Lady Owls Pick Up Road Win at Linfield
McMINNVILLE, Ore. - Jenna Ball used her hot shooting and timely defense to upend a spirited Linfield comeback at Ted Wilson Gymnasium Monday night. Ball finished with 14 points and took a key charge with 18 seconds to go to help OIT escape with a 56-51 win.
OIT (7-2, 0-2 CCC) was able to spread the court on Linfield’s pressure defense with some precision passing throughout the game. The Owls tallied up 10 assists in the first half to the Wildcats two. OIT put the screws on the ‘Cats defensively, forcing nine Linfield turnovers while only committing four itself in the first half of play.
Linfield (4-2) went cold from the field in the final 10 minutes of the first half, getting outscored 18-5 while hitting only two field goals during the stretch, on their way to a 32.1 percent output at the closure of the first half.
The Wildcats came out of the locker room with two quick scores to get the game back within 11 at 37-26. Shortly thereafter, floor leader Brihtani Lassiter (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) went down with an apparent ankle injury with 18:39 to go and did not return till the 13:50 mark.
Soon after the injury to Lassiter, OIT responded with two quick three-point field goals to extend the lead to 19.
With just over six minutes to go Linfield made their run, starting with a steal from Casey Stepan (Sr., Vancouver, Wash.) who fed Lassiter for a 13-foot runner, getting the ‘Cats within 10. Linfield would go silent for some time before a three-pointer from Courtney McFadden (Jr., Salem, Ore.) and a 15-footer from Jenni Carlos (Jr., Yakima, Wash.) made the score 50-44.