OLYMPIA – Samantha Potter and Shelly Kilcup combined for 36 points, but Evergreen took a seven-point halftime lead and the Geoducks held off Pacific Lutheran 66-59 in the PLU women's basketball team's 2013-14 season opener Friday night at CRC Gymnasium.
Pacific Lutheran falls to 0-1 with the nonconference loss, while Evergreen picks up its first win of the season to go to 1-2. The Lutes head south to Monmouth, Ore., for a Saturday afternoon matchup against Western Oregon, with tipoff set for 2 p.m.
Potter finished with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting, grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and snagged a trio of steals. Kilcup scored 17 and also finished with three steals, while Sarah Barnes scored nine for the Lutes. PLU shot 34 percent (18-of-53) for the game and made 19 of 30 free throw attempts.
Four Geoducks reached double-figures in the scoring column, led by Sammi Clark's 14 points. Jessica Denmon finished with 13, while Brittany Gray scored 12 and Sadee Jones tallied 10. Gray and Jones tied for the match-high rebound total with nine apiece. Evergreen made 20 of 55 shot attempts (36.4 percent) and shot 58.5 percent (24-of-41) from the charity stripe.
Pacific Lutheran led by as many as five points early, as a pair of Kilcup three-pointers had PLU up 7-2 and a few minutes later 12-7. Evergreen took the lead midway through the half when Clark knocked down a three-pointer to put the Geoducks up 17-16. The Lutes tied it at 17-17 on a free throw by Barnes, but Evergreen scored the next seven points.
PLU pulled back to within one at 28-27 late in the first half following five straight points by Potter. The Geoducks scored the final six points of the half, however, with a Denmon three giving Evergreen the 34-27 advantage at the break.
The Lutes hung close throughout the second half, pulling as close as two back on a pair of occasions and rallying from 10 back with 2:12 to play to pull within three following Andrea Adams' three-pointer with 31 seconds remaining. Evergreen made its last four free throws down the stretch, however, and the Lutes were unable to score again as the Geoducks held on for the 66-59 win.
