LINFIELD UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL VERSUS PACIFIC LUTHERAN • FEBRUARY 13, 2026

WELCOME TO LINFIELD UNIVERSITY

Chase Fisk, Kelly Bird STATISTICS

Rheese Heim, Tyler Shuter

SCOREBOARD

Katie Putnam, Sam Haynes

Ethan Klein

Emerson Teller

VIDEO WEBCASTS

Joe Stuart, Eric Albios

Maddie Funk, Kalina Zagyva

OFFICIAL SCORER

Mia McCormack

EVENT PROGRAM

Kelly Bird, Chase Fisk

Felipe Unker, Kalina Zagyva

WILDCAT SPOTLIGHT

taking nothing for granted

After 2½ injury plagued seasons, Madison Barter is grateful to be back in uniform and helping her team chase a championship

by kalina zagyva ’29

How has Linfield University’s Madison Barter overcome all the adversity basketball has thrown at her?

Through the endless support provided by her coaches and teammates.

“I’ve struggled with injuries and such the past few years,” says Barter, a junior from Mount Baker High School in Washington state. “My freshman year, I hurt my ankle pretty bad. Last year, I had to redshirt because I had pneumonia. At the beginning of this season, I had to get PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) injections in my knee.”

Despite everything that Barter has faced, she says nothing could stop her from returning to the court.

“(Recently) I just passed a test that we need to do to play so I’ve officially graduated from being injured!”

Barter ’s positivity has never wavered. She’s now ready to stand with her teammates again as they continue pursuit of the first women’s basketball championship at Linfield in 40 years.

“The team bonding has been really good every single year,” says the 5-foot-8 forward, who believes the team’s increasing unity has led to higher win totals each season

“This year is a little bit of a different mindset. It’s been growing and building the last few years, and then lots of records were broken last year.”

Barter notes that the past year causing the team to play it safely. Conversely, it’s only fueling their motivation to give it their all. For this team, bonding doesn’t stop after the game clock expires.

“Making sure that we have a bond of court is really important because we know that we trust each other in every aspect of our lives.” Barter has met her best friends on Linfield’s team. She describes all team bonding activities as a blast, no matter what they’re doing. “We do a lot of movie nights, and in the spring, we go tanning or go to the lake.”

Barter describes her experiences on the team as a complete package, with the program consistently being conscious of each player’s mental health. “We’re all very aware of each other’s mental health. We’re making sure that we’re taking care of each other in that way, while still pushing each other on the court.”

This kind of care extends beyond game day

“Every Monday, someone reads a chapter from a mental mindset book. We go over that and explain how it applies, on and off the court.”

Barter says this ritual helps her to start each week off on the right foot.

The foundation of the Linfield women’s basketball program is based on the feeling of sisterhood, a quality Barter attributes to head coach Casey Bunn-Wilson.

“Our coach is great at getting us to know each other right off the bat. We’ll do things like sand volleyball or go on a hike.”

Barter raves about the relationships she’s developed with her teammates as well as her coach.

“Casey is super personable. She has birthday meetings with us each month, so whatever day your birthday falls on, you meet with her to talk about whatever you want,” she says. “I use it as a therapy session, but you could also talk about the basketball side of it.” The meetings are a first step to establishing a strong relationship between the player and the coach.

“No one wants to be injured, but I kind of took it as a lesson, that everything happens for a reason. Being on the sidelines actually got me closer with other players,” Barter notes. “I was able to focus on growing relationships with my team more, because that’s all I had.”

After receiving support throughout her recovery process, Barter is ready to return to the court. And despite the extended time out of the line, she has no anxiety about returning to reach her full potential.

“It’s actually given me more motivation…I know I can do it; it’s just a matter of going out there and doing it.” Looking to the future, Barter is planning on putting her exercise science major to good use.

“I had the opportunity to shadow an occupational therapist this summer,” she says, explaining that she has always been interested in learning about the body, especially with her experience in sports. She hopes to begin her three years of occupational therapy school after her time on Linfield’s team. However, her injuries in the past caused a redshirt year, which means that Barter is eligible to participate in a fifth season of athletic eligibility. “I feel like I need to see how the rest of this year goes…ideally, I’d love to play a fifth year.” Striving to find that balance again, Barter is waiting to decide whether she’ll take that opportunity or jump right into her life as an occupational therapist.

As she is returns to the court this winter, Barter has taken time to truly appreciate the family that she has found through basketball.

“I’m so grateful to be at Linfield. I’m grateful I can play with my team on the court and I’m not taking it for granted ever again.”

