Just one week remains in the regular season for Northwest Conference basketball teams and the Linfield Wildcats men and women are right in the thick of the NWC Tournament picture with two games to go.
 
The Linfield women must win both games this weekend to have a chance at the postseason tournament. The Wildcast take on Whitman on Friday at 6 p.m. and Whitworth on Saturday at 4 p.m. On the men's side, the top three teams in the conference square off at Ted Wilson Gym this weekend as the Wildcats host the Blues on Friday at 8 p.m. and the Pirates Saturday at 6 p.m.
 
PACK THE HOUSE WEEKEND
All four games this weekend are part of "Pack the House Weekend," presented by Oregon State Credit Union. The first 250 fans each night receive free T-shirts. Special prizes will be given to winners of the halftime putt-putt challenge.
 
GOLDEN VALLEY BEER GARDEN
For those 21 years of age and older, Golden Valley Brewery and Restaurant is catering a special beer garden on the upper level of the HHPA building before and during all four games. The beer garden opens one hour before the women's game tips off both nights.
 
SENIOR DAY
The two Linfield teams are set to honor eight graduating seniors with special ceremonies prior to the start of each game on Saturday. Hanna Bingham, Molly Danielson, Kory Oleson and Cassidy Schutz are the four graduating women's student-athletes, while Tanner Autencio, Grant Gibb, Austin Hilton and Aidan Phizackerley are set to play their final regular-season games as Linfield Wildcats.

HALFTIME RECOGNITION
Members of Linfield's conference champion football team will be recognized during halftime of Friday's women's game. On Saturday night, first team all-conference honorees from women's soccer plus recent NWC swimming event champions will be saluted.
 
COVERAGE
The Linfield Sports Network will have every play covered this weekend with a full video broadcast for each game. Graeme Fineman and Joe Stuart will narrate the action from courtside.
 
NWC MEN'S TITLE UP FOR GRABS
Linfield defeated Willamette and Lewis & Clark by an average margin of 35 points last weekend. Having won six straight games, the Wildcats hold a 12-2 NWC record, third-best in the conference. With Whitworth and Whitman playing each other Tuesday night, Linfield will move into a tie for second place going into the weekend.
 
The Wildcats are aiming to host their first postseason game since 2009-10 and can win at least a share of the NWC regular season title with a sweep of the Blues and the Pirates this weekend. The two wins this past weekend helped the Wildcats reach 18 overall wins. That's the most victories under seventh-year coach Shanan Rosenberg and the most for the men's basketball program since 2000-01, the last season the Wildcats claimed the NWC regular-season title and qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
 
The reason for the Wildcats' dominance this season has been their offense, which is one of the best in the nation, ranking among the top 10 nationally in several statistical categories. Linfield is fourth in the nation in field-goal percentage (51.5 percent), fifth in assists per game (19.6), fifth in three-point percentage (40.2 percent) and ninth in scoring offense, scoring 89.9 points per game.
 
The high scoring numbers are boosted by the great seasons that Dempsey Roggenbuck and Tanner Autencio are having. Roggenbuck is third in the NWC with 17.6 points per game and ninth in the NWC in field goal percentage, shooting 50.2 percent from the field. Autencio leads the NWC in assists per game with an average of 4.6 and is the top 50 nationally with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.28. He is also second in the conference at 2.04 steals per game.
 
BACKS AGAINST THE WALL FOR THE WOMEN
The Linfield women dropped two games to Willamette and Lewis & Clark over the weekend and are now 6-8 in conference play, one game out of the NWC Tournament with two game to play. Linfield is currently tied for fifth place with Puget Sound, chasing Willamette, which is in fourth.
 
The Wildcats are shooting 41.7 percent on the season, which is third in the conference and scoring 68.9 points per game, which is also third. Averaging 13.3 assists per game, Linfield is second in the conference in assists per game and also second in three-point defense, restricting teams to 27.9 percent accuracy from outside the arc.
 
Week after week, Kory Oleson is separating herself from the rest of the Northwest Conference as the top scorer in the Northwest Conference. She is averaging 18.6 points per game, which leads the conference. Her scoring average is 2.5 points per game higher than any other active player in the conference.
 
Delaney Ragan is another player who is emerging as one of the top freshmen in the NWC. Ragan reached the double-digit scoring mark in both games this past weekend and is third on the team in scoring, averaging 10.5 points per game.
 
