Men’s and Women’s Basketball
Men’s Basketball
Brenden Patrick BA ’23 put together a remark- able final season in orange and black. The men’s basketball senior guard led the entire Northwest Conference in scoring (21.5 points per game) en route to being named to the NWC All-Conference First Team for the first time in his career.
Patrick, who hails from Oakland, California, established himself as one of the top players in program history this winter. On January 21, he hit a go-ahead basket with seven seconds remaining and then made two free throws with two seconds left to reach 1,000 career points and secure a win over George Fox University. Three weeks later, he went off for a career-high 43 points in a 95-92 conference win over Pacific Lutheran University. The 43 points tied the 1977 record of Ed Nichenko BS ’78 for most points scored in a single game at Pamplin Gymnasium. Patrick finished off his career (four years/three seasons) 25th in program history with 1,176 career points. He ended the regular season 22nd in all of Division III in points per game.
Patrick, along with Jack Henderson BA ’23 (NWC All-Conference Honorable Mention), helped lead men’s basketball to their best season since 2014–15. The Pioneers finished 13-12 and 7-9 in conference play.
Women’s Basketball
Women’s basketball guard Gabby Beltran BA ’23 wanted to find a way to support her fellow stu- dent-athletes. After suffering a season-ending injury at the end of her junior year, Beltran’s men- tal health suffered, and it was only through her support system at Lewis & Clark that she was able to get help.
As a result of her experiences, she decided to create the Mental- Health Validation Program (MVP) for Lewis & Clark athletes. The goal of the group is to provide a central hub for mental health resources so that other students who are suffering won’t have to search for all of the resources L&C already provides.
In fall 2022, Beltran carried out an independent study with assistant athletic trainer Gina Parisi to research some of the mental health challenges student-athletes faced. As a result of this work, the athletics program was able to secure an in-house counselor once a week specifically for student-athletes for the spring semester.