WOMEN’S COACH CASEY BUNN-WILSON

pointing in the right direction

CCoach Casey Bunn-Wilson has the Linfield women’s basketball program aiming for a Northwest Conference championship oming off a record-tying 18-win season in 2024-25, Casey Bunn-Wilson enters her 11th season as head women’s basketball coach at Linfield with the goal of claiming the program’s first Northwest Confernece championship. equaling the team record for most wins in a single campaign while guiding the Wildcats to a coveted berth in the Northwest Conference Tournament.

During her first year with the Wildcats, she helped guide the women to the program’s first winning record in five seasons (13-12) and a share of sixth place in the Northwest Conference, one of the premier women’s basketball leagues in NCAA Division III. In 201819, the Wildcats reached the NWC Tournament despite a competing with an injury depleted roster.

Bunn-Wilson spent three seasons as girls basketball coach at Tualatin High School, compiling a 39-32 win-loss record while leading the Timberwolves to three straight OSAA Class 6A state playoff appearances. Prior to Tualatin, she spent two seasons as an assistant girls basketball coach at Lake Oswego High School.

At Oregon State University, Bunn-Wilson led the Pacific-10 Conference in scoring as a senior in 2007, averaging 20.0 points per game. That season, she averaged 37.9 minutes, 6.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals per contest. Appearing in 122 games with 70 starting assignments, Bunn-Wilson concluded her career with 1,163 points, ninth-most in Beavers history and her 679 career rebounds rank seventh all-time.

She graduated from OSU with a bachelor’s degree in Public Health Promotion and Education.

A star athlete at Stayton High School, Bunn-Wilson earned varsity letters in basketball, volleyball, softball and track. On the basketball court, she was a four-time all-state, all-region and allconference honoree. The Capital Conference Player of the Year

for three straight seasons, Bunn-Wilson led Stayton to the league championship her freshman and junior seasons. She set SHS career records for points (1,831), rebounds (783), assists (342) and steals (306) and went on to represent Stayton in the Oregon Class 3A AllStar game following graduation.

Bunn-Wilson played professionally in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Australia. While competing overseas, she earned allleague honors on the Portuguese All-Star team.

She is co-founder and director of the Jr. Energy youth basketball program, a skills development program geared toward girls in grades 4-12 throughout the Portland area. In its fifth year, Jr. Energy’s mission is to introduce young female athletes to an advanced level of coaching and competition that takes their basketball skills to a higher level.

At Linfield, Bunn-Wilson also co-directs the athletic department’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

She and her husband, Mitch, live in McMinnville with their young sons, Rylan and Dawson and newborn daughter, Ayla.

Sixth-year assistant Jeremy Vandenboer previously spent four years as head women’s basketball coach at Mount Hood Community College, leading the Saints to back-to-back 20-win seasons. Prior to joining the Mount Hood staff, Vandenboer helped lead the Corban men’s team to the 2015-16 NAIA Cascade Conference playoffs. From 2013-15, he coached boys basketball at Auburn Adventist Academy High School in Washington, leading the team to its first-ever state appearance.

PROUD PARTNER OF LINFIELD ATHLETICS

MEET THE LINFIELD WOMEN

Back row (l to r): Miki Vermeulen, Logan Roberts, Evelyn Melis, Sydney Newby, Tana Hoekema, Assistant Coach Jeremy Vandenboer, Head Coach Casey Bunn-Wilson, Madison Huntley, Skylar Willey, Natalie Rosetti, Mia Thompson, Madison Barter. Front row: Allie Mead, Eve Burke, Jordan Roberts, Dylan Cheney, Willow Ishibashi-To, Amelia Solt, Ella Koebelin, Kate Townsend, Laurel Quinn, Jayden Ray, Lauren Buchanan.

MEET THE LINFIELD WOMEN

LINFIELD WOMEN

PACIFIC LUTHERAN WOMEN

LINFIELD WOMEN VERSUS PACIFIC LUTHERAN

Safely

game PREVIEW

THE RECORDS

Linfield remains the top team in the NWC, holding a one-game advantage over challengers Puget Sound and Whitman at 11-1. PLU earned its first win in NWC play recently over Lewis & Clark and sits at 1-11 in the conference.

LINFIELD AT A GLANCE

After the Whitman Blues snapped the Wildcats’ longest win streak in program history last Saturday, Linfield got back in the win column Tuesday night with a dominant win over Willamette in Salem. By outscoring the Bearcats 21-2 in the first quarter, the Wildcats posted the widest margin and fewest points allowed in any quarter this season. Scoring has come from up and down the lineup, with Skylar Willey finding success in the paint while leading the NWC in field goal percentage. Allie Mead continues to be one of the conference’s best guards, topping the league in both assists and steals per game.

PACIFIC LUTHERAN AT A GLANCE

PLU looks to find some late-season momentum for their young roster to gain valuable experience. Senior Sydney Reisner, a former NWC Rookie of the Year, recently scored her 1,000th point as a Lute in last week’s game against Puget Sound. Offensively, sophomore Lilli Williams has been a leader for the Lutes, averaging 10 points per game. She did not compete in the Lutes’ previous meeting with the ‘Cats.

