At Pacific Lutheran 69, Linfield 45

Tacoma, Wash. -- (From Nick Dawson, PLU SID) The Pacific Lutheran Lutes rode a 46.6 percent shooting average to a 69-45 victory over the visiting Linfield Wildcats in a Northwest Conference women's basketball game here Friday. The Lutes outrebounded Linfield, 42-28, in dominating the contest.

Other significant statistical categories were closely contested. PLU shot 36.8 percent in three-pointers, while Linfield shot 36.4 percent. PLU shot free throws at a 61.5 percent clip, while the Wildcats shot 60.0 percent. Linfield turned the ball over 22 times, compared to 20 for the Lutes.

Two free throws by Hiary Berg and a jumper by Jamie Keatts ignited a 12-0 scoring streak for the Lutes, giving them a 21-7 lead midway in the first half.

A jumper by Alicia Westley with 3:56 remaining in the first half cut the Lutes lead to eight at 25-17, but Linfield would not come any closer the rest of the way.

Keatts led PLU with 13 points, while Jessica Iserman added 12. Berg scored 10. Linfield forwards Westley and Monica Schwing scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, to lead the Wildcats.

Pacific Lutheran raises its mark to 3-0 in the Northwest Conference and 9-1 overall. Linfield drops to 0-2 in NWC play and 4-7 overall. The Lutes host George Fox, ranked sixth by d3hoops.com, at 6 p.m. tomorrow. George Fox defeated PLU in last year's conference championship game, 63-58. The Bruins enter the game undefeated at 11-0, 2-0 in conference matchups. Linfield plays at Pacific at 6 p.m. tomorrow.

At Willamette 75, Whitman 57

Salem, Ore. - (From Cliff Voliva, Willamette SID) Nancy Weyler scored 21 points to lead four Bearcats in double figures as Willamette University won its first Northwest Conference game of the season with a 75-57 win over the Whitman College Missionaries.

Jammie Muth added 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Bearcats (6-6 overall, 1-2 in NWC). The NWC¹s seventh leading scorer, Rosie Contri, hit her season average with 13 points and five boards while Wenchi Liu scored 13 points, grabbed five boards and dished off four assists.

The Missionaries (4-5, 0-1) were led by Sunny Gulberg with a game-high 22 points and six rebounds. Denise Kirstein added 11 for Whitman.

The Bearcats, behind 11 first-half points from Contri and nine from Weyler, took a 15-point lead at the half. But the Missionaries, behind Gulberg and Kirstein, pulled to within four, 49-45, on a jumper by Gulberg with just over 10 minutes to play.

The Bearcats responded with a 17-3 run over the next five minutes, featuring five points from Abbie Unick and a key three-pointer from Liu. For the game, the Bearcats out-rebounded Whitman 40-26.

Whitman shot 43 percent for the game compared to 42 percent for the Bearcats. Willamette improved on their league-leading foul shooting percentage, hitting 21 of 24 from the free throw line. The Missionaries were but six of 10 from the foul stripe.

Willamette's next game is Saturday at home against Whitworth. Tip-off is 6 p.m.

At Puget Sound 77, Pacific 54

Tacoma, Wash. -- (From Robin Hamilton, UPS SID) The University of Puget Sound women's basketball team opened Northwest Conference play with a 77-54 victory over Pacific University Friday night at Memorial Fieldhouse.

The Loggers were sluggish at the start scoring just three points in the first four minutes of the contest as the Boxers took an early 7-5 lead. Puget Sound used a 16-2 run in the final 5:52 of the first half to gain the 35-19 halftime lead. The run was led by freshmen Melissa Wolfe and Lindsay May.

The Logger margin increased in the second half as they led by as many as 29 points at 56-27 at the 12-minute mark of the second stanza. May continued to impress in the second half as she finished with 24 points on the evening including a 10-10 performance from the free throw line and a 7-14 showing from the field. The Boxers didn't get to the free throw line until the 6:18 mark in the game and were 6-8 on the night while Puget Sound shot 27-32 (87%) from the line on the night.

For the Loggers Julie Vanni added 13 points and 7 rebounds while point guard Courtney Leybold had 11 points and 5 assists. The Boxers were led by Janna Vavra with 10 points and Louise Walcott with 8 points. The Boxers out-rebounded Puget Sound 35-32 while shooting 22-55 from the floor (40%) to the Loggers 24-56 (43%).

Puget Sound is on the road next Tuesday, January 8th when the face George Fox University. Pacific is home on Saturday, January 9th against Linfield College.

Whitworth 66, at Lewis & Clark 52

Portland, Ore. -- (From Tom Galbraith, L&C SID) Lewis & Clark shot just 36 percent from the floor and committed 29 turnovers as the Pioneers fell Friday 66-52 to Whitworth at the Pamplin Sports Center.

The Pirates built a 37-17 lead at the intermission, leading by as many as 20 in the first half. The Bucs held the Pioneers to only seven points in the first 15 minutes of the game. The game was never again in doubt. The Pirates took their biggest lead of 60-28 with just under ten minutes left on a layup by Tiffany Speer.

Kara Marusa led four Pirates in double figures with 17. Speer followed with 16, Erica Ewart 14, and Jaime Dreewes 10. Dreewes also grabbe seven rebounds.

Lindsay Sweetland again notched a double-double for the Pios with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Nnenna Lewis added 16 points. Whitworth outrebounded L&C 44-32.