Written by Mark Colachico, Contributing Writer
SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University's women's basketball team scored the opening 14 points of the game and then added another 14-3 run to start the second half, as the Bearcats closed out the 2022 calendar year with a wire-to-wire 61-46 victory over Alma College (Mich.) on Friday, Dec. 30 inside Cone Field House.
The Bearcats concluded 2022 with a pair of victories, defeating Vancouver Island (Canada) by 24 points before earning today's 15-point win. Willamette concluded the final month of the year winning three of five games with all three victories coming by double figures. This is also the fifth year in a row, minus the 2020-21 season that was cancelled due to COVID-19, that the Bearcats have concluded the calendar year with a victory.
Carolyn Ho (Jr., G, Parker, CO/Ponderosa HS) led Willamette with 13 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Ashlyn Ascuena-Mercil (Sr., F, Boise, ID/Timberline HS) registered her second double-double of the season with 12 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds. Megan River (Jr., G, Tumwater, WA/A.G. West Black Hills HS) added nine points, including Willamette's first five points of the contest, to go along with five rebounds and game-high five assists.
With the win, Willamette closes out the 2022 calendar year with a winning record, improving to 6-5 overall. Meanwhile, Alma drops to 4-8, ending the Scots' quick two-game Oregon road trip with a pair of hard-fought losses in the Willamette Valley. Alma lost at Pacific University 59-50 on Thursday.
The game began with Willamette scoring the opening 14 points over a span of five minutes and 55 seconds, as the Bearcats saw their opening run begin on a three-pointer by River before ending on a lay-in by Kaitlin Imai (Fy., G, Santa Cruz, CA/Scotts Valley HS). Alma would finally get on the board at the 3:18 mark when Taylor Sas snapped the Scots' 0-for-11 shooting drought with a lay-up. Willamette never stopped applying the pressure, as the Bearcats closed out the quarter scoring six of the final 10 combined points to take a 20-6 lead after the opening 10 minutes.
The second quarter would be an evenly played frame, as Alma outscored Willamette by a mere two points, 15-13. The visiting Scots would get within 11 points (32-21) on a lay-in by Olivia Warren with just under two minutes remaining in the opening half. Fortunately for the Bearcats, that would be as close as Alma would get as Willamette took a 33-21 lead into the locker room.
The third quarter began with Willamette putting together a 14-3 run pulling ahead by 23 points (47-24), as Sami Riggs (Sr., G, La Verne, CA/Bonita HS) started the run with a jump shot and Ho capped it with an old-fashion three-point play at the 5:52 mark. The Bearcats would extend their lead to as much as 25 points (53-28) on a jump shot by Ashley Collins (Jr., P, Chino Hils, CA/Chino Hills HS) before Alma used an 11-0 run over a span of two-plus minutes to get within 14 points (53-39) on a three-pointer by Kerri Miller with just over 30 seconds left in the quarter. Willamette scored the final points of the third quarter on a Claire Bonnet (Sr., G, Boise, ID/Boise HS) lay-in to enter the final 10 minutes of play with a 53-39 lead.
The fourth and final quarter saw the least amount of combined points by both teams in a single quarter, as Alma outscored Willamette, 7-6, over the last 10 minutes. Bonnet would begin the scoring for the Bearcats on a made lay-in with 9:18 on the clock. A little over four minutes later, Ho scored again for Willamette on a lay-in with 4:52 on the clock. That would be the final points of the game for the Bearcats, as Alma would get a pair of free throws from Brooke LeRoux and a jumper by Miller for the final margin of 15 points (61-46).
Sas led Alma with a game-high 14 points to go along with a team-high tying six rebounds, while Miller added 11 points off the Scots' bench. Along with Sas, Izzy Alston grabbed a team-high tying six rebounds, with Maddie Robbins handing out a team-leading two assists for Alma.
As a team, Willamette shot a combined 25-for-56 (44.6%) from the field to go along with a 5-for-13 (38.5%) showing from beyond the three-point line and 6-of-11 (54.5%) at the free throw line. Meanwhile, Alma turned in a 28.6% (16-for-56) shooting performance from the field, 2-of-15 (13.3%) from long distance, and 12-of-18 (66.7%) at the charity stripe.
Willamette returns to the hardwood in 2023 and restarts Northwest Conference play against the rival Wildcats of Linfield University on Tuesday, Jan. 3. The game will be played inside Ted Wilson Gymnasium in McMinnville, Oregon, starting at 6 p.m. (PST).
