TACOMA – Puget Sound took a double-digit lead shortly before halftime and pulled away in the second half to a 70-51 Northwest Conference women's basketball victory over cross-town rival Pacific Lutheran Wednesday evening at Memorial Fieldhouse.

Pacific Lutheran falls to 5-9 overall and 1-4 in conference play, while Puget Sound improves to 9-5 overall and 2-3 in the NWC. The Lutes head to Forest Grove, Ore., for their next game, taking on Pacific on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Samantha Potter finished the night with 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead both teams in each category. Megan Abdo made four of her five shot attempts to tally 11 points, and Sarah Barnes added nine. Erin Stumbaugh led Puget Sound with 15 points, with Emily Sheldon totaling 13 and Amanda Forshay chipping in 11.

Pacific Lutheran shot 40.4 percent as a team (21-of-52), while Puget Sound finished just behind at 38.1 percent (24-of-63). However, the Loggers finished the night with 11 more shot attempts overall, including eight from long range, and 13 more free throw attempts. Puget Sound also claimed the advantage in turnovers (21-to-11) and rebounds (44-to-34).

The Lutes came out fast and scored the first eight points of the game, holding Puget Sound scoreless for almost four minutes before Sheldon hit a jumper to put the hosts on the board. It took three more minutes for the Loggers to tie it up at 11-11, and a 5:30-scoreless drought for PLU allowed the hosts to claim the lead on an 18-3 run.

Pacific Lutheran spent the next several minutes hanging close, but the Loggers pushed their lead to double-digits at 31-20 with 3:36 to play before halftime and PLU never pulled closer than eight after that. After claiming a 37-26 lead at the break, the Loggers used a 16-5 run over the first 11 minutes of the second half to extend their lead to 22 points en route to the 21-point win.