by Joe Rayburn, Sports Information Student Assistant
PARKLAND – An inspiring comeback in the final minutes propelled Pacific Lutheran to a 71-66 Northwest Conference women's basketball victory over the Willamette Bearcats Saturday night at Names Family Court.
The Lutes improved their record to 7-10 overall and 3-5 in conference play after splitting a pair of games this weekend. Samantha Potter registered a season-high 34 points to lead the Lute offense, finishing just two shy of the PLU single-game record for points in a game (36), which Potter matched during her sophomore season (Jan. 6, 2012, against Whitworth).
"We basically rode the shoulders of Sam Potter tonight," PLU head coach Jennifer Childress said. "She had 34 points, wanted the ball. Our team did a really good job of just being patient and looking for her to get open, and then she delivered every time. She also was ice on the free throw line when it came down to crunch time."
Potter finished 11-of-20 from the field and added 12 free throws in 16 attempts, including going 9-of-10 at the charity stripe in the game's final 3:15. Sarah Barnes registered a full 37 minutes and tallied 14 points, six rebounds and six assists to help run the offense out of the PLU backcourt. Andrea Adams made two shots in the game, with both coming from beyond the three-point line with less than three minutes to play. Her final three gave PLU its first lead of the game at 67-66.
"She came off the bench tonight, stepped up and was a great vocal leader that we needed at the time and also nailed a huge three-pointer that kind of put over the hump," Childress said of Adams.
The Bearcats opened the scoring up in the first half and knocked down eight three-pointers to keep the Lutes at a 10-point (42-32) deficit going into halftime. Willamette's Katie Kalugin had three of her team's eight three-pointers and led her squad with 13 at the break, followed closely by teammate JoJo DeLong with eight points. Kalugin finished the night with 15 points and nine rebounds, while DeLong totaled 19 and seven.
The second half began with a Megan Abdo three-pointer, but the Bearcats responded with a Kalugin layup, and a DeLong three-pointer handed the Lutes their largest deficit of the game at 49-35 with 16:57 to play. But Potter and Barnes combined to score PLU's next 17 points before a pair of Potter free throws tied the game up at 64 with 2:13 to play.
Willamette reclaimed the lead on two JoJo DeLong foul shots, but Adams' second three-ball put PLU in the lead for the first time all game at 67-66 with 1:16 to play. Potter closed out the contest with four clutch free throws to secure the 71-66 Lute victory.
"It was an awesome team victory; everyone contributed," Childress said. "The bench provided some amazing energy when we needed it the most, and the kids on the court fed off of that."
Pacific Lutheran found a rhythm shooting the ball, shooting 49.1 percent from the field (26-of-53), including 4-of-7 from downtown. Willamette finished the night at 42.3 percent (22-of-52) overall, connecting on 11 of 30 attempts from long-range. PLU out-rebounded the Bearcats 38-26 and, in doing so, capitalized with 38 points in the paint to just 14 for the visitors.
"It was just another improvement for us, a step forward for us to realize that we can battle back when we are down by some points," Childress said. "I'm really proud of the team, and we look forward to next week."
The Lutes head back out on the road next weekend, opening the second half of conference play with games at Lewis & Clark and No. 8 George Fox.
