Second Half Shooting Leads Boxers To Victory Over Wildcats
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FOREST GROVE – The Pacific women's basketball team used second half shooting and defense to claim a 57-41 victory over rival Linfield on Saturday evening at the Stoller Center.
The Wildcats took an 8-0 run in the first four minutes of the game.
Paige Jensen (Sr., Bemidji, Minn.) opened the scoring for the Boxers with a jumper.
Alex Pfefferle (Jr., Twin Falls, Idaho) brought the Boxers within three at the 14 minutes mark with a three-pointer. The Wildcats would score the next two baskets, putting them up by eight with less than 11 minutes to play.
Heather Hitch (Sr., Enumclaw, Wash.) brought the Boxers back with a made jumper and then two made free throws by
Anuhea Wall (So., Kealakekua, Hawaii) cut the Wildcat lead to four with ten minutes to play in the first half.
Kaila Johnson (So., McKinleyville, Calif.) sunk a layup to bring the Boxers within two, 13-11.
After a Linfield trey, the Boxers took control of the rest of the first half. With five minutes left to play in the half, the Boxers hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers, starting with
Nani Ostrom (So., Juneau, Alaska), her first three of the evening to bring the Boxers within two. She would hit another trey at 4:09 to put the Boxers within one of the Wildcats, 18-17. Johnson would hit the Boxers third trey to take the Boxers first lead of the evening at 20-18. The Boxers headed into halftime leading by just one after a jumper from Linfield's Katelyn Henson.
The Boxers shot 44.4 percent from the field in the second half, starting with a jumper coming from Johnson. Jensen increased the Boxer lead to six with 15:24 left to play in the game with a layup and two made free throws. Senior guard,
Erica Colter (Sr., Kennewick, Wash.) put the Boxers up 38-27 with a made shot from beyond the arc.
Hitch put the Boxers up by 12 with two made free throws after a Wildcat foul. The Wildcats cut the Boxer lead to seven after a trey from Nicole Barton. With six minutes left to play, Katelyn Henson cut the Boxer lead to five with a made jumper. But Johnson responded with her second three of the game, putting the Boxers up 45-39.
The Boxers took a 16 point lead, their largest of the game, with 2:16 left to play after a jumper from sophomore forward,
Olivia Cook (So., Beaverton, Ore.). The Wildcats cut the lead to 14 with 1:13 left, but was too late as Wall put the Boxers back up by 16 to end the game.
Jensen picked up her seventh double-double of the season, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to go along with five steals in 29 minutes of play. Johnson also added 12 points , shooting 4 of 6 from the field and 2 of 4 from beyond the arc in 28 minutes of play. Ostrom picked up 10 points and four rebounds, shooting 4 of 5 from the field. Hitch added eight points. The Boxers shot 35.8 percent from the field (19 of 53), 40 percent from 3-point range (6 of 15) and 86.7 percent from the charity stripe (13 of 15). The Boxers forced 21 Linfield turnover and only commited 11 themselves.
The Boxers improve to 10-4 overall, 3-3 in Northwest Conference action. Next week, the Boxers travel into Portland to take on a tough Lewis & Clark squad on Jan. 15. Tip off is at 6 p.m.
