PORTLAND, Ore. – Kory Oleson's 27 points, playing all 40 minutes, were not enough for the Linfield Wildcats, who fell 79-71 to the Lewis & Clark Pioneers on Friday night at the Pamplin Sports Center.
 
Linfield falls to 6-8 in Northwest Conference play and sits a game out of the NWC Tournament with two games to play. Lewis & Clark snapped a seven-game losing streak to improve to 2-12 in conference play.
 
The Pios led 19-12 at the end of the first quarter, shooting 53.3 percent in the quarter. Delsie Johnson was the lead scorer for the Pioneers with 22 points and 14 rebounds, shooting 7 for 13 from the field. In two games against the 'Cats, Johnson scored 57 points.
 
Linfield cut into the Lewis & Clark lead, outscoring the Pios 19-17 in the quarter, but the Pios had the 43-40 edge in the second half to take the win.
 
The Wildcats trailed by just three with less than two minutes left in the third quarter, with Delaney Ragan scoring five-straight points, but the Pioneers scored seven of the next nine points to lead 58-50 after three quarters.
 
Ragan was the second leading scorer for the Wildcats with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. The Portland, Oregon, native is just outside the top-20 in the conference in scoring with an average of 10.3 points per game.
 
Oleson played the full 40 minutes on Saturday, shooting 10 for 19 and scoring 27 points. She has reached the 20-point mark in three of the last five games and averaged 17.5 points per game in the other two games. She also had four rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal in the game.
 
Production of the bench was valuable for the 'Cats as Shasta Lofgren made three three-pointers to tallied 11 points and six rebounds. Lofgren accounted for at least 11 points in both weekend games.
 
Cassidy Schutz scored seven points and Jordyn Feinauer added six. Paige LaFountain had three to round out the starting lineup.
 
Rebounding was a big edge for the Pioneers, who out-rebounded the Wildcats, 39-19 and outshot the 'Cats 45 percent to 40 percent.
 
Linfield remains one game outside the NWC Tournament picture with two games to go. It is currently tied for fifth place with Whitworth.
 
UP NEXT
Linfield welcomes the Whits to Ted Wilson Gym for the final two games of the regular season, the game against Whitman tips off at 6 p.m. on Friday night and the game against Whitworth starts at 4 p.m. Both games against the Whits are Pack The House Weekend, presented by Oregon State Credit Union for the Wildcats, the first 250 fans in attendance on each night will receive free t-shirts and special prizes will be given to winner of the halftime putt putt challenge.