At Pacific Lutheran 66, Whitworth 58 (ot)

Tacoma, Wash. – (From Nick Dawson, PLU SID) For the second time in two weeks, Pacific Lutheran defeated Whitworth in overtime in a Northwest Conference women’s basketball game. The host Lutes won this one, 66-58, on Friday night in Olson Auditorium. On Jan. 12, the Lutes rallied from a 12-point deficit with four minutes remaining in regulation before winning, 79-72.

Tonight’s game was much like the first meeting between the two clubs as Whitworth (11-7 overall, 6-3 NWC) held the lead from the first basket and throughout most of the game. Jaime Dreewes drained a jumper 20 seconds into the game to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead and the Pirates led by as much as 11 in the first half, the last time at 19-8 on Erica Ewart’s layup with 9:16 to play in the period.

The conference-leading Lutes (12-2, 7-1) responded with a 14-2 run, highlighted by six points from Toni Craig, to take their first lead of the game at 22-21 with 4:19 left. That was the only lead the Lutes would enjoy throughout regulation, however, as Whitworth regained a 26-23 advantage at the half.

The second period was much like the first as Whitworth scored eight of the first nine points to take a 34-24 advantage on Tiffany Speer’s layup at the 15:38 mark. The Pirates would again lead by as much as 11 points in the final period before the Lutes rallied. Becky Franza hit four straight free throws to pull the Lutes within a point, 42-41, with 6:27 left, but the Lutes never did go ahead. They managed to tie the game at 55-55 with 17 seconds left in regulation on a three-pointer from the right corner by freshman Aundi Kustura. Whitworth turned the ball over on a traveling violation with 3.8 seconds left, but Franza’s 30-foot prayer went unanswered at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.

PLU scored the first seven points of the period, highlighted by Jamie Keatts’ three-pointer, to go ahead 62-55 with 3:07 on the clock. After Whitworth pulled to within four points at 62-58, Keatts hit a jumper to give the Lutes a solid six-point cushion with 1:29 on the clock. Those two shots were the only taken during the game by Keatts, a senior starting forward.

The Lutes got another strong performance from Franza, the senior all-conference point guard, who scored 21 points, including 10-of-12 at the foul line. She scored 25 points when the teams played the first time. Courtney Johnson scored 16 points and had nine rebounds off the bench for PLU, while Jessica Iserman made up for a 3-of-10 shooting night by grabbing a game-high 16 rebounds. Iserman, a 5-11 senior center, became the eighth player in PLU women’s basketball history to score 1,000 points when she made a layup at the 17:41 mark of the first half.

Hot-shooting Tiffany Speer, who hit 7-of-8 from the field, led Whitworth in scoring with 18 points. Chrissy Oneal, who torched the Lutes for 24 points and 10 rebounds in the first meeting, scored 14 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Erica Ewart, the NWC’s leading scorer with 16.8 points per game, was held to just eight points.

Both teams return to Northwest Conference action on Saturday night, the Lutes hosting Whitman and Whitworth playing at Puget Sound.

George Fox 71, at Linfield 51

McMinnville, Ore. – (From Kelly Bird, Linfield SID) Heather Doud and Darby Cave together pounded Linfield inside for 29 points, helping No. 22 George Fox halt the Wildcats' modest three-game winning streak Friday night at Ted Wilson Gym. The Bruins (16-2, 7-2 NWC) dealt Linfield (8-10, 4-5 NWC) a 71-51 setback, sweeping the season series from their Yamhill County counterparts.

Doud posted game-highs with 19 points and nine rebounds, hitting 6 of 10 shots, including four three-pointers. Cave went 6 for 8 from the field and pulled down five rebounds as the Bruins won for the fifth time in their last six outings. Once visitors found their groove, they were effective from outside the three-point arc, connecting on 10 of 17 long bombs. Linfield was just 2 of 10 from beyond the arc.

Monica Schwing topped Linfield in the scoring column with 14 points on 6 of 12 shooting. Shae Wright chipped in with nine points off the bench.

The Bruins outrebounded the Wildcats 36-26, including a 14-6 advantage at the offensive end. GFU also forced 18 Linfield turnovers, but gave up the ball 16 times themselves.

