Feb. 14 NWC Women’s Basketball Wrap (Stories provided by host SID)

At Whitman 55, Pacific Lutheran 47

Walla Walla, Wash. – The Whitman women's basketball team made history Saturday night, winning a school record ninth consecutive game with a win over Pacific Lutheran, 55-47 in Walla Walla, Wash. The Missionaries, with a record of 16-5, 10-2, moved into a first-place tie in the Northwest Conference with the Lutes. The loss dropped Pacific Lutheran 16-4, 10-2.

Sophomore Lizzy Washburn fueled the offense, scoring 16 points on five of seven shooting and a perfect five for five from the free-throw line. First-year player Katie Patneaude finished with a double-double, her second one in the last four games. Patneaude grabbed 12 rebounds, seven on the offensive end, and scored 10 points. Sarah Laird also put up 10 points and grabbed eight boards.

Kelly Turner finished with 15 points and five rebounds, while Aundi Kustura knocked down 12. Guard Mallory Mann dished out six assists, while grabbing six rebounds and scoring six.

Laura Vertatschitsch opened the game with a field goal and the Missionaries jumped out to an early 11-4 lead on a Washburn three-pointer. Halfway through the period, Shea Morrissey hit a jumper and Whitman opened up a 10-point lead, 16-6. The Lutes rolled off the next seven points, however, cutting the lead to three. With under a minute to play in the half, Washburn was fouled on a lay-in and converted the free throw, giving the Missionaries a 23-18 advantage at the break.

Whitman extended its lead to 11 two minutes into the second half, and the margin remained at 11 with 13:52 to play after a Patneaude jumper. The Lutes cut the lead to 39-36 with just under nine minutes to play, but the Missionaries scored seven straight to take a 10-point lead.

Pacific Lutheran trimmed the lead to five with under a minute to play, but Whitman hit four free throws in the closing seconds to preserve the win.

Whitman held the Lutes to 29.8 percent shooting while knocking down 38.0 percent of its shots. Both teams handled the ball well, with the Missionaries committing eight turnovers and the Lutes nine.

Puget Sound 68, at Whitworth 64 (ot)

Spokane, Wash. -- Jennifer McCluen hit the go ahead basket in overtime and made the game-clinching free throw with eight seconds left to lift visiting University of Puget Sound to a 68-64 overtime win over Whitworth College in a Northwest Conference women's basketball game on Saturday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

The win moved the Loggers (17-4 overall, 9-3 NWC) within one game of first place after Whitman topped Pacific Lutheran 55-47 in Walla Walla tonight. Both Whitman and PLU are 10-2 in the NWC. Whitworth (16-5, 8-4) remained two games behind the leaders.

Lindsay May led the Loggers with 17 points, while McCluen finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Angie Straw dominated inside for 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. UPS might have iced the game in regulation, but the best free throw shooting team in the NWC (75%) made only 13 of 30 shots at the line.

All-American forward Tiffany Speer led Whitworth with 20 points. Sarah Shogren and Micki DesMarais each added 16 points for the Pirates.

Whitworth took an early lead (18-11) in the first half. But the Loggers fought back to take a 24-23 lead at halftime. The Pirates seemed to retake control in the second half, grabbing a 41-32 lead with 13:57 left on a basket by DesMarais. But the Logger defense tightened and UPS took a 53-48 lead on a McCluen basket with 4:31 to play. But Whitworth was able to force overtime when Speer connected on a three-pointer with 31 seconds left in regulation. UPS was unable to get a shot before the end of regulation.

With 1:12 to play in overtime McCluen broke a 64-64 tie with her basket. Straw made one free throw with 49 seconds to play and McCluen clinched the game with one of two with eight seconds left.

George Fox 77, at Pacific 68

Forest Grove, Ore. -- A sluggish first half offensively proved to be Pacific's downfall Saturday night, as the Boxers couldn't counteract a 54 percent night from the floor for George Fox in a 77-68 loss in Northwest Conference women's basketball action at the Pacific Athletic Center.

The Boxers (9-9, 4-7 NWC) shot only 32 percent from the floor in the first half and 37 percent for the game, led by DeeDee Arnall's 18 points.  Katannya Kapeli came off the bench to score 17 and Tori Nelson hit all of her 11 points in the first half to keep Pacific afloat.

Liz Clark had a career night for the Bruins (12-9, 6-7 NWC), connecting for a game-high 23 points.  Kellie Thomas and Kim Leith each had 14 and Darby Cave finished with 13.  As a team the Bruins shot 54 percent for the contest.

Both teams traded leads throughout the first half until Melissa Alexander's three with 5:25 left sparked a 14-2 run that closed the half.  Pacific compounded the run three turnovers as the Bruins left with a 39-27 halftime lead.

Clark continued the run almost by herself to open the second, hitting a pair of three-pointers and a third long jumper to open up a 52-31 lead with 14:43 left.  Clark extended the lead to 24 points on a lay-in at the 12:25 mark before the Boxers started to chip away at the lead.  Pacific went to the inside game and Arnall and Lauryn Jones to cut the lead to nine, 65-56, with 3:11 left.

The Bruins, however, responded to the inside game by hitting their shots at the charity stripe.  Thomas made two sets of free throws to extend the lead to 11 with 2:11 left.  From that point GFU made only 4 of 10 from the line as Pacific played the foul game, but the Boxers missed five of their last seven shots to keep the Bruins out of reach.

At Lewis & Clark 84, Willamette 79 (ot)

Portland, Ore. -- The Lewis & Clark Pioneers won their first home conference game of the season Saturday night, beating the Bearcats 84-79 in overtime. It was the Pioneers’ first overtime game of the season and their first OT victory since Nov. 2001. The Pioneers have now swept the season series with Willamette.

The Pioneers trailed by twelve midway through the first half. They battled back and went to the locker room with a three-point lead. The Pioneers took a double-digit lead midway through the second half, then saw that erased by Willamette. The Pioneers, playing sharp defense, managed to hold off the Bearcat charge in overtime.

Chloe Hansen recorded her first career double-double, scoring a career-high 16 points and pulling in 11 rebounds. Senior Lindsay Sweetland grabbed her 500th career rebound. She finished the night with 8 rebounds and a team-high 21 points. She was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Sarah Moon had fifteen points and 6 rebounds. Carrie Centlivre had seven assists and four steals. She scored six and pulled in 3 rebounds.

For an injury-decimated Willamette, Simmie Muth led all scorers with 22 points. Brianne King, coming off the bench, had 20. Deanna Lund had 14 points and 8 rebounds. Jammie Muth had 13 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the line.