SERIES HISTORY

The Lutes own a 51-32 advantage in all-time meetings with the ‘Cats, although Linfield has taken each of the last three meetings and seven of the previous 10 matchups.

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NORTHWEST CONFERENCE

women’s basketball STANDINGS

MEN’S COACH ELIJAH GURASH

embracing change

Taking on his first head coaching assignment, Elijah Gurash relishes the challenge of rebuilding the Linfield basketball program

Joining the Linfield staff in the spring of 2025, Elijah Gurash embarks on his first collegiate head coaching assignment as he takes the reins of the Linfield men’s basketball program this winter.

Gurash arrived at Linfield after serving one year as the lead assistant coach at Buena Vista University, a Division III institution in Storm Lake, Iowa.

No stranger to the Pacific Northwest, Gurash served as a top assistant at Whitworth University for six seasons. During his time in Spokane, the Pirates went a combined 116-41, captured three Northwest Conference championships, three NWC Tournament titles and reached the NCAA Division III Tournament four times.

Prior to joining the Whitworth staff, Gurash spent 15 years coaching at the high school level in North Carolina, West Virginia and Washington state, first as an assistant boys basketball coach for seven seasons and later as a head varsity coach for eight seasons.

An all-state basketball player, Gurash began his collegiate playing career at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

He concluded his playing career at Northwest Christian University (now Bushnell University) in Eugene.

Gurash earned a bachelor’s degree from Bushnell in 2001 and went on to complete a master’s degree at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 2007.

He has also published his own book, entitled, “Jesus is a Baller: Reflections on the Fundamentals of Basketball.”

Elijah, and his wife, Katy, are raising three children: Xander, Oliver and Isla Grace.

matt gehrke, assistant coach

New assistant coach Matt Gehrke brings over 20 years of coaching experience at the AAU level in the greater Portland area. Gehrke is the founder and director of G-Elite Basketball, an AAU program that has helped develop young studentathletes into successful collegiate basketball players.

MEET THE LINFIELD MEN

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LINFIELD MEN

PACIFIC LUTHERAN MEN

LINFIELD MEN VERSUS PACIFIC LUTHERAN

The Wildcats enter the weekend on a four-game skid, falling to a tie for fifth place in the NWC standings at 5-7 and 7-13 overall. Meanwhile, Pacific Lutheran comes to McMinnville riding a twogame losing streak, sitting one game back behind the ’Cats at

Linfield has been unable to harness the late-game heroics that earned the ’Cats each of their five NWC wins in the first half of the conference slate. The Linfield offense has become more diverse, with scoring not coming solely coming from Dayton Magaña, but primarily through Garrett Callsen in the paint, and Nalu Vargas and Gavin Perdue from beyond the arc. Linfield aims to snap a four-game slide, three of which came on the road. With four NWC games remaining on the schedule, the Wildcats need a pair of wins this weekend and some help to

After PLU had prevailed in the first meeting in Tacoma earlier this season, the Lutes have been unable to knock off any team other than George Fox. The Lutes are led offensively by Ben Tellez, averaging 16.4 point per-game, and by sophomore Charlie Kapranos, who pulls down a team-high 8.3 rebounds

The two squads evenly 57-57 in the all-time series against one another. The Lutes have won the last two meetings and five of

NORTHWEST CONFERENCE

men’s basketball STANDINGS

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THE TOPCAT CLUB

Linfield University TopCat Club serves as a support organization to the 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports teams and the more than 500 students who participate in athletics each year. Each year, support from the TopCat Club is essential to maintaining and expanding each of these mission of the TopCat Club is to provide students with an outstanding athletic and academic experience and to strengthen the overall competitiveness of the overall Linfield athletics program. Linfield, we continually strive to improve programs and facilities so that our teams may compete at the highest level. Roughly 75 percent of the athletic department’s annual operating budget comes from the university’s general fund. The remainder is generated through a wide variety of external sources, including annual gifts to the Linfield TopCat

o learn more about giving opportunities, please visit the TopCat Club website at www.linfieldtopcat.com.

LINFIELD DANCE

LINFIELD CHEER

KEEPING TABS ON THE

All Linfield Sports Network webcasts are now carried on FloSports, a conference-wide pay-to-watch platform

Linfield University has joined together with its eight fellow Northwest Conference institutions in support of a new partnership with streaming provider FloSports to offer live and on-demand video coverage of nearly every athletic event Linfield participates in

An annual subscription costs $107.88 ($8.99 per month). A monthly subscription runs $19.99.

Linfield students, faculty and staff with linfield.edu email addresses will enjoy discounted rates of $71.88 per year ($5.99/ month) or $9.99 if purchased monthly.

