Women’s Basketball: A Season In Review

Despite finishing just 1-13 in the 2017-18 season, the Gator Women’s Basketball team had their fair share of solid contributors to the team overall.
The Women’s hoops squad exhibited solid contributions from two of their biggest stars this season, particularly from Ariana Dougall, a sophomore guard, and Dayna-Joy Calubaquib, the second-leading scorer on the Gator Women’s Basketball team.

Dougall, who was arguably the team’s go-to option on the offensive side of the ball, finished with averages of 15.3 points for the 2017-18 basketball season. Calubaquib ended her versatile season with averages of 9.3 points while leading the Gators Women’s Basketball team in assists at 3.7 per contest.
“Primarily, we played the six women that were on our team, and everyone had a role to play,” said Tamara Shilipetar, assistant coach of the Women’s Basketball team. “Our one role player did a great job in playing their role; they came off the bench, got off a quick three-point shot, and played solid defense.”
Despite having solid contributors on the offensive side of the ball, the Gator Women’s basketball team has shown their versatility by playing both sides at an elite level as well.
 “The one thing that contributed to any successes that we’ve had this season was the way we played defense,” continued Shilipetar. “We held teams to low numbers of scoring, and we played tenacious defense for 40 minutes. That was something they could hang their hat on and be proud of.”
 The lone win the Gator Women’s Basketball team had this season featured a double-digit victory against South Puget Sound on Feb. 10. Green River was able to force South Puget Sound into committing 19 turnovers on a low shooting percentage from both the field and three, where they went 29.8 and 22.6 percent respectively.
The basketball team, known for their rough style of play on both ends of the floor, accumulated 15 total steals as a team during that same victory, compared to South Puget Sound’s four. They were also able to drain more field goals from downtown, hitting 11 of their 32 attempted three-point shots, compared to South Puget Sound’s seven made threes.
Perhaps the most notable part of the season was when sophomore guard Ariana Dougall set the Gator Women’s Basketball team record for the most three-point field goals made in a game.
Dougall connected on nine of her 19 attempted threes, an impressive feat that occurred during a 22-point loss to Grays Harbor on Jan. 27. Dougall also ended that game with 35 points as she went on to lead both of the teams in scoring that night.
 The Playoffs that the Women’s team missed this season will be taking place this upcoming weekend, from March 17 onward in Everett, Wash. at Everett Community College.
Albeit a rough season for the Women’s Basketball team, they look to capitalize and find a bevy of areas of improvement as they head into next fall quarter. They are looking to add onto the two NWACC championships the Gators won in the mid-1980s and continue that mission through hard work and excellence.
The Women’s team will start training in the summer, and their next season will officially start this upcoming fall quarter.