Iron Horse
by Ryan Church
While a lot has changed with Husky Basketball of over the past two years, there has been one constant over the past four. After participating in six Husky wins to start the season, Gena Pelz has now played in 96 consecutive games and counting for Washington's women's basketball team.
Pelz, one of three seniors on this year's squad, may go through her entire UW career without missing a game. As a true freshman, Pelz played in all 33 games, starting 11 for then head coach Chris Gobrecht. She averaged 5.4 points per game and gave the Huskies some depth underneath. Pelz was named to the All-Pac-10 Freshman team as a result of her efforts during the 1994-95 campaign. Not bad for a freshman making the adjustment to college from Charles City, Iowa.
Since her freshman season, Pelz stepped in as an even more prominent player in the Washington arsenal. As a sophomore, Pelz played 29 games, but the bigger number was 26 games started. Pelz used her experience from a successful freshman year when the Huskies won the Preseason NIT and advanced to the sweet-16 in the NCAA tournament into better skills as a player. She had her best season of scoring, averaging 10 points a game. Pelz calls her sophomore the most valuable in giving here the experience to develop into a better player.
