At Pacific Lutheran 55, Whitman 44

Tacoma, Wash. – (From Nick Dawson, PLU SID) Pacific Lutheran retained its lead in the Northwest Conference women’s basketball race with a 55-44 victory over the visiting Whitman Missionaries on Saturday night in Olson Auditorium.

The Lutes (14-2 overall, 8-1 NWC) earned a measure of revenge against the Missionaries (5-13, 1-9), who handed Pacific Lutheran its only conference loss of the season, 51-42, on Jan. 11 in Walla Walla.

The Lutes threatened to take control of the game on several occasions, leading by as much as 17 points in the first half at 28-11 on a three-point play by Jamie Keatts with 2:38 on the clock.

PLU went into the half with a 30-16 lead and regained a 17-point edge when Becky Franza hit a three-pointer 1:30 into the final period. Whitman wouldn’t die, however, running off nine straight points to cut its deficit to eight points at 33-25. Ashley Wright started the run with a basket and also finished it with another score at the 14:07 mark. Wright led the visitors with 11 points.

After a three-pointer by Keatts momentarily stemmed the tide, Kim Evanger hit a layup and Sunny Gulberg bagged a three-point field goal to pull the Missionaries to within six points, 36-30, at the 11:52 mark. That was as close as the Lutes would allow the visitors to get, however, as they surged out to a 16-point lead and eventually settled for the 11-point win.

Becky Franza and Jessica Iserman both scored 12 points to lead the Lutes, who shot just 33 percent from the field. Joining Wright in double figures for Whitman was Gulberg with 10 points. Whitman shot 36 percent in the game. Evanger and Wright both had eight rebounds as the Missionaries enjoyed a 37-33 edge on the boards.

At George Fox 85, Lewis & Clark 56

Newberg, Ore. – (From Blair Cash, George Fox SID) Heather Doud scored all of her game-high 22 points in the first eight-and-a-half minutes of the game, including 12 in a span of 1:02, sparking the George Fox University Bruins to an 85-56 romp past the Lewis & Clark College Pioneers in Northwest Conference women’s basketball action Saturday night at the snow-covered Wheeler Sports Center.

Leading 11-4 two minutes into the game, George Fox then went on a 16-0 run, Doud scoring 12 of them, to take a 27-4 lead.  Her jumper at 12:56 ended the run, then Lindsay Sweetland scored the Pios’ first bucket in over four minutes.  In the next minute, however, Doud hit a jumper, made a steal and layup, hit a three-pointer off a steal and pass from Becky Thompson, then made another steal, hit a layup, was fouled, and made the free throw.

The Bruins led 48-19 at the half, and stretched the spread to as many as 35 at 69-34 on a Sarah Myhre layup with 8:58 remaining.  The Pios got no closer than 27 in the second half, Kim McBride’s jumper making it 79-52 with 3:39 to play.

In addition to Doud’s 22 (in only 18 minutes), Nicole Prazeau scored 14, Darby Cave 12, and Melissa Alexander tied her career high with 11.  Myhre grabbed 10 rebounds as the Bruins controlled the boards, 45-28.  Thompson passed out 10 assists and picked up 5 steals.

For the Pios, Sweetland and McBride scored 13 apiece, and Nnenna Lewis added 12.  Lewis had a team-high 7 rebounds.

With their third straight win, the Bruins, ranked 22nd in the D3hoops.com poll and 14th in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA poll, climbed to 17-2 overall and 8-2 in the conference. The Pioneers dropped their 7th in a row, falling to 7-11 overall and 1-8 in the league.

George Fox visits Pacific University Tuesday (Jan. 29) at 6:00 p.m., while Lewis & Clark travels to Whitman College Friday (Feb.1) for a 6:00 p.m. contest.  Both will be followed by men’s games at 8:00 p.m.

At Puget Sound 69, Whitworth 59

Tacoma, Wash. – (From Robin Hamilton, UPS SID) Puget Sound remained undefeated on its home court this season as they defeated a stubborn Whitworth College Pirate team by a 69-59 margin Saturday night in Memorial Fieldhouse.

The Loggers held Whitworth without a bucket in the final 5:42 of the first-half as they executed a 12-0 run and the Pirates committed 5 turnovers and were 0-5 from the floor. The Loggers led the entire second half although Whitworth came within 4 points at 46-42 with 10:37 remaining.  Erica Ewart came alive in the second half for the Pirates scoring 13 of her 17 points.  Despite leading by as many 13 points in the second half the game was not secure until the final three minutes when the Loggers hit on 10-12 free throws down the stretch.

The Logger defense held the Pirates to 37% (23-62) shooting from the floor although the Pirates took 16 more shots from the field than the Loggers who were 19-46 (41%). The difference in the game came at the line as Puget Sound hit on 29-34 (84%) while Whitworth went to the stripe just 15 times and converted 9 shots (60%).  The Pirates pulled down 39 rebounds in the contest including 18 offensive boards while the Loggers had 35.

Vanni led the Loggers with 19 points and 9 rebounds including a 9-10 performance from the line. Logger point guard Courtney Leybold had 13 points and 8 assists directing the Puget Sound offense.  Lucy Wilson and Lindsay May added 12 points and May led the Loggers with 11 for her 4th double-double of the year.

Ewart was joined in double figures for the Pirates by Sarah Shogren with 10 points.  Jaime Dreewes pulled down 8 rebounds to lead Whitworth.

The Loggers improved to 14-4 overall and 6-3 in the NWC while Whitworth dropped to 11-8 and 6-4.  Puget Sound is now 7-0 at Memorial Fieldhouse this season.

At Willamette 72, Linfield 61

Salem, Ore. – (From Cliff Voliva, Willamette SID) Simmie Muth scored 20 points, and Rosie Contri and Kasey Sorenson each scored 15 as the Willamette University Bearcats (9-10 overall, 4-6 NWC) defeated the Linfield Wildcats 72-61 in a Northwest Conference women’s basketball game at Cone Field House Saturday night.

Muth scored 15 of her points in the first half as the Bearcats opened up a 13-point lead. Willamette stretched the lead to 23 on Contri’s three-pointer with 8:19 to go before the Wildcats (8-11, 4-6 NWC) mounted a late-game comeback.

Linfield’s Katie Gardner hit three consecutive three-pointers to get the lead down to 66-55 with 2:42 to go. But the Bearcats, the league’s leading free throw shooting team, hit six of their final 12 free throws to ice the game for the ‘Cats. Willamette hit 28 of 42 free throws, led by Muth’s 8 for 11.

Contri hit 9 of 12 free throws and a pair of three-pointers in the second half for her 15 points. She also led the Bearcats with nine rebounds and six assists.

Sorenson was 5 for 5 from the free throw stripe and 5 for 7 from the field for her 15 points. The Bearcat post also grabbed five rebounds. Nancy Weyler and Wenchi Liu each added eight points for Willamette.

Heidi Jurgens scored 11 points for Linfield. Monica Schwing added 10 points for the Wildcats.

For the game, the Bearcats out-rebounded the much taller Wildcats 39-31.  Willamette also won the shooting wars, hitting 20 of 45 shots for 44.4 percent while the Wildcats hit 24 of 58 shots for 41.4 percent.