Fast Break: Seahawks win it all, ’Cats find some weekend success

A duck in a Willamette jersey about to score a goal on the soccer field while the crowd cheers behind them. Art by Wes Mowry-Silverman.

Hello, Bearcat Fan! I hope all my PNW readers aren’t too hungover during this uncharacteristically sunny early week following the Seahawks’ Super Bowl win, but who am I to chastise anyone for the way they celebrate? Our Bearcats also had a successful weekend as most spring sports kicked off to some wins on their respective season openers, and basketball remains in the fight for playoff contention. Onto the news!

Men’s basketball jumped up into the No. 3 spot in conference standings after beating the Loggers 88-78 in Tacoma and trouncing the Lutes 99-70, putting their overall record at 13-9 and remaining a game over No. 4 Lewis & Clark. Tanner Overby (’28) hasn’t scored fewer than 25 points in a game for five consecutive games as of the win over Pacific Lutheran, and he earned NWC player of the week honors for his recent form on Feb. 2. 

Women’s basketball split their series in Tacoma, losing 57-68 to the Loggers on Friday and then winning 63-52 against the Lutes on Saturday. The ’Cats are now three games behind No. 4 George Fox with three games left in the season and will need to be perfect and hope for a Bruins collapse to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Track opened their short indoor season by traveling up to Newberg, and high jumpers Whitley Stepp (’26) and Erica Snyder (’26) posted solid performances, taking the top two spots in the competition with Stepp jumping 1.66 meters and Snyder 1.63 meters. 

Lacrosse beat Eastern Oregon in a rainy home opener on Saturday, winning over the Mountaineers 20-2. Six different Bearcats tallied goals, including Claire Kisielnicki (’26), who scored her 150th career goal, and Jay Shiflett (’27) recorded her 100th career caused turnover late in the game to round up a strong performance from the ’Cats.

Softball split their doubleheader with Bushnell, dropping the first game 1-9 and then rallying back in resounding fashion to trounce the Beacons 20-5. A whopping nine different Bearcats recorded RBIs in the latter game, capping off an impressive team win.

In the wider world of sport: The Seattle Seahawks avenged the Mariners by winning the Super Bowl in decisive fashion over the New England Patriots, in which the Seattle defense had Drake Maye seeing ghosts and getting sacked six times, one sack short of tying the Super Bowl record. Poor guy. The Winter Olympics were declared officially open on Saturday, and the U.S. figure skating team won gold, thanks in part to Ilia Malinin’s backflip. In my research for this article, I learned that he is six months younger than I, which was horrifying to read. Oh, and the U.S. also reached their first ever Olympic curling mixed doubles final, which is cool. 

In the coming weeks: Swim heads up to Boise, Idaho (still have no clue why that’s the location of the finals) for the NWC championship on Friday, hoping to ride the momentum of their successes in the last two meets of the season to an inevitable victory over our fellow northwesterners. Women’s basketball looks to stay perfect to keep their playoff chances alive, and men’s basketball hopes to maintain their good form as the season comes to a close. Spring sports have a brief hiatus before picking up competition again, with the exception of track and field, who are going to Spokane to compete at the Whitworth Invitational indoor meet on Friday and Saturday. Good luck to our Bearcats!