Willamette to Host Lewis & Clark in NWC Week Night Matchup

By Evan Giddings, Student Assistant Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University women's basketball team will look to make the most of its final four games of the season -- three of which are at home -- starting on Tuesday, Feb. 10 when it takes on Lewis & Clark College at Cone Field House. Game time is set for 6 p.m. (PST).

Coming into this Northwest Conference matchup, the Bearcats are 6-15 overall with a 1-11 NWC record, while the Pioneers are 7-14 overall and 4-8 in the conference.

The last time they faced one another, Lewis & Clark got the best of Willamette, defeating the Bearcats by a slim margin, 65-58. However, in that game the Bearcats dug themselves a hole, falling behind 11-0 to start the game with the largest deficit in the first half being 13 points.

Yet, WU fought back and managed to cut the lead to just three points in the waning minutes. The Bearcats were unable to complete what would have been a spectacular comeback.

This time around, the 'Cats will need to hold the Pioneers off early and get big performances from their senior guards Jojo DeLong(Sr., PG, Santa Clarita, CA/Canyon HS) and Katie Kalugin(Sr., G, Woodburn, OR/Woodburn HS) in order to come out on top.

On the season, DeLong has averaged a team-high 13.0 points per game along with dishing out an NWC-best 4.2 assists per game. She also leads the team with 688 minutes played and has recorded 17 steals for the year.

Kalugin is coming off a career-high game when she grabbed 15 rebounds to move into ninth place on WU's all-time rebounding list with 442 career boards. She is also a dangerous scorer, having averaged 9.9 points over her 21 games played this season.

Other contributors for the Bearcats will include Kylie Towry (So./Fr., G, Medford, OR/South Medford HS) and Marisa Hamilton (So./Fr., C, Beaverton, OR/Southridge HS).

From beyond the 3-point line, no one in the NWC have been better than Towry, as she has made a conference best 56 three-pointers, while shooting at an impressive 40.6% clip.

Hamilton has played well on the block for Willamette. Two weeks ago, she averaged 15.5 points over the team's two games against Whitman College and Whitworth University.

In the post is where the WU defense be focused as Lewis & Clark does most of it damage with the frontcourt, led by Ayisat Afolabi (So., F) and Lauren Wood (Fr., F).

Afolabi is averaging 12.0 points per game, while ranking fifth in the NWC with 7.8 rebounds per game. In her first collegiate season, Wood has added 7.5 points per game, while also hauling in 6.0 boards per game. A sparkplug off the bench for the Pioneers has been Sarah Anderson (Jr., G), who has contributed 7.7 points per game.

The game should be a tight one as Lewis & Clark has only averaged 52.0 points per game as a team this year, while Willamette has averaged 54.8. Another factor will be accurate passing as the Bearcats are fourth-best in the conference with 12.4 assists as a team per game, compared to the Pioneers' at 9.7 assists per game.