TACOMA – Puget Sound scored 15 straight points to take a double-digit lead midway through the first half, and the Loggers retained the lead the rest of the way to defeat cross-town rival Pacific Lutheran 76-63 in Northwest Conference women's basketball action Tuesday evening at Memorial Fieldhouse.
Pacific Lutheran closes out the first half of the conference season with a 1-7 NWC record and a 4-13 overall mark, while Puget Sound improves to 15-2 overall and 6-2 in the NWC. The Lutes head to Oregon this weekend for a Saturday matchup against Pacific, with tipoff set for 4 p.m.
Madison Green-Hayward and Jori Hall tied to lead all scorers with 14 points apiece, with Green-Hayward adding five steals for the Lutes. Tayler Flemming tallied 12 points for PLU. Katy Ainslie and Amanda Forshay led Puget Sound with 13 points apiece, and Forshay grabbed 13 rebounds to post a double-double.
The first five minutes of play saw the teams exchange baskets, as PLU took its final lead of the night on a Flemming jumper to make it 8-6 with 15:10 to play in the opening period. Puget Sound held the Lutes scoreless for nearly the next six minutes as the Loggers scored 15 straight points to take a 21-8 lead
PLU made a run with eight straight points in only 65 seconds later in the period, rallying to within nine points back at 29-20 as three-pointers by Bailey Raines and Flemming sandwiched a pair of Hall free throws. A Forshay free throw ended the run, and the Loggers took a 34-22 lead into the break.
Puget Sound stretched its lead to as many as 23 points several times in the second period. Pacific Lutheran closed the game with a 13-5 run in the final three minutes to close out the night down 13 points.
The two teams put on a free throw shooting clinic, combining to make 37 of 43 shot attempts at the charity stripe (86.0 percent). Puget Sound shot 43.5 percent from the field (27-of-62), while PLLU shot an even 40 percent (20-of-50), and the Loggers out-rebounded the Lutes 45-to-25 to create the opportunity for 19 second-chance points.
