Willamette Ready to Bounce Back against Pacific and Linfield

By Evan Giddings, Student Assistant Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University women's basketball team will look to bounce back this weekend as they travel to Forest Grove, Ore., to play Pacific University on Friday, Jan. 23 and then come home to take on rival Linfield College on Saturday, Jan. 24 at Cone Field House. Game time on Friday is set for 6 p.m. (PST) and tipoff on Saturday will be at 4 p.m.

On Saturday, the Bearcats and the Wildcats will participate in Feed the Dream -- the MLK Food Drive. Fans who donate two canned food items or an equivalent monetary donation will receive FREE admission to the game.

After two tough losses last week, the Bearcats now hold a 5-10 overall record, with 0-6 in the Northwest Conference. WU took both to the wire, losing in the waning minutes to Lewis & Clark College 65-58 and falling in double-overtime to Pacific Lutheran University by a score of 67-63.

In their double-overtime loss to the Lutes, Jojo DeLong (Sr., PG, Santa Clarita, CA/Canyon HS) played a game-high 44 minutes and scored a game-high 18 points. Through 15 total games, she leads the team in both of those categories having logged 33.3 minutes per game and scored 13.3 points per contest.

Another big contributor in the game against PLU was Katie Kalugin(Sr., G, Woodburn, OR/Woodburn HS), who scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds while shooting 50% (6 of 12) from the field. For the season, Kalugin is third on the team in scoring with 9.5 points per game and is second in rebounding (6.3 per game).

Kylie Towry (So./Fr., G, Medford, OR/South Medford HS) ranks second on the team with 10.2 points per game.

Willamette defeated Pacific in their last match-up by a score of 65-62, so the Bearcats hope to have a repeat from last season. This year, the Boxers are currently 6-10 overall and 2-5 in NWC play.

They are lead by Sarah Curl (So., G) and Olivia Cook (Sr., F), who average 12.3 and 12.0 points per game, respectively. Cook is second in the NWC in with 8.3 rebounds per game, while Curl leads the Boxers with 11 blocked shots.

The area where WU will have an advantage in is 3-point shooting, as the Bearcats rank second in the NWC in 3-pointers made with 109, as compared to Pacific with 76 successful three's.

In this category, the Bearcats are led by Towry who tops the conference in 3-pointers made (44). She is second in the NWC in 3-point shooting percentage, knocking down her triples at a 43.6% clip.

On Saturday, Willamette will battle Linfield, which comes into the weekend with a 7-8 record, including 1-5 in conference play. The last time the Wildcats came to Cone Field House, they barely defeated the Bearcats, winning 60-58 on a 3-pointer with just over a minute left to go in regulation.

Linfield will be led by Amantha Hood (So., G/F) who is first on the team in both scoring per game (12.6) and rebounding per game (8.1). Hood has shot 46.4% from the floor.

Jessica McMillan (Jr., F) will anchor the defense for Linfield, as she ranks third in the NWC in blocked shots (18). She also has been active on the boards, hauling in 5.0 rebounds per game.

One thing the Bearcats may key on defensively is pressuring the Wildcats' offense into making mistakes. So far this season, Linfield leads the conference with 20.0 turnovers per game.