STOCKTON, Calif. – The final month of the regular season kicks off against two of the top teams in the West Coast Conference as Pacific hosts Santa Clara on Thursday at 6 p.m. followed by a quick trip to Spokane to face Gonzaga on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Last season the Tigers (8-13, 3-7 WCC) and Broncos (18-6, 8-3 WCC) traded home wins as Pacific's win was buoyed by junior Marina Radocaj's career-high 19-point performance. This season the offensive spotlight will be on freshman Sophia Mindermann who is scoring 14.3 points per game as a starter and has done so as a long-range sniper averaging 3.5 made three-pointers per game. Conference wide she's tied for second for most made threes per game at 2.1. The student-athlete she's tied with is Maia Jones of Santa Clara, and the only student-athlete ahead of her is Allie Turner of Gonzaga (16-7, 8-2 WCC), whom she will face Saturday.

In the last 15 meetings between Pacific and Santa Clara, offense has not been hard to come by as both schools average over 70 points against the other with Pacific gaining a slight 72.1 to 72.0 point per game edge.

Pacific meanwhile gave Gonzaga its biggest scare in the Kennel since 2020, dropping a narrow four-point contest last season. Senior Sydney Ward will be a major player to watch to see if the Tigers can gain the first win in the series over Gonzaga since 2016. Over the past three games the senior has averaged a double-double of 13 points and ten rebounds a game. Those 13 points have come largely behind the three-point arc as she has connected on three triples in each of the last two contests. On the whole Ward is shooting 53.8% from long range across her last three outings.

Sophomore Winner Bartholomew by contrast has held down the offense in the paint, leading the team at 13.8 points per game this season and has done so with an efficient 46.8% shooting clip, good for sixth in the WCC.

Setting up Ward and Bartholomew has primarily been sophomore Daria Nestorov, who in the previous contest fell one assist shy of her first career double-double, but the nine assists di represent her new career high. The sophomore has established herself as one of the premier passers of the conference, ranking third in the WCC in assists per game and ranks 34th nationally.

Both Thursday's matchup at the Alex G. Spanos Center and Saturday's action from McCarthey Athletics Center will be streamed on ESPN+.

Tigers Tickets
Tickets for upcoming events can be purchased through the PacificTigers.com tickets tab, or by calling the Box Office at 209-946-2474.  Groups of 10 or more are eligible for a group discount and exclusive fan experiences.

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