhawks’ scoring game has remained strong.

On average, the women are scoring a little more than 80 points, a slight dip of five points from last year. Back in November, the team had their biggest game this season with 104 points.

The NWAACC tournament will be located in Kennewick, Wash. sometime after Feb. 26, which is the last game of the season against Mt. Hood at home. This game will be the last for three starters who will not return next season, two of whom are leading scorers.

“It always hurts to lose a girl with two year’s experience,” said Stricklin, “but the better way to look at it is we get nine back next year; this year we only had three back.”

Stricklin’s experience as a coach started in California with eight years at Golden West College where he was put into the coaches’ Hall of Fame. He then transferred to UCC where he has coached 16 years and has been awarded much recognition, ranging from Coach of the Year to being recognized at the National Coach of the Year banquet.

Over these 16 years, about 100 of the women who have played under Stricklin have earned scholarships to four year colleges. One previous player is playing now at the University of Oregon and is doing well. He also has former Riverhawks playing at Oregon State, Washington State, Cornell and other large schools.

Strickilin’s goal has been to help the women get their education paid for, an opportunity that they might not have had if they hadn’t started at a junior college.

The Mainstream is a student publication of Umpqua Community College.