The Pioneers send a veteran squad onto to the court this season. The Northwest Conference’s top scoring offense in 2006-07 will have two of their leading scorers back for their senior seasons. First Team All-Northwest Conference guard Crystal Castle (senior, Rockport, Calif.) will anchor the offense and the defense of the Pioneers. Castle was the third-leading scorer in the NWC last season, averaging 13.5 points per game. She was also among the Conference’s top rebounders, averaging 5.6 boards per game, with three double-doubles last season and nine total for her Pioneer career. A threat from the field and the stripe, Castle was also one of the nation’s top freethrow shooters, with a .829 percentage, 53rd best among all DIII players. The Pioneers as a team shot 74.2% from the charity stripe, the 14th best percentage for a team. Also returning is forward Allison Farr (senior, Lakeport, Calif.). Farr, a two-time honorable mention for All-Conference honors, was in the top-ten in the Conference in scoring, averaging 11.4 points per game. She was fourth in blocks with 1.04 per game. Farr comes into the season ranked third on the L&C list for career blocks with 80.
    The Pioneers should once again excel in their turnover ratio with the return of point guard Kim Kittell (sophomore, Tillamook, Ore.). Kittell returns to the school and to the team after a year to retake her place as the Pioneers primary ball handler. The Pioneers will look to Talerra Rich (sophomore, Los Alamos, N.M.) to be a strong presence off the bench, helping to add size to their post play.
    The Pioneers’ first test comes in an exhibition game in Corvallis against the Division I Oregon State Beavers, the second time in four years the two teams have played a pre-season exhibition game. The Pioneers open their season on Friday, November 16th as the hosts of the annual Bon Appetit Tournament at the Pamplin Sports Center where they face nationally-ranked Menlo College in their second game of the season.
    The Pioneers are picked to finish third in the NWC in the pre-season coaches poll, the same pre-season ranking they received in 2006-07 when they finished the season in a tie for third place. 

    The Lewis & Clark College Department of Athletics is happy to announce that we will again be carrying live play-by-play for all Northwest Conference games on the internet through a partnership with streaming media company sportsjuice.com. The broadcast schedule for the women's team has also been expanded to carry five early-season non-Conference games including both games of the Thanksgiving tournament at Colorado College. All that is required to listen to the games in a Windows Media Player and a connection to the internet. Following the links on the Pioneer athletics site to reach the daily stream. For a full copy of the broadcast schedule and for more information, visit the sportsjuice.com website.