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Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific women's basketball team was tabbed fourth in the West Coast Conference preseason poll of the leagues coaches. Senior Kendall Kenyon was named to the preseason All-Conference team.
The Tigers totaled 60 votes in the preseason poll of the WCC head coaches, five back of third and 18 back of preseason favorite Gonzaga. Last season, Pacific was picked to finish fifth, but turned in a 12-6 record in their inaugural season in the conference to place third.
Kenyon, a senior post from Stockton, a First Team All-West Coast Conference honoree last season, is on pace to become the Tigers' all-time rebounding leader in her final season with the Tigers. She is already fourth in Pacific history in rebounding, with 809 boards in 94 career games. She sits 149 shy of the Pacific career mark of 958, set by Julie Szukalski from 1986-1990. Kenyon hit 1,000 career points against Gonzaga last season and sits 19th all-time in scoring at Pacific. Kenyon is on pace to finish in the top five in program history. Already the schools career shot-blocking leader, Kenyon is also chasing the Tigers career double-double mark. She set a single-season record with 16 last season, and is third in Tiger history with 35 career double-doubles, one back of second and nine behind Szukalski's program record of 44. Her 16 double-doubles ranked 24th in Division I in 2013-14.
Despite losing almost 40 percent of minutes logged last year (returning 4303 of 10985 player minutes), the Tigers return nearly 70 percent of their scoring (52.8 out of 76.5 PPG) from last season. Four of the top five scorers are back: Kenyon (15.9 points per game), Madison Parrish (10.8 PPG), Hailie Eackles (9.1 PPG), and Erin Butler (7.1 PPG).
Eackles joined the Pacific starting lineup at BYU on January 2, and the Tigers went on a run of 13 wins in their next 17 games, averaging nearly 80 points per game (79.8). The Tigers had started the season 5-7 (73.4 PPG) with two forwards before going to the four-guard lineup. Eackles averaged 12.0 points per game as a starter. Parrish not only contributed double-digit points, but was among the WCC leaders in assists as well, handing out 3.7 helpers per game. She scored a career-high 28 points in Pacific's win at LMU, with 6-of-11 from the field and 15-of-17 from the free throw line to set a Pacific program single-game record for free throws made. Butler hit 57 three-pointers for the Tigers last season, as Pacific went 14-2 when Erin Butler hit multiple threes in a game last year. Butler drained five three-pointers in seven attempts for a season-high 19 points in Pacific's win at Saint Mary's (2/8).
The Tigers also will get a boost from the return of Gena Johnson, an All-Big West guard who will make her return to the Tigers in 2014-15. The senior missed all of last season with a medical redshirt as she recovered from an off-season auto accident. A Second Team All-Big West selection in 2012-13, Johnson was second on the team in scoring and ninth in the Big West with 12.0 points per game in 2012-13. She scored in double-figures in 24 of 35 games, while connecting on .428 from the field (151-of-353).
Pacific will hold an exhibition on Nov. 8 against San Francisco State before meeting Cal State Stanislaus on Friday, Nov. 14 in a matinee at the Alex G. Spanos Center. The Tigers face California at home on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m.
