PARKLAND – Pacific Lutheran pulled ahead by nine late in a back-and-forth first half and held off Concordia late to earn a 62-50 nonconference women's basketball victory Saturday night at Names Family Court.
Pacific Lutheran improved to 3-4 with its first home win of the season, while Concordia fell to 1-11. The Lutes have another two-week break before their next games, when they will travel to Scottsdale, Ariz., to take on Transylvania on Dec. 29.
"Concordia put up a great fight," PLU head coach Jennifer Childress said. "They mounted a great comeback towards the end of the game, and I was really proud of our Lute team for showing some resiliency and perseverance to push through and get the win."
Samantha Potter and Katelyn Smith tied for the team lead in the scoring column with 17 points apiece, with Smith reaching that total by making eight of her 13 shot attempts. Potter posted a double-double with 12 rebounds, while Smith added nine as PLU out-rebounded Concordia 47-to-43. Sarah Barnes scored 12 points in the win, and Kara Sherman added four points, three assists and three steals.
"Our post play was very dominant tonight," Childress said. "Concordia has two posts that are over 6-foot-tall, and so that being a challenge for them to overcome that height with just sheer attitude and intensity really, really was a highlight for us tonight."
Caitlyn McCutcheon finished with a double-double for Concordia, totaling 10 points and 12 rebounds to go with five blocks. Lexi Campbell scored 16 points to lead CU, while Janae Klarich added 12 points. PLU limited Concordia to 27.9 percent shooting (17-of-61) and forced 21 CU turnovers in the win, as the Lutes shot 41.0 percent (25-of-61).
The first 13 minutes of play featured eight lead changes and five tie scores, with the final tie coming at 17-17 when McCutcheon made a layup with 7:39 remaining in the first half. Megan Abdo followed with a three-pointer for PLU as the Lutes closed the half on a 14-5 run to take a 31-22 lead into the break.
Following a McCutcheon layup in the opening minute of the second half, the Lutes picked up six straight points on layups by Potter and Abdo to go ahead by 13 points. Concordia continued to battle, as the Lutes' lead never extended beyond 14 (at 47-33 with 10:16 to play), and the Cavaliers actually pulled within six points on two occasions in the final five minutes.
Consecutive three-pointers by Campbell helped CU pull to 53-47 with 4:28 to play, but three free throws for the Lutes pushed the lead back to nine before Klarich hit a trey of her own to make it 56-50 with 2:07 remaining. That proved to be CU's final points of the game, as PLU closed it out with layups by Smith, Potter and Sherman.
"We're so excited for the fact that we were able to come off a tough loss last night to Northwest University, a very physical game and fast-paced game, to come back on Saturday, regroup, refocus and show the energy that we needed to step up and get a win," Childress said.
