Box Score

McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Sarah Curl's (Fr., Portland, Ore.) move to the bench did not take the wind out of her sails.  It purely made her a secret weapon.
 
The freshman came alive to score 25 points Saturday, leading a blistering shooting night for the Boxers as they won their first Northwest Conference women's basketball game of the season, 87-69, over Linfield at Ted Wilson Gymnasium.
 
Curl connected on 11 of 16 from the field, including three three-pointers, as the Boxers set season highs by shooting shooting 55.2 percent from the field (32-58) and 52.6 percent from three-point range (10-19).
 
Olivia Cook (Jr., Beaverton, Ore.) added 14 points to go along with seven rebounds.  Pacific out-rebounded the Wildcats 42-25 and committed just 20 turnovers.
 
Katelyn Henson led three Linfield players in double figures with 21 points.  Kaely Maltman added 16 points and Taylor Solomon scored 12.  The Wildcats shot 43.3 percent from the field (26-60).
 
With the win, Pacific snapped a seven-game losing streak while improving to 5-11 overall, 1-7 NWC.  Linfield dropped to 6-11, 2-6 NWC.
 
Through much of the first half, though, the contest had all of the makings of a Linfield night.  The Wildcats jumped out to an 18-12 lead on Grace McMillan's three-pointer at the 12:25 mark.  The Boxers would draw to within one on Olivia Mayorga-Overtone's (Jr., Oakland, Calif.) three-pointer with nine minutes left, but the Wildcats built right back up to a 32-24 advantage on Solomon's lay-up with 5:14 to go.
 
The Linfield lead was six with 3:37 left when Pacific went on a 17-1 to close the half.  Kaila Johnson (Jr., McKinleyville, Calif.) started it with her three-pointer at the 3:27 mark and Alex Pfefferle (Sr., Twin Falls, Idaho) fueled it with two three-pointers as the Boxers went into halftime with a 45-35 lead.
 
Linfield managed to stay close over the first few minutes of the second half.  The Wildcats drew to within five points on Maltman's lay-in with 17:15 to go, but the Boxers quickly drew the advantage back to nine on a pair of Nani Ostrom (Jr., Juneau, Alaska) free throws with five minutes gone.
 
The lead was 56-48 when Pacific opened up the clinching 10-0 run, culminating on Annette Highley's (Jr., Juneau, Alaska) three-pointer at the 9:29 mark.  Curl scored 17 of her 25 in the second half, fueling the Pacific offense for the victory.
 
Pacific will open the second half of the NWC on the tough eastern Washington trip.  The Boxers will play on Friday at Whitman at 6 p.m., followed by a Saturday match-up at Whitworth with a 4 p.m. tipoff.  Both games can be heard live via an audio webcast at GoBoxers.com.