PARKLAND – Pacific Lutheran fought hard to give its seniors a win in their final home game, but Pacific closed the game on a 9-4 run to defeat the Lutes 67-62 in Northwest Conference women's basketball action Friday night at Names Family Court.
With the loss, the Lutes fall to 7-16 overall and 3-11 in NWC play, while the Boxers improve to 7-14 overall and 3-10 in the conference. The Lutes head to Oregon for the final two games of the season, taking on Willamette on Feb. 21 before closing out the year against Linfield the following night.
Both sides opened up the first half exchanging scores, and the Lutes found a shooting stroke from beyond the arc, early hitting three three-pointers in the opening seven minutes. Megan Abdo answered an Olivia Cook layup with a three-pointer to tie the score at 17 with 7:35 remaining in the first period. Shelly Kilcup came out on fire early, shooting 5-of-10 from the field for 15 first-half points, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. Katelyn Smith pulled down 10 of her 13 rebounds before halftime, and a Kilcup three-pointer gave the Lutes a 31-25 lead at the break.
Pacific opened up the second half on a 10-4 run with the help of back-to-back Alex Pfefferle three-pointers to cut the PLU lead to one (35-34) with 16:20 to play. Pfefferle connected on another deep ball just a few possessions later to tie the score up at 37 before the Boxers used a 12-point run to open up a 46-37 lead midway through the half as Pacific held PLU scoreless for seven minutes.
Consecutive layups by Smith and Kilcup ended the Pacific run, and a few minutes later a Melissa Castor jump shot and yet another Kilcup three cut the lead to two (48-46). The Lutes regained the lead at 52-51 after a Samantha Potter score down low with just 3:21 to play.
Four lead changes highlighted the final three minutes of play, but two more back-to-back Pfefferle three-pointers all but put the game out of doubt at 65-59 with 32 seconds to play. Abdo hit a three with 16 seconds remaining, but Pfefferle closed out the game with two free throws, scoring the final eight points for Pacific in the last 75 seconds of play.
Pacific Lutheran shot 34.8 percent from the field, and found a spark from three-point range. Kilcup had a senior night to remember with a season-high 22 points and six rebounds while shooting 4-of-9 from three-point range. Abdo added 17 points and six rebounds while Smith registered a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Potter also pulled down 13 rebounds and tallied eight points, most of which came with time winding down in the second half.
Pfefferle's paced the Boxers with 20 points – all in the second half – as she went 6-of-8 from long range and made her only two free throw attempts. Olivia Mayorga-Overtone scored 14, and Olivia Cook added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds as the Boxers shot 39.7 percent from the floor (25-of-63). The game featured 41 total turnovers, 21 for PLU and 20 for the visitors, but the Boxers capitalized with 22 turnover points to PLU's 14.
Following the conclusion of the game, the Lutes honored the five seniors on the 2013-14 squad, as Castor, Kilcup, Smith, Potter and Chrissy Swope all played their final home games in a PLU uniform Friday night.
