FOREST GROVE – Sarah Curl and Kaila Johnson led the Pacific women's basketball team with 15 points, while Olivia Cook snagged 15 rebounds in the Boxers' 68-65 loss to the visiting Linfield Wildcats on Friday in the Stoller Center.
 
The Wildcats opened the scoring early, but quickly saw Kyla Siri (Jr., Spring Creek, Nev.) respond with a 3-pointer to give the Boxers a 3-2 lead. The Boxers continued as Johnson (Sr., McKinleyville, Calif.) hit a 3-pointer of her own and Abby Jones (Sr., Haines, Alaska) scored three straight to put the Boxers ahead by seven.
 
A jumper by Curl (So., Portland, Ore.) extended the Boxers' lead to nine with 16:47 remaining in the first half.
 
After the Wildcats and Boxers traded makes, Siri hit her second 3-pointer of the evening and was quickly mirrored by a 3-pointer from Curl to put Pacific up 13.
 
After seeing the differential waver between eight and 11 points over a two minute period, the Boxers 11 point lead soon dropped to nine with just under 10 minutes remaining in the opening half.
 
Linfield scored seven-straight points to pull within six with a little over five minutes left in the half. The Boxers, once again, reached a double-digit advantage with 4:58 on the clock.
 
The Wildcats responded to the double-digit deficit with an 18-0 run to close out the first period and head to the locker room with a 40-32 Linfield lead.
 
The second period opened with a Lauren Lykins 3-point make, which sparked a 14-4 Pacific run over the opening five minutes to put the Boxers ahead by two at 46-44. The lead was short lived as the Wildcats answered with a 5-0 run to take a three-point lead with 12:15 remaining in regulation.
 
Pacific battled over the next five minutes to gain a lead after Maia LaBoy (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) scored on a layup. Johnson followed LaBoy's layup with a 3-point make to put Pacific ahead by four.
 
Trailing 63-59 with 3:58 left in regulation, Linfield scored four-straight to tie the game at 63-63. Cook (Sr., Portland, Ore.) tallied Pacific's final make of the evening with 1:13 on the clock, before five-straight from Linfield in the final minute secured a victory for the visitors.
 
The Boxers outrebounded Linfield 49-41 on the evening, led by Cook's 15. Curl grabbed nine rebounds for the Boxers.
 
Curl and Johnson led Pacific with 15 points, while Siri and Cook both finished with four assists.
 
Pacific returns to the Stoller Center floor Saturday at 4 p.m., as Pacific Lutheran travels to Forest Grove.