PARKLAND, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran women's basketball team
took on a very energetic Willamette team Friday night in Olson
Auditorium, and abysmal second half shooting proved costly to the
Lutes as they fell to the Bearcats, 52-44, in Northwest Conference
women's basketball action.
The Lutes started off the first period with eight straight
points and eventually led by as many as 14 points, 24-10, on Jordan Westering's basket with 7:04 left in the half. With leading
scorer Alex Zennen finally getting it going, Willamette outscored
the Lutes 11-4 in the final seven minutes to pull within seven
points at the half. Zennen scored eight of her team's points in the
opening half. Melissa Pixler and
Westering, meanwhile, led the Lutes with nine first half
points apiece.
Poor shooting in the second half and a full court defense by the
Bearcats didn't help the Lutes' cause. Shooting just 2-for-33 (6
percent) in the second half and turning the ball over 24 times in
the game, the Lutes could not hold on to their first half
lead.
Lauren Vannini's fastbreak basket
gave the Bearcats a 35-33 lead with 11:32 remaining,
and they would not trail again. Willamette's 19-5 run to open the
second period gave it 40-33 lead with 9:41 remaining. The
Lutes missed their first 17 shots of the second half before Tracy Goehri banked in a short jumper with 7:10 remaining in the game.
The only other PLU field goal of the half came from Meghan Dowling
with 38 seconds left to play.
Willamette's win was its second Northwest Conference victory
this season, and both came against PLU.
Zennan led all scorers with 14 points and Keilyn Fujioka added
13, as the Bearcats improved to 4-20 overall, 2-13 in Northwest
Conference play. PLU, meanwhile, dropped to 5-10 in the conference
and 7-17 overall. Nicki Clowdsley pulled down 11 rebounds to lead
Willamette in that category.
Neither team managed to connect from three-point range in the
second half, which has been promising for the Lutes all season as
they lead the conference with 33 percent accuracy. PLU scored 12 of
its 16 second half points from the free throw line and shot 21
percent from the floor for the game. In its previous loss to
Willamette, Pacific Lutheran shot 22 percent from the field.
A bright spot for the Lutes is that they out-rebounded the
Bearcats, 60-49, Meghan Dowling grabbing a game-high 11 boards.
Jordan Westering led the Lutes in scoring with 11 points.
The Lutes will end their season at 6 p.m. tomorrow in Olson
Auditorium as they take on the No. 4-ranked George Fox Bruins.
Willamette closes its season at home against Pacific.
- PLU -
- PLU -
