SPOKANE – Whitworth outscored Pacific Lutheran by 13 points in the second half as the Pirates pulled away to a 65-49 Northwest Conference women's basketball win over the Lutes Saturday evening at Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Pacific Lutheran falls to 4-12 overall and 1-6 in conference play, while Whitworth improves to 16-1 overall and 7-1 in the NWC. The Lutes have a quick turnaround before their next game, as they have a Tuesday road game against cross-town rival Puget Sound at 6 p.m.

Megan Abdo led PLU with 12 points and grabbed five rebounds, while Lacey Nicholson made five of her seven shot attempts to score 11 points and Taylor Talen picked up a team-best six rebounds. KC McConnell led all scorers with 19 points for Whitworth, while Katara Belton-Sharp and Lexie Zappone each scored 12 and Jessica Kramer grabbed 10 rebounds.

Pacific Lutheran scored the first two points of the night, but Whitworth followed with a 15-4 run to take an early nine-point lead. The Pirates eventually pushed their advantage to 10 points on a layup by Zappone with 3:57 to play in the opening period. PLU responded as Jordan Bengen hit a jumper to spark a nine-point PLU run before Belton-Sharp ended the half with a jumper to make it 29-26 Whitworth at the break.

Whitworth built its lead back to double-figures on a layup by McConnell with 13:34 remaining in the game, and the Pirates stretched their lead to 16 points for the first time with 2:39 to play before closing out the night with the 16-point win.

Pacific Lutheran finished the night with a higher shooting percentage than Whitworth, as the Lutes shot 37.3 percent (19-of-51) and the Pirates shot 36.4 percent (24-of-66). However, the Pirates attempted 15 more shots in the game and held a 47-32 rebounding advantage.