ROCKLIN, Calif. – The Bushnell women's basketball team opened up the William Jessup Bill Holtz Warrior Classic on Friday afternoon, grabbing their first win of the season against Lincoln University, 83-70.
 
With a score much closer than the game played out, Bushnell (1-0) led by as many as 25 points in the third quarter before the Oaklanders (0-3) made a small run to end the game.
 
Head Coach Chad Meadors said, "It was a tough, hard-fought win for us tonight. I thought we played really well in the first half and shot the ball extremely well all night long. Olivia Bailon and Mandy Sisul came in and gave us a spark tonight, taking charges, hitting shots and lifting up the team."
 
Bushnell shot 43% in the game and survived a 17-turnover performance, due in large part to 17 three-pointers in the game. Bella Pedrojetti had four triples and led the Beacons with 18 points.
 
Mandy Sisul came off the bench to shoot 4-for-4 from range, finishing with 14. Bailon (pictured) added 13 points off the bench with two triples as the Bushnell reserves out-scored the Lincoln bench, 38-5. "Our game today was huge on energy and doing the little things," said Bailon. "We were getting boards, blocking out and making sure everyone was successful."
 
Aly Mirabile and Kalina Rojas each collected seven rebounds to tie for the game-high. Aspen Slifka scored 11 points for the Beacons, pulling her to 997 points in her career.
 
Lincoln was led by Claude Lindsey, posting a game-high 25 points behind 11-for-18 shooting as she added six assists, five rebounds, and four steals. Imani Tustison scored 20, hitting four three-pointers.
 
"Tonight was a great chance to work on some rotations, get a lot of people in the game and stretch some playing time," said Meadors. "They had a couple players that had a heck of a game and that gave us some things to go look at on film and tighten up."
 
Bushnell will close out the tournament on Saturday morning, taking on host William Jessup (1-2) at 11:00 am.