SALEM, Ore. - After shooting 52 percent in building a nine-point lead through the first half Friday night, Pacific Lutheran hit just 19 percent of its shots in the closing 20 minutes and ended up losing a 59-54 Northwest Conference women's basketball game to Willamette at Cone Fieldhouse.

The Lutes are now 6-13 overall and 3-10 in the conference, while Willamette improved to 2-19 overall and 2-10 in the NWC.

With Kara Sherman scoring 11 points and both Samantha Potter and Megan Abdo adding 10 points, the Lutes were 16-for-31 from the field in the opening half. They didn't make either of their three-point attempts but didn't need to, working the ball effectively and getting plenty of good looks against the Bearcats.

The shots simply didn't fall in the final half for PLU, which was 5-for-26 in that period to finish the night at 21-for-57 overall, or 37 percent.

After trailing PLU throughout the first half, the Bearcats come back to tie the game at 45-45 on Katie Kalugin's three-point basket with 7:18 to play. It was the first time that the game had been tied since the opening minute.

Willamette took a 50-47 advantage on a three by JoJo DeLong at the 4:44 mark, Sherman knocked down her own long-range bomb to tie it again one minute later. The game was tied one more time at 52-52, but Willamette's Deana Mau nailed a three-point shot to put her team on top to stay, 55-52, with 1:26 on the clock.

Pacific Lutheran had a couple of chances to tie the game but made just four of eight free throw attempts inside the final 2:30.

Sherman ended up with 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting for the Lutes, who got all but nine of their points from three players. Potter finished with a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while Abdo ended up with 12 points and five assists.

Pacing Willamette was Kalugin with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Pacific Lutheran finishes out its Northwest Conference road schedule at 6 p.m. tomorrow when it faces the Pacific Boxers in Forest Grove, Ore.

- PLU -