Over the last two weeks, the Linn-Benton women’s basketball team has experienced the most brutal part of their conference schedule.
Since Jan. 20, the Roadrunners have had to play five conference matchups in 14 days. During the stretch, Linn-Benton had a pair of home matches against Clark and Southwestern Oregon while traveling to face Umpqua, Chemeketa, and Portland on the road.
To kick off the stretch, the Roadrunners found themselves in a contentious battle against Clark. Linn-Benton raced out to a seven-point lead within five minutes, a margin they would improve upon before the end of the quarter to lead 19-10.
In the second quarter, the Roadrunners spent most of the time piling on to their advantage, taking a 31-15 lead with a little over four minutes to go. However, after a late run by the visitors, Linn-Benton held just a 33-24 lead into the halftime break.
After trading baskets throughout the opening five minutes of the second half, Linn-Benton, with a 43-33 lead, seemed content to hold onto their advantage and bleed out the clock. Clark would not go down easy, however; the Penguins would outscore the Roadrunners 19-9 to close out the quarter, knotting the game up at 52-52 entering the fourth.
With their advantage now gone, the Roadrunners knew it was an entirely new ball game in the fourth quarter.
“You can’t give in to their energy,” said Molly Goeckner, “[Clark] had a rise in their energy and you have to match that and take control of the game again.”
Both sides battled hard throughout the opening minutes of the game’s final quarter. With the score favoring Linn-Benton 62-61 with six minutes left, the Roadrunners would finally find some separation thanks to seven points from Natalia McBride and a bucket by Lidia Jacobsen.
Now leading 71-61, Linn-Benton would cruise through the closing minutes to an 80-71 victory. Katelynn Weaver led the Roadrunners with 28 points, while McBride was not far behind with 25 of her own. Weaver also grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds, with Goeckner snatching the second most with 10 boards.
“We’ve improved a lot as a group overall,” said Goeckner, “team chemistry is really important and I feel like we’ve been able to manage that really well.”
With Clark out of the way, Linn-Benton traveled to Umpqua and Chemeketa before their next home match against Southwestern Oregon on Jan. 29
Against Umpqua on Jan. 22, the Roadrunners found themselves in a difficult match against one of the NWAC’s best teams. Umpqua, who had entered the game with an overall record of 18-0, quickly took control of the match. After outscoring Linn-Benton 25-13 in the first quarter, Umpqua added 22 more points in the second to lead 47-34 at the halftime break. Umpqua continued their dominance into the second half, outscoring Linn-Benton 38-20 to grab a commanding 85-54 win.
A few days later, on Jan. 25, the Roadrunners would run into more trouble against a challenging Chemeketa side. After outscoring Chemekta 10-9 in the first quarter, Linn-Benton only scored two points throughout the second to give Chemeketa a 28-12 halftime lead. The Roadrunners scored more points in the third and fourth quarters alone than in the first half; however, Chemeketa was not to be denied as they claimed a 66-46 victory.
After the two blowouts on the road, the Roadrunners were motivated and determined to give their home crowd a show against Southwestern Oregon.
“So far we’ve had some rough patches, but it’s all about getting past those and doing better for the second time around,” said Kylee Baumgartner.
Against Southwestern, Linn-Benton looked like a completely new team from the one that had been in a rough patch a few days earlier. After falling behind 2-6 early, the Roadrunners responded with a 13-6 run to close the quarter. Linn-Benton continued to control the match in the second quarter, outscoring Southwestern 15-11 to hold a 30-23 lead at the break.
The third quarter of the game would prove the deciding one as Linn-Benton continued to build their lead by scoring 21 points and holding Southwestern to just 14. Ultimately, both teams would put up 14 points in the final quarter to give Linn-Benton the all-important 65-51 win.
Weaver led the team with 20 points while filling the stat sheet with 10 rebounds and 4 steals. Baumgartner also recorded a team-high of 10 boards and finished second on the team with 3 steals.
“Stat wise, we needed that win,” said Baumgartner, “but team wise, we definitely needed that win for chemistry.”
Three days later, on Feb. 1, the Roadrunners would face off against a side they had beaten earlier in the year. This time, however, it would be Portland that would get the better of Linn-Benton.
Portland convincingly controlled both halves, outscoring Linn-Benton 61-36 through three quarters before coasting to a 67-48 win. The result left the Roadrunners with an overall record of 12-9 and a conference record of 4-5 before their next match against Lane on Feb. 5.
Tip-off for Linn-Benton’s match against Lane is set for tonight at 5:30 p.m.
