Written by Student Assistant Jake Bilyeu

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team opened the California Lutheran University Tournament against the host Regals, who bested the Lutes 63-52 on Thursday afternoon. A late run for the Lutes came too late to salvage a win, but the team will get a chance to end the tournament with a win when they face University of La Verne tomorrow at 2 p.m.

The Lutes (3-6) rushed out to a 14-10 lead after one quarter of play after Kristin Sturdivan canned a three with 36 seconds left but Cal Lu (6-3) battled back, taking a 33-29 advantage at the halftime break. The Regals would play with a lead the entire second half en route to the nine-point win.

"We were flat in comparison to how we know we can play. Our energy was off, our defense lacked intensity, and we struggled finishing around the basket," head coach Jennifer Childress said. "Cal Lutheran hit some tough shots to shift the momentum in their favor and we failed counter their last big run."

Madison Salisbury led the tLutes in points and rebounds, hitting six of her 11 shots to finish with 14 points, while also grabbing five offensive rebounds on the way to 14 total. Kristin Sturdivan finished second behind Salisbury with 12 points, on five-of-14 shooting, while also grabbing five rebounds and four steals.

Emma Janousek led the team in minutes while controlling the offense with five assists, while grabbing three steals and committing just one turnover. Lauren Furu and Kylee Johnson came off the bench to provide some extra scoring. Furu finished with an efficient eight points on just four shots, while Johnson added six of her own on four shots.

The Lutes again used their stingy defense to win the turnover battle, 16-13. The Lutes' offensive rebounding created many second chance opportunities as well, and they outscored the Regals 10-9 in that category. Still, the Lutes were outdone by an accurate three-point shooting barrage from the Regals, hitting 40 percent of their triples while the Lutes only managed to hit 25 percent.

The team now hopes to split the tournament with a win against La Verne. From there, the team will travel to Whittier for their final non-conference game of the season before returning home to gear up for Northwest Conference play.

"Tomorrow presents a totally different opponent style wise," Childress said. "We will need to play composed versus their pressure and avoid getting into a track meet with them. Tomorrow will be a great test to our resiliency."