McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Delaney Ragan scored career-high 18 points and Cassidy Schutz tallied career-high eight assists for the Linfield Wildcats, who defeated the Pacific Lutheran Lutes, 75-71 on Saturday. Kory Oleson led all teams in scoring with 26 points, including 15 in the first half.
 
The Wildcats are 6-6 in Northwest Conference play and have a one-game cushion for the final spot in the NWC Tournament, while the Lutes fall to 4-8 in conference play, two games out a tournament spot with four games to go. Linfield is 12-9 overall this season and needs one more win in its last four games to clinch a non-losing record for the first time since 2015-16, the first season under coach Casey Bunn-Wilson.
 
Linfield hit the ground running early in this game, leading 8-4 at the midway point of the first quarter and finished the quarter leading 19-11. Oleson had seven of the 19 points for the 'Cats, while Schutz was halfway to her career-high in assists with four in the quarter.
 
Disrupting the Lutes offense was the key for the Wildcats and they were successful throughout the game, forcing 19 turnovers in the game, including 11 in the first half. Getting the Lutes in foul trouble was another thing the Wildcats were extremely well at all night, as five of the seven Lutes that played in the game had at least four fouls.
 
Oleson continued to stay hot in the second quarter, scoring eight points in the quarter. The Wildcats led 36-29 at halftime as Ragan had eight first-half points and Shasta Lofgren added four off the bench.
 
Linfield led by eight going into the fourth quarter and Pacific Lutheran did its best to take the lead, but the closest it got was 74-71 with eight seconds left, but the Lutes were unable to score the game-tying bucket.
 
Ragan had 17 points in her first collegiate game against Walla Walla on Nov. 9, 2019 and eclipsed her career-best on Saturday night. She did not miss a shot in the game, shooting 6 for 6 from the field and 4 for 4 from the stripe. The Portland, Oregon, native is averaging 10.1 points per game, which is third on the team.
 
Schutz had career-high seven assists against the Lutes on Jan. 26, 2019 and had a great dishing out passes on Saturday night, grabbing eight assists. She was third member on the team to reach double-figures in scoring with 12 points, she also added seven rebounds and two steals.
 
The leading scorer in the Northwest Conference, Oleson has averaged 22.3 points per game in her last three games and raised her season average to 18.2, well above the NWC's second-leading scorer's mark of 15.8 points per game.
 
Jordyn Feinauer battled through a tough shooting night to add seven hard-earned points and Lofgren added six points off the bench, shooting a perfect 4 for 4 from the free-throw line. Schutz, Feinauer and Lofgren each had two steals in the game while Oleson had two blocks.
 
The Wildcats outshot the Lutes, 48.1 percent to 41.4 percent, and shot 38.5 percent from beyond the three-point line. The two teams combined to score 36 points at the stripe, with the Lutes shooting 80 percent and the Wildcats shooting 74.1 percent.
 
 The Wildcats have dominated the head-to-head matchups against the Lutes over the past five years, beating the Lutes in eight of the last ten matchups.
 
UP NEXT
Linfield hits the road for the final time in the regular season, travelling to Salem to take on Willamette on Friday at 6 p.m. and up to Portland to face Lewis & Clark at 4 p.m.