What to know about the NWAC basketball tournaments
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 16, 2022
The Northwest Athletic Conference women’s and men’s basketball tournaments begin Thursday at the Walt Price Student Fitness Center on the campus of Everett Community College. The men’s rounds of 16 and eight take place Thursday and Friday, the women’s rounds of 16 and eight take place Saturday and Sunday, and the semifinals and finals for both men and women are on March 26-27.
Here’s a look at local storylines at this year’s tournaments:
Local team
The only local team to qualify for the tournament is the Everett women. The Trojans, in their first year under Jeannie Thompson as coach, finished third in the North Region at 9-5 in league play and 12-12 overall. They face East Region No. 2 Spokane (14-9) at 8 a.m. Saturday.
Everett has a Wesco-heavy roster, as the Trojans are led by first-year guard Sydney VanNess (14.6 points per game) from Shorecrest, first-year forward Mikail Montez (10.9 points, 9.8 rebounds) from Marysville Getchell and sophomore forward Courtney Perry (11.1 points, 7.9 rebounds) from Snohomish.
Everett and Spokane played once during the regular season, with the Sasquatch winning 73-60 at Everett on Dec. 4. However, that came before Perry rejoined the Trojans.
Local players
There are roughly a dozen players from Snohomish County on men’s and women’s teams that qualified for the tournament other than the Everett women, and several of those are key performers.
The Lane women (26-0) come into the tournament ranked No. 1 in the NWAC coaches poll, and the Titans’ leading scorer is first-year guard Sierra Schepple. The Arlington High School graduate is posting 16.6 points per game off the bench and leading NWAC in 3-point shooting at 50.5%.
The Whatcom women (18-4) have a handful of contributors from Snohomish County, led by sophomore forward Madison Chisman. The Stanwood High School graduate leads the team and ranks third in NWAC in scoring at 16.9 points per game.
On the men’s side, Bellevue freshman guard Ben Olesen has been a steady presence in the starting lineup for the Bulldogs (19-7), as the Jackson High School graduate is posting 7.3 points per contest.
