The CWU Women’s Basketball team faces off against two strong California Collegiate Athletic Association teams, the Stanislaus State Warriors and the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters in Portland, Oregon Nov. 11 and 12.

“They play fast and speed up the game. [It’s] different than how we play, but we will match up,” head Coach Jeff Harada said.

While Harada is in his third season with CWU, he brings over fifteen years of experience to the court.

In preparation for the event, the Wildcats watch game film to better assess the returning players from their rival teams and gauge what to expect from their competition.

The majority of the Wildcats’ roster this season consists of underclassmen, with guard Kourtney Grattic as the only rostered senior. However, that doesn’t change anything in Harada’s mind as far as what he expects of his team.

“It’s easy to use youth as an excuse,” Harada said. “[But] it doesn’t matter what age you are. We expect [our players] to be ready to play.”

Harada and his team spent the first few games figuring out which players fit best in which roles. A  tough loss followed by a win, has given the team a good idea of what works and what doesn’t.

The Wildcats opened their season with a non-league loss against the University of Washington 97-66 Oct. 29 and a 75-44 win against the Pacific Lutheran Lutes on Nov. 4.

Harada strongly believes the difference between these two games is simply that the shots that didn’t and wouldn’t drop during the UW game were able to drop during the PLU game. Even with the win, not everything was smooth sailing.

“We made some mistakes we can’t make against [Stanislaus State and Cal State, Monterey Bay],” Harada said.

Harada hopes the shots will keep dropping for Wildcats to get two wins on the road to start the season.

Some of the players to keep an eye on this season are point guard Jasmin Edwards, guard Sadie Mensing and new addition, forward Taylor Baird.

“There’s a lot more depth this year [than in past years],” Edwards said.

Edwards is in her third season with the Wildcats. Her accolades include GNAC Freshman of the Year for the 2014-15 season and GNAC second-team honors in her sophomore season last year.

“There’s a lot of good team chemistry and we hope to build on that” she said of her hopes for the upcoming games. “It’s important to play well so we can rank well against them in the postseason.”

Last season, sophomore Sadie Mensing averaged 3.5 points in 29 games and averaged 2.8 rebounds per game.

“Mensing is aggressive on both sides of the ball,” coach Jeff Harada said.

Baird, a transfer from Southern Utah University, boasts Division I level experience, which could prove vital for CWU.

Baird hopes there will be no shortage of points in the upcoming games.

“I hope to come away with two road wins,” Baird said. “[These teams] will be a good look at the rest of the season.”

CWU women’s basketball has a common goal throughout the team—competing for a GNAC title. So far the only things standing in their way are their opponents for this weekend.

The Stanislaus State Warriors opened their season with losses against UC Davis 84-47 and the University of Nevada Wolf Pack 91-77.

The Cal. State (Monterey Bay) Otters met University of San Francisco coming away with a 99-65 loss against the Bulls, before joining CWU and three other teams in Portland for the GNAC/CCAA challenge.

The Wildcats’ next five games will be on the road starting with two games against the California teams followed by three games in Hawaii Nov. 16, 18 and 19.

The next time to see the Wildcats at home will be Nov. 25-26 when they host a tournament that will include Cal State, San Bernardino, Hawaii Pacific and Northwest Nazarene.