Jan. 24 NWC Men’s Basketball Wrap (Stories provided by host SID)

Puget Sound 73, at Lewis & Clark 46

Portland, Ore. -- One night after taking on Northwest Conference-leading PLU, the Lewis & Clark Pioneers lost to the second place Puget Sound Loggers 73-46.

The Pioneers showed some of the same spunk they had demonstrated the night before, hanging with the tough Logger squad. The Pioneers came out of the locker room in the second half and scored the first seven points, but ultimately UPS was too much to handle.

The Pioneers showed patience and skill at the free throw line with two different players hitting a perfect 6-of-6 from the stripe. Krystle Mortimore hit her half-dozen free throws en route to scoring her team leading nine points. Quianna Washington had a season-high six points, all free throws. Lindsay Sweetland had seven points and led the rebounding with eight. Cedra Fox had four rebounds in just three minutes of playing time.

For the Puget Sound Loggers, Lindsay May had a game high 17 points and nine rebounds. Angie Straw had twelve points and eight boards.

With the win, UPS improves to 13-2 on the season and 5-1 in the NWC. The Pioneers fall to 1-5 in conference and 4-11 overall.

Pacific Lutheran 68, at Willamette 39

Salem, Ore. - Kazia Long had 14 points and seven rebounds in only 15 minutes as the Pacific Lutheran University women’s basketball team remained undefeated in NWC play with a 68-39 win over the Willamette University Bearcats Saturday night at the Cone Field House.

Long had ten points in the first half, and teamed with Kelly Turner (12 points) and Aundi Kustura (13 points), as the Lutes raced out to a 16-5 lead after at the 16-minute mark of the first half and never looked back.

The Bearcats had a woeful first half, hitting on only 5 of 32 shots (15%) and committing seven turnovers in the first five minutes. The Lutes led 37-14 at halftime.

For the game, the Bearcats hit on 19% of their shots. The Lutes connected on 44%, including 50% from behind the arc.

Jammie Muth led the Bearcats with 12 points. Abbie Unick added eight.

At Whitworth 65, Linfield 54

Spokane, Wash. - All-American forward Tiffany Speer exploded for 48 points to lead Whitworth College past visiting Linfield College 65-54 in a Northwest Conference women's basketball game on Saturday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Speer, the 2003 NWC MVP, set a new women's single-game Whitworth record by making 16 of 24 shots from the field and 14 of 19 free throws. She made two of three three point attempts as well, breaking the previous single game record of 39 points she shared with Annette Sweeney. She added a team-high nine rebounds and five steals.

The next leading scorer for the Pirates was Dani Bielec, who finished with six points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Linfield got 11 points from guard Heidi Jurgens and nine points and nine boards from center Monica Schwing.

After a closely played first half the Pirates took a six point lead into the locker room thanks to Speer, who scored the final 12 points of the first half for the Bucs. Speer then scored the first 16 points of the second half for Whitworth. But the Pirates could not shake the Wildcats, who only trailed 50-47 with 10 minutes to go on back to back baskets by Brandi Loring. But the Pirates answered with a 7-0 run to establish their first ten-point lead of the game with seven minutes to play.

The Pirates improved to 12-3 overall and 4-2 in the NWC. Linfield fell to 4-10 overall and 1-4 in the NWC.

At Whitman 87, Pacific 65

Walla Walla, Wash. -- The offense continued where it left off on Friday night as the Whitman women's basketball team scored a season-high 87 points enroute to a Northwest Conference victory against Pacific Saturday night in Walla Walla, Wash., 87-65. Whitman used 22 points off the bench from first-year guard Shea Morrissey to improve its record to 9-5 overall and 4-2 in conference play. Pacific fell to 7-5 overall and 2-3 in conference.

Late in the first half Whitman led 35-30, then finished the half on an 10-2 run to take a 45-32 lead into the break. First-year player Katie Patneaude lead the offense in the first half, scoring 13 points on four of six from the floor and a perfect five of five from the line. Whitman used a stingy defense and great free-throw shooting in the first half to take a lead into the break, only allowing four players from Pacific to score, while hitting 10 of 11 as a team from the line.

The second half was no different for the Missionaries. Good play on both ends of the floor continued to cushion the lead for Whitman in the period. The defense forced Pacific to shoot only 34 percent from the floor as a team and Whitman continued to take advantage of the free throws by going 11 for 15 as a team in the second half.

Four players finished in double figures for the Missionaries. Morrissey scored 14 of her team high 22 in the second half, Patneaude finished with 18 and a team high 6 rebounds, freshman Sarah Laird finished with 14 and sophomore Laura Vertatschitsch chipped in with 11 points on the game. Sophomore guard Megan Higgins dished out a game high eight assists and had two steals on the night from the point guard position. As a team Whitman shot 50 percent from the floor, hitting 31 of 62 shots and forcing 21 turnovers. Pacific shot 39 percent from the field had 36 rebounds.

DeeDee Arnall led all scorers on the night with 38 as she hit 16 of 22 shots. Lauryn Jones was the only other player in double figures for the Boxers, with 12 points and a team high eight rebounds.

Whitman will Travel to Spokane, Wash. on Tuesday to play Whitworth College. Whitworth was tied with Whitman for third place in the conference going into Saturday's matchup Linfield. Pacific returns home to face Lewis & Clark on Wednesday.