Second Half Comeback Falls Short in 70-59 Loss to Pacific on Senior Night

Written by Mark Colachico, Contributing Writer

SALEM, Ore. — In its final game of the season, the Willamette University women's basketball team nearly came back from an eight-point halftime deficit thanks to a 53.3% shooting performance in the third quarter. However, in the final quarter, Pacific University hit 10 of 12 free throw attempts en route to securing a 70-59 victory over the Bearcats on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 22, inside Cone Field House.

Willamette concluded the season with an overall record of 13-12 and a 7-9 record in Northwest Conference play. Pacific improved to 17-8 overall and 11-5 in NWC games. The Boxers will advance to the NWC Tournament as the No. 2 seed behind the NWC regular season champions from Whitman College.

On Senior Night, the host Bearcats got 13 points and a game-high six rebounds from Elizabeth Logsdon (Sr., F, McMinnville, OR/McMinnville HS) to go along with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field that included a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the three-point line by Amanda Carpenter (Jr., G, Beaverton, OR/Sunset HS). Lucy Morrill (Sr., G, Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) and Ava Kitchin (Fy., F, Redmond, OR/Redmond HS) added seven points each, while Drew Farmer (Sr., PG, Brookings, OR/Brookings-Harbor HS) concluded her Bearcat career with four points, three rebounds, and a game-high tying four assists.

Pacific saw three players score in double figures with Courtney Carolan scoring a game-high 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, while Carny Aguinaldo and Brilie Kovaloff added 14 points apiece. Alexis Intong led the Boxers with a game-high 10 rebounds, as Aguinaldo dished out a game-high tying four assists for the visitors.

The game began with Pacific scoring the first seven points and holding Willamette scoreless over the opening four-plus minutes. Morrill would finally put the Bearcats on the board with a jumper at the 5:14 mark, as Willamette scored 10 of the game's next 18 points to pull to 15-10 following a Logsdon lay-in with just under two minutes remaining. Pacific would close the quarter on a slim 2-1 run and took a 17-11 lead into the second quarter.

Willamette began the second quarter on a 7-1 run to pull within a single point (19-18) on a step back jumper by Madison Ballard (So., G, Monroe, OR/Monroe HS) with 7:45 left in the first half. Over the next seven-plus minutes, Pacific used a 10-1 run to increase its lead to double digits (29-19) before a pair of free throws by Ballard closed out the opening half with Willamette behind by eight points (29-21).

The third quarter started with Willamette quickly erasing its eight-point halftime deficit thanks to an 8-0 run over the opening 101 seconds that included as three-pointer by Morrill to go along with five unanswered points by Carpenter. The final points of the run came via a Carpenter three-pointer that tied the score at 29-all with 8:11 on the clock. Both teams would battle back and forth over the next seven minutes with neither team holding more than a four-point lead. With just over a minute remaining in the quarter and the score knotted at 39-39, Pacific used a 4-0 run to pull ahead 43-39 with only 10 minutes left.

Pacific came out of the gates firing on all cylinders in the fourth and final quarter, as the Boxers increased their lead to a game-high 14 points (54-40) following an 11-1 run. Willamette would get as close as seven points (64-57) on a three-pointer by Carpenter with 26 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, timely free throw shooting down the stretch by Pacific would be the difference as the Boxers walked away with the 11-point victory.

Willamette would combine to shoot 22-for-57 (38.6%) from the field, as the Bearcats connected on 6-of-15 (40.0%) from beyond the three-point line and were 9-of-15 (60.0%) at the free throw line. On the other hand, Pacific was a combined 27-for-58 (46.6%) from the field, 3-for-13 (23.1%) from long distance, and 13-of-16 (81.3%) at the charity stripe.

The Bearcats will say good bye to four seniors — Logsdon, Morrill, Farmer, and Kassin Hopkins (Sr., G, Connell, WA/Connell HS/Bellevue College) — and look forward to the 2020-21 season.