George Fox was off the mark to start the game, missing 11 of its first 14 shots. Although the Wildcats forged a 9-6 lead on Ashlee Tucker's six-footer with 11:34 left in the half, Linfield couldn't take full advantage of the Bruins' slow start. George Fox awoke from its slumber, firing consecutive three-pointers by Doud and Becky Thompson to go on top, 12-9. The Bruins surged in front by seven, 23-16, using a 7-0 run that included baskets by Nicole Prazeau, Doud and Cave. The Bruins closed the half with field goals by Cave and Liz Clark to lead by a dozen, 35-23, at the break.

George Fox stretched its lead to 15, 45-30, with 14:36 to go, but a Schwing layup trimmed the margin to 10 with 12:40 left. The Bruins went back in front by 15 with 7:22 left on a Clark three-pointer, and the Wildcats could not draw closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

For the game, the Bruins held a slight edge in field goal percentage, .436 to .409.

Saturday night, the Wildcats visit Willamette while George Fox is home to entertain Lewis & Clark.

At Puget Sound 73, Whitman 46

Tacoma, Wash. – (From Robin Hamilton, UPS SID) Puget Sound remained undefeated at home extending their home win streak to six games with a 73-46 win over Northwest Conference opponent Whitman College Friday night.

The Loggers and Missionaries struggled to shake off the chill of Memorial Fieldhouse to begin the Northwest Conference game as neither team scored for three and a half minutes of the contest. The Loggers got things rolling and jumped to a 25-7 advantage at the 7:56 mark of the first half and took a 37-19 advantage into intermission.

The Logger defense held Whitman scoreless for the first 5:15 of the second half as they extended their lead to 28 points at 49-21.  Puget Sound led by as many as 32 points and Whitman got as close as 22 points at 68-46 with 2:00 remaining.  Puget Sound reserves saw extended time as Angie Cashman came of the bench to score 10 points in leading the Loggers in the second half.  Julie Vanni recorded her 8th double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Allison McCurdy and Courtney Leybold hit for 16 and 14 points respectively.  McCurdy was 4-5 from long range and Leybold 3-6 from beyond the arc.

Whitman was led by Kim Evanger  and Stephanie Lien with  8 points each.  Sunny Gulberg, the second leading scorer in the conference, was held to just 7 points on the night.  Puget Sound shot 27-60 (45%) from the floor while the Missionaries were 16-51 (31%).  Puget Sound won the rebounding battle 40-31 as Evanger led Whitman with 7 boards.

Puget Sound improves to 13-4 on the season and 5-3 in NWC play and will face Whitworth College on Saturday night in the Fieldhouse.  Whitman drops to 1-8 in league play and 5-12 overall and will travel to Pacific Lutheran for action on Saturday.

At Pacific 74, Willamette 52

Forest Grove, Ore. – (From Blake Timm, Pacific SID) Mary Lindburg registered her second double-double in three games as Pacific won their fifth game in six games, beating Willamette 74-52 in Northwest Conference women’s basketball action Friday night at the Pacific Athletic Center.

Lindburg led all scorers with 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to knot the season sweep against the Bearcats (8-10, 3-6 NWC).  The win ties the most in a season for Boxer head coach LeeAnn Kriegh, equaling the total of the 1999-2000 season.  Pacific is 9-8 overall, 5-4 NWC.

It was Willamette, however, that looked to push the momentum early.  Jammie Muth’s jumper at the 13:05 mark gave the Bearcats their biggest lead at 11-6. 

The Boxers used the rest of the half to close the gap, paced by Lindburg’s eight first half points, and took their first lead at 18-17 with 4:40 left.  Both teams traded leads until a Kim Morikawa gave Pacific a 25-23 halftime advantage.

Willamette tied the game early in the second, at 27-27 with 18:38 left, but that is as close as the Bearcats would get.  Pacific held a 42-39 lead at the 11:26 mark before a three by Amelia Kelsay ignited 19-4 run over the next seven minutes that gave Pacific the game for good.

In addition to Lindburg’s 16, Kristi Bryant finished with 15, 13 of those in the second half,  and Kristine Callan scored 11.  Willamette was paced by Rosie Contri’s 13.  As a team the Boxers shot 48 percent (30-62), as compared to the Bearcats’ 39 percent (20-51).