PARKLAND – It took an extra 10 minutes, but Pacific Lutheran won a back-and-forth battle against Willamette to claim its first Northwest Conference women's basketball win of the season 67-63 Saturday evening at Names Family Court.
Pacific Lutheran improved to 4-10 overall and 1-4 in conference play, while Willamette fell to 5-10 overall and 0-6 in the NWC. The Lutes play the next two weekends on the road, traveling to eastern Washington next weekend to visit Whitman on Friday and Whitworth on Saturday.
Jori Hall and Tayler Flemming each scored 17 points to lead PLU, as Flemming hit three of her four shot attempts from three-point range. Lacey Nicholson added 13 rebounds as PLU out-rebounded Willamette 51-to-46 in the win. Jojo DeLong scored a game-high 18 points for Willamette, while Katie Kalugin scored 13 and both Kelsey Walker and Marisa Hamilton tallied 10.
Willamette led for most of the first 10 minutes of play, twice building a five-point lead to serve as the Bearcats' largest advantage of the game. A three-pointer by Walker put the Bearcats up 14-9 midway through the opening period before a Flemming three-pointer sparked an eight-point PLU streak that put the Lutes up 17-14 with 5:11 on the clock.
The teams remained close for the final five minutes of the period, with the Lutes scoring the last four points to take a 26-20 advantage into the break. A Megan Abdo layup to open the second period gave PLU its largest lead of the night at 28-20, but the Bearcats scored the next seven points to make it a one-point contest less than two minutes into the period.
A 13-6 Willamette run put the visitors back on top, and the Bearcats maintained the lead for the majority of the second period. They stretched their lead to as many as five points four different times, including a 53-48 advantage with 5:36 remaining following a jumper by Julia Brand. That proved to be the final basket for Willamette in regulation, as Nicholson followed with a jumper, Sarah Barnes scored a basket and Flemming added a free throw to tie it up at 53-53 with 3:12 to play.
Neither team scored again in regulation, with the scoring drought ending on a pair of free throws by DeLong six seconds into the first overtime. Hall tied it up with a jumper for the Lutes, but a Brand free throw made it 56-55 Willamette two minutes in. Abdo hit a pair of free throws to turn the one-point deficit into a one-point lead going into the final minute, but DeLong hit a three-pointer from the left side to push Willamette back up two with 51 seconds showing. Flemming tied it with two free throws and the game continued into a second overtime.
A couple free throws by Hall gave PLU a two-point advantage early in the second OT, and a layup by Hall made it 63-59 with 3:50 to play. Ashley Evans pulled Willamette within two on a pair of free throws, but Madison Green-Hayward stretched the lead back to four at 65-61 with two more makes at the charity stripe. A DeLong layup made it a one-possession game going into the final minute, and the Bearcats had the ball with 25 seconds remaining before Nicholson stole the ball from DeLong and made two game-clinching free throws for the Lutes with 10 seconds on the clock.
The game featured eight tie scores and eight lead changes. PLU shot 37.5 percent in each of the first two periods with identical 9-of-24 shooting marks in each half before falling to 2-of-9 in overtime to finish the night at 35.1 percent (20-of-57). Willamette bounced back from a 24.2 percent first-half performance (8-of-33) to make 48.3 percent of their second-half shots (14-of-29) before falling all the way to 16.7 percent in overtime (2-of-12) to finish the night at 32.4 percent (24-of-74).
PLU made 23 of its 34 free throw attempts (67.6) attempting 19 more free throws than Willamette (10-of-15, 66.7 percent), while the Lutes made four of their eight shots from three-point range (50 percent) and Willamette made only five of 27 attempts from long-distance (18.5 percent).
