Evergreen will secure a berth in postseason tournament with a win
OLYMPIA, WA. – Evergreen will secure a berth in the eight-team Cascade Conference postseason tournament with a win against Northwest on Tuesday night. That is true no matter how the Geoducks and Eagles finish their regular season schedules because Evergreen would own the tiebreaker – two regular season wins – over their Seattle-area rivals. Should the Geoducks lose to the Eagles, they would have to win at least one of their two remaining games, both at home, against Multnomah on Feb. 16 and Warner Pacific on Feb. 17. As it now stands, the Geoducks could finish anywhere between fifth and ninth in the conference standings, but a win tomorrow night allows Evergreen to finish no worse than eighth.
Junior forward Cayla Jones continues to lead the Geoducks with 14.8 points, 6-0 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Jones saw a string of 10 straight games in double-figure scoring come to an end last weekend, however, when she struggled finding the basket in road losses to College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon.
The Eagles boast two of the league’s best players in junior point guard Mariah Stacona and junior post Miranda Langenhorst. Stacona averages 14.0 points and an incredible 4.1 steals per game, while Langenhorst is a top rebounder with 9.7 per game in addition to scoring at an 11.1 clip. The Eagles are still in the hunt for a conference tournament berth and have five games in which to make up ground on either Evergreen or Warner Pacific.
Cayla Jones hit two free throws with 5.7 seconds remaining and Jahpera McEachin blocked two shots in the final minute as Evergreen defeated Northwest, 74-71, on Jan. 9 inside Costantino Recreation Center. Jones recorded a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds and Alexcis Higginbotham tallied 23 points and nine rebounds to lead the Geoducks to the victory. Mariah Stacona led the Eagles with 30 points, seven assists and seven steals.
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