McMINNVILLE, Ore. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team got back into the win column Friday night following a 66-50 road victory against Linfield University.
The Bulldogs, who improve to 2-1 jumpstarted their trip to the Pacific Northwest behind an 18 point performance from Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA). She was 7-for-9 from the field, which included a perfect 4-for-4 night from deep. She was joined in double figures by Julia Balestreri (Pleasanton, CA) who came off the bench with ten points and six rebounds.
The first ten minutes were the most competitive of the game. The Wildcats scored first, but a three from Downs gave the Bulldogs their first lead and they would not trail the rest of the quarter.
The Bulldogs held their largest lead of the game at five, 13-8, after Chyanne Pagkalinawan (Valencia, CA) made a free throw followed by Leah Tan (Alhambra, CA) who knocked down a three off an Aliyah Anderson (Oceanside, CA) assist at the 4:28 mark.
After a run from the Wildcats, which tied the game at 17 with 1:02 remaining, Anderson made a layup with :38 seconds left as UR took a 19-17 lead into the second period.
Through the first six plus minutes in the second, the Bulldogs used a 12-2 run to increase their margin to twelve, 31-19. Hannah Jerrier (Canton, MA) had six points during the stretch and Balestreri would add another four.
Linfield again scored late in the quarter to cut the deficit to single-digits, 31-22, with :28 seconds left. But the next time down the floor Downs would have an answer hitting another three as time ran out giving Redlands a 34-22 halftime lead.
In the opening minute of the third quarter, Downs extended her own run to eight following a jumper and a three-pointer, which gave UR its largest lead at 17, 39-22.
Following another Linfield surge, Pagkalinawan, Anderson, and Balestreri would respond each adding a field goal as they pushed the Redlands lead to 23, 49-26. This would be their largest lead of the game.
Linfield made things interesting in the fourth quarter outscoring the Bulldogs 18-11, which got them within 13, 58-45, with 3:34 remaining. But Tan would come up clutch scoring four points to end the threat helping the Maroon and Grey come away with the 16-point win.
Jerrier posted nine points on 4-of-9 shooting with eight rebounds, four steals and two blocks. Pagkalinawan added another nine points with five rebounds with three assists and Tan and Anderson would combine for 14 points and three steals.
Redlands shot 45.3% from the field and a sizzling 71.4% from three-point territory. They were also at a 72.2% clip from the free-throw line. Defensively they forced 21 turnovers and turned them into 19 points, scored 24 points in the paint and hauled in 34 rebounds.
The Bulldogs continue their road trip with a game at Pacific University (Oregon), today, Saturday, November 26 with tipoff at 1:30 p.m.