Linfield is looking for its first winning season since 2015-16 and can get there with one win this weekend. Reaching 13 wins would clinch a winning record and equal the number of victories in one season during Casey Bunn-Wilson's five-year coaching tenure.
 
DETHRONING THE BLUES
The Whitman men have won the last three regular-season NWC titles, a streak that could end this week. Entering the week, Whitworth is tied with Whitman for the NWC lead with Linfield sitting one game back.
 
Points are expected to be plentiful on Friday night when the third-best and ninth-best scoring offenses in the nation square off. The Blues average 98.3 points per game and the 'Cats average 89.9 points per game. The Blues get to the free throw line often, ranking first in Division III in attempts (645) and second in makes (449). Whitman, however, does not rank in the top 200 in the nation's free-throw percentage, shooting 69.6 percent from the stripe.
 
A key for the Wildcats will be protecting the ball against the Blues' well-known blanket defense, which produces 19.3 opponent turnovers per game (second nationally) and 10.1 steals per game (12th nationally)
 
The Blues are led by Andrew Vickers, who is tied for third in the NWC with Roggenbuck, scoring 17.3 points per game and shooting 52.1 percent from the field, which is seventh in the conference. Robert Colton is second in the conference with 7.9 rebounds per game and Trevor Osborne is second in three-point percentage, shooting 42.6 percent.
 
The Wildcats are looking for their first win over the Blues since the 2010-11 season. The Blues have won the last 19 meetings over the 'Cats, including a 99-82 win in Walla Walla earlier this season.
 
The Whitman women are once again one of the top teams in the nation, ranked No. 7 in the latest D3hoops.com poll and No. 9 in the latest WBCA poll. The Blues have clinched the NWC regular season title, leading the conference by four games with two to go.
 
The Blues have the best offensive unit the conference, leading the NWC in field goal percentage and scoring offense. They are shooting 44.4 percent and 73.2 points per game. The key for the Wildcats and the Blues on Friday night will be to find a way to convert from beyond the three-point arc. The Wildcats limit opponents to 27.9 three-point field goal percentage and the Blues restrict opponents to 29.6 percent.
 
Makana Stone is the player to watch for the Blues. She is second in the conference in field goal percentage, shooting 51.9 and second in scoring among active players, with an average of 15.3 points per game. Mady Burdett is fifth in the NWC with 3.3 assists per game.
 
Whitman has not lost to Linfield since the 2006-07 season and defeated the Wildcats, 82-63 earlier this season at home.
 
CAPTURING THE PIRATES
The Whitworth men won are once again a contender for an NCAA Tournament bid and are ranked No. 4 in the West in the latest NCAA Regional rankings. Holding an overall record of 19-4, the Pirates are the 26^th best team in the nation in the latest D3hoops.com poll.
 
Like the Wildcats, the Pirates also have one of the most efficient offenses in the nation, shooting 49.9 percent on the season, which is ninth nationally. Whitworth is second in the NWC with 40.70 rebounds per game and block the second most shots in the conference, averaging 3.7 per game.
 
The player who jumps out on the scouting report for the Pirates is Ben College, a contender for the NWC Player of the Year. He leads the NWC in scoring with an average of 22.3 points per game and is first among all players in the conference in free-throw and third-best nationally, shooting 90.8 percent from the stripe. He is joined by Sam Lees, who is third in the conference with a field goal percentage of 57.9.
 
The Pirates prevailed by just three points, winning 98-95 over the Wildcats in the first meeting of this season in Spokane on January 24.
 
The Whitworth women have won three of their last four contests, including a win over nationally-ranked George Fox in their last game. The Pirates are in the middle of the race for the final spot in the NWC Tournament, standing one game out with two to play and hold the tiebreaker over the Wildcats. Both squads are tied with Puget Sound for fifth place in the standings.
 
The Pirates are shooting 42.5 percent on the season, which is second in the conference and tops in the NWC, shooting 34.8 percent from beyond the three-point line. Whitworth has the most free-throw makes and attempts in the conference, but their conversion rate of 65.5 percent is eighth in the NWC.
 
Syndey Abbott is the leading passer for the Bucs, averaging 3.4 assists per game, which is fourth-best in the conference. Two dangerous players from deep range are Talia Bradner and Quincy McDeid, both of whom are shooting over 30 percent from beyond the arc and rank among the top five in the NWC in three-point field goal percentage.
 
The game-tying three-point attempt for the Wildcats came up short in Spokane on January 24 and the Pirates won 75-72. Linfield has won two of the last three meetings against Whitworth.