WALLA WALLA – Despite leading for most of regulation and building a 12-point second-half advantage, Pacific Lutheran's upset bid fell short in overtime as fourth-ranked Whitman pulled out a 68-61 Northwest Conference women's basketball victory Saturday evening at Sherwood Center.
Aiming for its first win against Whitman since 2010, Pacific Lutheran (5-8 overall, 1-3 in the NWC) the Lutes led all the way into the final two minutes of the second half before the Missionaries (13-0 overall, 4-0 in conference play) tied it up at 57-57 on a free throw and sent the game into overtime. Whitman scored the first four points in the extra period before the Lutes tied it at 61-61 with 1:53 remaining. Unfortunately for PLU, the Missionaries made buckets on their next two possessions and followed with three free throws in the final 15 seconds to claim the seven-point win.
Samantha Potter scored 24 points to lead all scorers and added nine rebounds for the Lutes. Shelly Kilcup finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. Heather Johns led Whitman with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Sarah Anderegg posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 boards. Tiffani Traver tallied 15 points.
PLU shot 35.9 percent overall (23-of-64), but made only one of eight shot attempts in overtime, while Whitman went 21-of-63 from the field (33.3 percent) and made three of five shots in the extra period. Whitman finished the night with a 47-38 rebound advantage, but the key discrepancy came at the charity stripe. Whitman finished with 18 more attempts at the free throw line than PLU (38-to-20), making 24 of its shots while the Lutes made 12.
The Lutes jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the first five minutes of play before Whitman scored the next nine points to make it 12-9 midway through the first half. Katelyn Smith made a layup to end the WC run, and the Lutes proceeded to score 12 straight points to take a nine-point advantage with 4:47 to go before halftime. A few minutes later a three-pointer by Kilcup put PLU up by 10 for the first time, and the Lutes took a 29-21 advantage into the break.
Back-to-back layups by Potter opened the second period of play as the Lutes' lead reached 12 at 33-21. After the teams exchanged baskets to make it 35-23, Whitman scored the next eight points to pull within four. The Missionaries' rally continued over the next several minutes as they eventually tied it up at 46-46 on a layup by Johns with 8:09 in regulation.
Whitman took a brief lead before the Lutes used a seven-point streak to reclaim a five-point lead following another Kilcup trey. A six-point Missionaries run gave the hosts a 56-55 lead with just under three minutes to go before a Chrissy Swope jumper pushed PLU on top for the final time at 57-56 with just over a minute remaining. Traver tied it up with a free throw to force overtime, and the Missionaries survived the upset bid to remain undefeated.
The Lutes return to action Tuesday, when they will take on their cross-town rival Puget Sound Loggers in an NWC road game. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Memorial Fieldhouse.
