SALEM, Ore. - Multnomah earned their second victory in the last three days tonight, as they downed the Bearcats of Willamette University in an 80-71 win on the road. Freshman Teyah Clark's 21-point night helped propel the visitors to victory, with the guard being one of five Lions to end the night with double-digit scoring.

"The girls stuck to the game plan tonight, and we managed to execute on both sides of the ball," said head coach Reid Takatsuka. "We have the ability to compete with top teams across the region, but we have to continue getting better as a group and we have to limit the amount of mistakes we commit during games. I'm proud of how we performed these last two games, and we're looking forward to getting back into the gym ahead of our game at Warner next week.

Willamette took advantage of the game early, jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead before increasing their advantage to nine points with 6:52 remaining in the first quarter. Multnomah then used a 10-4 run to pull within two points before the Bearcats extended their lead to seven points with 41 seconds on the clock. The Lions would close the gap to three points at the end of the first quarter thanks to a 4-0 run in the final minute.Multnomah managed to tie the game up in the early stages of the second quarter, before eventually taking a 39-36 lead heading into the halftime interval.

Out of the halftime break, Willamette used a quick 4-0 run over the first 49 seconds to go back up by a single point. The Lions showed no sign of quitting however, as the visitors used a 16-6 run over the next six-plus minutes to pull in front by nine points on a free throw by Reya Lee with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. Willamette would get as close as four points on a three-pointer with 2:16 on the clock. Unfortunately, that would be the closest that the Bearcats would get with the visiting Lions increasing their advantage to 58-51 after three quarters.

The final quarter would see Willamette pull within two points on back-to-back free throws with 7:36 left in the game. The Bearcats would not be able to get any closer for the remainder of the game, as Multnomah used a 13-7 run over the next six minutes to push its lead back to eight points. The Lions would grab the game's only double-digit lead (77-67) after back-to-back free throws from Jersey Huerta with just over 30 seconds left in the game. Timely free throw shooting down the stretch by Multnomah would be too much for Willamette, as the Bearcats watched the Lions hit 5-of-6 shots from the free throw line.

Multnomah's Clark was aided offensively by Huerta (18 points), Kyana Brucelas (12 points), Makayla Tornornoo (11 points), and Lee (10 points). On the boards, senior forward Gracie Browning pulled down a team-high six rebounds along with a game-high eight assists. As a team, Multnomah would get 42 points off the bench as three of the Lions' four reserve players scored in double figures.

The Lions open up the 2024 Cascade Collegiate Conference season on Tuesday, as they travel across town to take on local rivals Warner Pacific University.