PARKLAND – Pacific Lutheran rallied back from a double-digit deficit to take the lead with six minutes to play, but Pacific used a 13-point run to reclaim the lead and hold off the Lutes 56-51 in the Northwest Conference women's basketball opener for both teams Friday evening at Names Family Court.
Pacific Lutheran falls to 3-7 overall and 0-1 in conference play with the loss, while Pacific improves to 5-5 overall and 1-0 in the NWC. The Lutes head to Oregon next weekend, where they will take on George Fox on Jan. 9 at 6 p.m. and Lewis & Clark on Jan. 10 at 4 p.m.
Megan Abdo led PLU with 16 points, while Lacey Nicholson posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. The Lutes rallied from a 28.6 first-half shooting percentage (8-of-28) to shoot 41.7 percent (10-of-24) after the break and finish the game at 34.6 percent overall (18-of-52).
Nani Ostrom scored a career-best 19 points to pace Pacific, while Sarah Curl added 12 and Abby Jones finished one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. The Boxers finished the night with a 37.9 shooting percentage (25-of-66).
Pacific scored the first eight points of the game and took its largest lead of the night after consecutive Ostrom three-pointers made it 28-16 with 3:36 to go in the opening period. Abdo responded with a three-pointer for the Lutes, and she added another three at the buzzer to pull PLU to within seven at 30-23 going into the break.
Layups by Nicholson and Abdo made it a one-possession game less than two minutes into the second period, but it took another 11 minutes before a Nicholson three gave the Lutes their first lead of the night at 41-40. She followed with a jumper to put PLU up three points, but Ostrom tied it with a trey for Pacific, and the Boxers scored 13 straight points to reclaim the lead and stretch it to 10 points.
Sarah Barnes ended the Pacific run with a layup at the 2:40 mark, and she added a free throw to make it a seven-point game. An Abdo layup on the next possession pulled PLU within five, and Nicholson dropped the deficit down to four in the final minute. But PLU couldn't find the basket the rest of the way, and an Olivia Cook free throw in the closing seconds closed out the road win for Pacific.
