SALEM, Ore. – A team effort defensively by Willamette University's women's basketball team helped the host team secure its third Northwest Conference victory of the season, as the Bearcats held the University of Puget Sound to a combined 5-for-32 shooting in the second and fourth quarters, respectively, en route to earning a hard-fought 63-61 victory Saturday evening inside Cone Field House.
With tonight's win, Willamette improves to 6-11 overall and 3-5 in Northwest Conference games. Meanwhile, Puget Sound falls to 5-12 overall and 4-4 in NWC games.
Offensively, the Bearcats were led by Gio Horner with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field to go along with a 7-for-10 performance at the free throw line. Horner was aided scoring-wise by Kaitlin Imai with 12 points and Addie Hiler with a career-high 11 points. On the boards, Hiler grabbed a team-best seven rebounds with Gardner handing out a game-high five assists.
Trailing by three points (59-56) with just over four minutes left in the game, Willamette put together a 7-0 run over a span of three minutes and 47 seconds to secure a 62-59 lead with 17 seconds on the clock. A pair of free throws by Puget Sound's Addison Rearson pulled the visiting Loggers within a single point (62-61) with nine seconds showing on the clock. Elyse Waldal would hit her second of two free throws with just over eight seconds left, as Puget Sound drove down the floor and found Autumn Hill under the basket. Fortunately for the host Bearcats, Hill's potential game-tying lay-in missed and Hiler ripped down her seventh and final rebound of the night to secure the slim two-point victory.
The opening quarter saw Puget Sound jump out to a quick nine-point lead (13-4) in the first three-plus minutes. A 5-0 run by Willamete over a span of 69 seconds would get the host Bearcats within five points (13-9) before UPS scored the final three points of the quarter to secure a 16-9 advantage after the opening 10 minutes of play.
The second quarter would see Willamette step up its defense holding Puget Sound to 4-for-22 (18.2%) shooting from the field, as the Bearcats flipped the score taking a 30-26 lead into halftime. Willamette would turn things around slowly over the opening five-plus minutes, as the host Bearcats used a 12-4 run resulting in a 21-20 lead on a Gardner fast break lay-in with 4:49 on the clock. Willamette continued to apply the pressure offensively, as the Bearcats pushed their lead to eight points (30-22) on a three-pointer by Emma Floyd with just over two minutes left in the first half. Despite a 4-0 run to close out the half by Puget Sound, Willamette took the advantage into the locker room clinging to a two-basket lead at the break.
Puget Sound turned things around in the third quarter, as the visiting Loggers hit nearly 70% (11-for-16) of their field goals en route to scoring a game-high 27 points in the third stanza of the game. Willamette started the third quarter grabbing its second six-point lead (34-28) on a lay-in by Horner with 8:10 left. UPS used a 15-3 run over the next five minutes to earn a 43-37 advantage on a free throw by Carmen Cruz with just over three minutes showing on the clock. The visiting Loggers pushed their lead to as much as eight points (51-43) on a Reardon three-pointer before Willamette cut the lead down to seven points (53-46) at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth and final quarter began with Puget Sound grabbing a six-point lead (57-51) on four free throws by Cruz and Natalia Sefair-Lopez in the first two-plus minutes. Over the next seven minutes, Willamette's defense clamped down on UPS holding the Loggers to a 1-for-10 shooting performance over the game's final 10 minutes to go along with an offense that put together an 11-2 run setting up the final 17 seconds of the game.
Puget Sound was led offensively by three Loggers – Mele Sake, Cruz, and Reardon – in double figures paced by Sake's 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field. Cruz and Reardon aided the Loggers' offense with 14 and 12 points, respectively. On the boards, Sake completed her double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with a team-best four assists.
As a team, Willamette combined to shoot 21-for-54 (38.9%) from the field, including 7-for-25 (28.0%) from beyond the three-point line. At the free throw line, the host Bearcats were a combined 14-for-23 (60.9%). On the other hand, Puget Sound was a combined 22-for-61 (36.1%) from the field, 4-for-20 (20.0%) from long distance, and 13-for-16 (81.3%) at the charity stripe.
The Bearcats return to the floor on Tuesday, January 28, when Willamette hits the road for the final time during the opening month of 2025 to take on the Pioneers of Lewis & Clark College starting at 8:00 PM in Portland.
