The Eastern Oregon University women’s basketball team return to the court in 2009-10 a year after being eliminated in the first round of the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament.
The Mountaineers were two wins away from their sixth consecutive 20-win season. It was EOU’s eighth straight winning season, and sixth straight season that featured a home postseason game.
Eastern Oregon finished the season with a loss to Warner Pacific and find itself behind the Knights to begin 2009-10. EOU was selected fifth in the CCC coaches preseason poll and WPC was predicted to end in fourth
place.
Eastern will be led by Anji Weissenfluh in her 10th season as head coach for the Mountaineers. She has amassed a record of 181-76 while at EOU. Weissenfluh led the Mountaineers to 18 wins last year in what was
considered to be a rebuilding season. She guided EOU through injuries and graduations of key players and is poised to take Eastern to its seventh 20-win season in the past nine years.
Back Court
The Mountaineers return nine of the 13 players from last season, including two starters. Guards Salena Leavitt and Kyle Miller combined for 18.47 points per game, 5.64 assists per game, and 7.84 rebounds per game.
Leavitt has scored 528 points in her career at Eastern Oregon, with 255 points coming last season. She has thrown 217 assists, 100 in 2008-09, and made 61 steals. The senior was selected to the preseason All-CC team. Miller had quite the freshman year last season. She averaged 9.2points per game, scoring 257 points in 2008-09. She made 32 three-pointers last season.
Alyssa Garro returns for her junior year after averaging six points per game, and 1.3 assists per game. Garro made 37 three-pointers and 41 percent of her shots from the field. She added three rebounds a game in 2008-09. Sasha Valdez will return as a sophomore. She scored double digits twice last season as a freshman and should expect more minutes in 2009-10. The Mountaineers lost two key components to their back court in the offseason. Jenny Fiso graduated after being a vocal leader for EOU,
and Brianna Smith chose not to return for her sophomore season.
The Mountaineers welcome four new guards to the roster this season. Shaylee Nielsen joins Eastern after two seasons at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. The junior transfer is originally from Delta, Utah and played at Delta High School before Snow. The 5 foot, six inch guard was second on her team and 15th in the conference in scoring averaging 9 points per game in 2008-09. Nielsen was second in the conference in three-point percentage (41 percent) and ninth in assists per game (1.93).
Kelsea Hurliman comes to the Grande Ronde Valley after leading Nestucca to the 2009 OSAA Class 2A state title game. The five foot, four inch guard led the state tournament in scoring with 65 points in three games,
including 18 in the championship game. The seventh leading scorer in the NWAACC last year, Samantha Flett, joins EOU in 2009-10. The five foot, six inch transfer from Peninsula College will play guard for the
Mountaineers this season. She averaged 15.93 points per game for Peninsula last season.
Colby Patton returns to the area after spending one season at Western Oregon University. The Joseph High graduate has decided to finish her collegiate career at EOU. The five foot, eight inch guard was named first team all-state and all-league her junior year at Joseph.
Front Court
Eastern Oregon had two preseason All-CCC selections from its forwards, Tana Stickney and Ashlee Michelson. Michelson averaged 11.79 points per game last year and grabbed 5.25 rebounds per game. She was sixth in the
nation in free throw percentage, 0.862. Michelson was named to the All-CCC honorable mention team in 2008-09. Stickney, another member of last year’s All-CCC honorable mention team, had a team-high 5.82 rebounds last season. She scored 9.29 points per game and shot 51 percent from the field.
Kathleen Luce and Whitney Hughes saw limited minutes in 2008-09, but may see more action this season for the Mountaineers. EOU signed two forwards that had very successful high school careers and welcomes another player back to the game of basketball.
Anne Barnett will join the Mountaineers after participating on the University of Idaho track and field team last season. Barnett, a former standout at Hermiston High School, returns to eastern Oregon to finish her collegiate career.
Mattea Zabala from Burns, Ore. Zabala excelled at a perennial high school power. The five foot, 11 inch incoming freshman was named the OSAA Class 3A Player of the Year in 2008-09 after leading Burns to a
state title. She was named first team all-state as a junior and senior.
Rosebud Guthrie will be a Mountaineer in 2009-10 after leading Zillah High School to the Washington Class 1A state tournament. The six foot multi-talented athlete was a key component on Zillah’s volleyball team as well.
Schedule
The Cascade Collegiate Conference is very talented at the top again, but the Mountaineers have plenty to focus on in non-conference play. Eastern travels to Montana for games at Montana Tech and Montana Western early into the season. Tech and UMW finished sixth and seventh in the Frontier Conference last season, but play extremely well at home. Coach Weissenfluh scheduled two exhibition games at NCAA Div. 1 programs, Washington State University and the University of Idaho. EOU then travels to southern California to play Hope International University and San Diego Christian College. Both those teams finished at the bottom of the Golden State Athletic Conference a year ago.
The Mountaineers close the non-conference schedule against Willamette University, Puget Sound University, and Whitman College. Eastern Oregon faces those teams in a pair of tournaments, its own Aramark Holiday Classic, and the Lady 'Yote Classic in Caldwell, Idaho.
The College of Idaho was selected by the CCC coaches as the preseason favorite to win the league title. Junior guard Nicole Gall is a big reason for the preseason prediction. She was named the CCC preseason player of the year. Southern Oregon received four first place votes and finished closely behind the 'Yotes in the poll. Concordia received two first place votes and came in third. The top three teams in the conference will be a formidable force to all the other teams in the league.