Schools are expected to receive annual investments from FloSports to build and expand broadcast capabilities and make other investments within the athletic department. Linfield personnel will continue to staff and operate all home broadcasts.

“Entering into this agreement with FloSports was a conferencewide decision,” said Linfield Vice President and Director of Athletics Scott Brosius. “While it does represent a change in how our streams are viewed, we do believe this partnership signifies a positive step forward. We anticipate increased quality of our streams conferencewide, as well as programming allowing viewers to watch college sports not just from within our conference, but from all across the country. This is the direction other Division III conferences are moving toward. Many of our out-of-conference competitions already require a FloSports subscription.”

As Brosius noted, FloSports subscribers will have the capability to access more than 40,000 events nationwide spanning 25 different sports.

WATCHING flosports MADE EASY

To establish a FloSports account, head to go.flocollege.com/partner/nwc

REGULAR RATES

$107.88 ANNUALLY

$19.99 MONTHLY

STUDENTS & STAFF RATES

$71.88 ANNUALLY

$9.99 MONTHLY

FloSports expects to deliver live and on-demand coverage of Linfield events across 15 different sports: Football, volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s wrestling, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s tennis, baseball, softball, and women’s lacrosse. Northwest Conference Championship events in all sports except golf and cross country will also be streamed as part of the annual agreement.

Beyond live competition, FloSports plans to invest in original content and storytelling initiatives online and across social media aimed at elevating the profile of NWC student-athletes and institutions. The NWC joins several of its regular non-conference opponents in partnering with FloSports, the industry leader and primary media rights partner for Division III conferences.

Each year, FloSports will provide a global platform to live stream over 800 regular-season and postseason events.

FloSports is available via web, mobile apps (iOS and Android), and streaming platforms including Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV. The FloSports app is expected to be pre-installed on most topselling Smart TVs in the U.S. this year.

LINFIELD SPORTS NETWORK

follow the ’cats home and away via live stream

The Linfield Sports Network again brings fans live action of all home Linfield basketball games during 2025-26. Fans can enjoy live video webcasts with play-by-play commentary on their computer, tablet, mobile device or smart TV. Live coverage begins 15 minutes prior to the start of each game. Broadcasts include a complete postgame wrap-up with analysis and statistical breakdown. Linfield will also provide live audio-only webcasts of all of the Wildcats’ Northwest Conference road contests.

McMinnville native Joe Stuart begins his seventh season as the playby-play voice of the basketball Wildcats. The 2020 Linfield graduate is the Athletics Broadcast Operations Coordinator, managing all aspects of Linfield’s webcasting outreach and handling lead play-by-play duties on Linfield football, baseball and softball webcasts in addition to basketball. Stuart also assists with other external sports communications and social media needs.

All LSN broadcasts, both live and on demand, can be accessed via the FloSports platform at go.flocollege.com/partner/nwc using the Linfield Athletics app, your desktop computer, mobile device or smart TV.

ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME

The Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame is regarded as one of the most impressive athletic showcases in NCAA Division III

The Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame, sponsored by Pacific Office Automation, was established in 1998 as an means to honor former outstanding athletes, coaches, staff and contributors and to preserve the memory of their past achievements.

A new class of inductees is honored at the Hall of Fame Banquet each fall. Inductees are chosen from a list of submitted nominations and voted upon by the Hall of Fame Executive and Selection Committees. The 20-member panel is made up of current and former staff members, past inductees, a member of the media, and a former athlete representing each of the preceding six decades.

Nominations may be submitted by any interested person but must be submitted in writing using an official nomination form. Hall of Fame nominations are considered in any one of six categories: Athlete, Coach, Team, Athletics Staff, and Meritorious Service. Nominations must be accompanied by appropriate background information. Nominations are now accepted online. The deadline to submit nominations each year is March 1.

Athletes, through athletic achievement, must have brought distinction and honor to themselves, to Linfield University and to its intercollegiate program. Athletes are eligible for induction 10 years following their graduation class. Coaches, athletic administrators, or athletic staff members must have served on the staff for at least 10 years. At the time of induction, they must no longer be active in that position. Individual non-athletes, who in some manner have made extraordinary contributions to the success of the intercollegiate athletic program, may be considered for a meritorious service award. Eligibility of teams is based upon exceptional accomplishment at and above the conference level, with the team ranking among the nation’s elite.

Housed within the Paul Durham Lobby and Foyer, the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame and Hall of Champions is regarded as one of the most impressive athletic showcases of any NCAA Division III program in the country. Matching 55-inch touch-screen monitors chronicle the expansive array of Hall of Fame inductees. Visitors to the Hall of Fame can read details about each inductee as well as search by name, sport, classification and year of induction. The electronic displays provide access to summaries of every national champion, both team and individual, plus listings of major award winners.

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