At Pacific Lutheran 82, Willamette 57

Tacoma, Wash. – (From Nick Dawson, PLU SID) Pacific Lutheran, the preseason pick to unseat defending Northwest Conference women’s basketball champion George Fox, took a positive first step toward that goal by beating Willamette, 82-57, in the Lutes’ conference opener on Saturday night in Olson Auditorium.

 Pacific Lutheran (6-1, 1-0) never trailed in the game, which was tied only once after the Lutes and Bearcats traded baskets in the first 40 seconds of the contest. The Lutes held a 25-19 lead with 5:13 left in the first half, then outscored the visitors, 17-4, to take a 42-23 lead at the intermission. All-conference forward Jessica Iserman scored six of her 12 points to highlight the run.

 Willamette (4-5, 0-2) never got closer than 17 points in the second half as the Lutes hit 12-of-13 free throws in the final 20 minutes. For the game, Pacific Lutheran was 21-of-24 at the charity stripe, including 6-of-6 by Katie Springer.

 The Lutes had five players score in double figures, led by senior forward Jamie Keatts with 17 points. All-conference point guard Becky Franza added 16 points, followed by Iserman with her dozen and Hilary Berg and Springer with 10 apiece.

 Pacific Lutheran dominated the rebounding battle with 43 to Willamette’s 27. Iserman had eight boards to lead both teams. Willamette got a solid 20-point effort by Kasey Sorensen. Joining her in double figures for the Bearcats was Rosie Contri with 12 points.

At Linfield 53, Cascade 35

McMinnville, Ore. – (From Kelly Bird, Linfield SID) Linfield snapped a four-game losing skid behind the pinpoint shooting of freshman point guard Heidi Jurgens, trouncing Cascade 53-35 Saturday night at Ted Wilson Gym.

The Wildcats (3-5) bounced back from a last-second defeat to Western Baptist a night earlier, starting slowly but finishing strong. The non-conference women's basketball game began a half hour late due to a misunderstanding over the starting time.

Jurgens hit 5 of 8 from the field to finish with a game-high 13 points and backcourt mate Leah Moore canned a pair of three-pointers on her way to 11 points. Molly Wilson totaled 12 points and nine rebounds for Cascade (1-11).

Linfield couldn't buy a jump shot in the first half, missing 15 of its first 17 shots to fall behind 10-6. But Cascade turned the ball over with regularity, committing 11 miscues in the opening 10 minutes. That allowed the Wildcats to knot things up at 10 following buckets by Christina Gray and Katie Gardner. The Thunderbirds built their lead back to six points after a three-pointer by Wilson with 3:30 to go in the half. Baskets by Alicia Westley and Jurgens and a free throw by Ashlee Tucker in the final minute pulled the Wildcats into a 20-20 deadlock at intermission.

For the half, the Wildcats made just 8 of 32 shots (.250), including 0 for 9 from behind the three-point stripe. The Thunderbirds were 7 of 18 from the field, but 18 first-half turnovers allowed Linfield 14 more shot attempts.

The Wildcats found their groove to start the second half, going on a 15-4 run to start capped by Leah Moore's three-pointer from the right side. Cascade closed to within eight points, but Westley answered with a 10-foot jumper and Schwing canned an open shot to put the'Cats on top 40-29 with 5:03 remaining.

Linfield went in front by 16 and coasted the rest of the way to its largest margin of victory this season. The 'Cats shot .394 after the break while Cascade slipped to .294.

Cascade gave the ball up 36 times while Linfield suffered a modest 15 turnovers. Moore had five steals, Westley grabbed four errant passes and Gardner and Gray each made three thefts.

The Wildcats are idle for 11 days as finals week begins. Linfield plays its next game Dec. 17 at Lewis-Clark State.

At George Fox 92, Evergreen State 35

Newberg, Ore. – (From Blair Cash, George Fox SID) Closing within one game of their best start to a season, the George Fox University Bruins hammered the Evergreen State College Geoducks 92-35 in a non-conference women’s basketball game Saturday night at the Wheeler Sports Center.

George Fox, ranked No. 9 in the nation in the latest NCAA Division III national poll, improved to 8-0, the second-best start to a season in team history.  Last year’s Bruins opened the season 9-0 en route to a 23-3 record.  Evergreen State dropped its second in a row to fall to 1-10.

