Corban vs. Montana Tech	Northwest vs. Salish Kootenai	Corban vs. Salish Kootenai	Northwest vs. Montana Tech
Friday, | Nov. 8 | 1 PM | Kristi Brodin Pavilion	Friday | Nov. 8 | 5 PM | Kristi Brodin Pavilion	Saturday | Nov. 9 | 11 AM |Kristi Brodin Pavilion	Saturday | Nov. 9 | 3 PM | Kristin Brodin Pavilion
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KIRKLAND – Northwest University women's basketball opens the season this weekend, hosting Salish Kootenai and Montana Tech in the third annual Northwest Classic.
 
The classic begins with Corban facing Montana Tech Friday at 1 p.m., followed by the Eagles taking on Salish Kootenai at 5 p.m. There also are two men's games each day. Friday's first men's game has Corban taking on Salish Kootenai at 3 p.m., with NU taking on Northwest Indian College at 7.
 
On Saturday, Corban plays Salish Kootenai at 11 a.m., and NU faces Montana Tech at 3 p.m. Corban and NIC play a men's game at 1 p.m., and the Eagles play SKC at 5 p.m. 
 
The Eagles are 5-1 in season openers under Coach Ken Crawford. The lone loss came last season at the hands of Montana State-Northern. The Eagles have opened with a different team every season in the Crawford era, including Walla Walla, Vancouver Island, New Hope Christian, California-Merced, and Simpson.
 
NU played an exhibition at Eastern Washington in October, falling 78-44. Northwest shot 22.8 percent from the field. Alyx Fast led the Eagles with 10 points, getting seven points in seven free throw attempts. Andie Kristinat scored nine. Jackie Bento had six rebounds.
 
With no double-figure scorer returning from last season, the Eagles seemingly have an opening. Sam Van Loo, the Cascade Collegiate Conference Freshman of the Year in 2018-19, and Andie Kristinat averaged 8.9 and 8.5 points, respectively, last season and both played less than 22 minutes per game. 
 
Alyx Fast got 29 starts last season and averaged 7.2 points per game. She was second only to Kristinat in three pointers made with 43. 
 
The Eagles were 11-20 last season and 8-12 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. Northwest ended the season with three wins in its final five games, despite being on the road for four games to end the season.
 
Salish Kootenai, located in Pablo, Montana, started the season with losses to Providence (108-43), Montana Tech (109-32), and Montana Western (112-33). Taylor Whitney averaged 11.7 points in those games, and Aaliyah Cunningham averaged eight points and 8.3 rebounds.
 
Montana Tech is off to a 3-1 start and on a three-game winning streak heading into the classic. Mesa Williams averages 18.8 points and leads the NAIA with 75 points. Mollie Peoples averages 14.5 points. Tavia Rooney leads the squad with 9.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.