Both teams were slow getting under way as neither scored for over three minutes, but Darby Cave’s short jumper broke the ice and gave George Fox a 2-0 lead at the 16:38 mark.  The Bruins proceeded to score 15 of the game’s first 17 points in the next three minutes, with Becky Thompson hitting a lay-up and a pair of three-pointers in the outburst. 

Thompson finished with 13 points in the half as the Bruins stretched their lead to 44-21 at the break.  When the second half began, George Fox held the Geoducks scoreless for over seven minutes while going on a 23-0 run, and held them without a field goal until Dodie McCallum hit a short jumper in the lane with 6:19 to play.  By then the Bruins held a 50-point lead at 78-28.  Evergreen State wound up making only 4-26 from the field in the second half.  The final margin was George Fox’s biggest lead of the game.

Thompson led all scorers with 17 points and all rebounders with 9, picking up 5 steals and throwing in 4 assists for good measure.  Mandy Dunham scored 11 and Melissa Alexander 10 off the bench, career highs for both, while Cave added 11.  Liz Clark added 9 points and a career-high 6 assists.  George Fox won the rebounding battle 58-33, and made 31-39 from the free throw line, one short of the team record of 32 made.

Kristin Zompetti scored 14 in a reserve role as the only Geoduck in double figures, and Chandra Rathke was Evergreen’s top rebounder with 6.  The Geoducks shot only .211 (12-57) from the field in the game.

The Bruins are off next week for exams, but return to action Monday, Dec. 17, in the AmeriSport Coconut Coast Classic in Hilo, Hawaii.  George Fox will face Marian College (Wisc.) at 12:00 noon Pacific time, then take on St. Mary’s College (Ind.) on Tuesday, also at 12:00 noon.  The Geoducks head home Monday to take on Seattle University at 7:00 p.m.

Eastern Oregon 65, at Whitworth 60

Spokane, Wash. – (From Steve Flegel, Whitworth SID) A big night by their biggest player inside led visiting Eastern Oregon University to a 65-60 win over Whitworth College in a non-conference women's basketball game Saturday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Mountaineer post Julie Coffin, a six-foot senior, scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the EOU effort. She had 13 of those points in a decisive second half. Tricia Haddock added 16 points, including four three-pointers, and Brooke Sellards scored 14 for Eastern.

Whitworth was led by Erica Ewart's 14 points, while Sarah Shogren chipped in with 10 points for the Pirates.

The Mountaineers forced Whitworth into its worst shooting night of the season, holding the Pirates to 28.4% from the floor. Whitworth helped by taking 33 of their 67 shots from three-point range and only making 24.2% of those attempts. Eastern also outrebounded the Pirates 49-40. Whitworth managed to keep the game close by forcing 20 Mountaineer turnovers.

After a tight first half, Whitworth took a quick 34-28 lead in the second period on five straight points by Jaime Dreewes. But EOU went on a 21-5 run over the next nine minutes to take a 49-39 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the game. Coffin had seven points during the run.

But Whitworth answered with an 11-0 run of its own to take a brief 50-49 lead with 6:20 left in the game. Shogren scored seven of the Pirate points.

However, Haddock answered with a three-pointer from the right corner and Whitworth would not lead again. The Pirates were able to force three more ties, the last coming at 58-58 with 1:34 to play on two free throws by Chrissy Oneal. But Haddock hit another three-pointer from the same right corner with 1:12 to play and Ewart followed with an offensive foul. Eastern made four of six free throws down the stretch to keep its lead.

The Mountaineers improved to 4-1 with the win and play St. Francis (Ill.) on Wednesday in the first round of the Las Vegas Invitational. Whitworth, which lost its second game in three days after losing 65-54 at Gonzaga on Thursday night, falls to 4-3. The Pirates play next at the University of Great Falls on December 20th.

Lewis & Clark 58, at Warner Pacific 52

Portland, Ore. – (From Tom Galbraith, L&C SID) Lewis & Clark scored its fourth victory of the season Saturday with a 58-52 road victory over cross-town opponent Warner Pacific.  The Pioneers moved to 4-2 on the season, matching last season?s win total. L&C finished the season 4-21 in 2000-01.

Lindsay Sweetland scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Pioneers.  Kayla Bewersdorff scored a career-high 13 points in her first collegiate start.