Written by Student Assistant Jake Bilyeu

TACOMA, Wash. – The Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team opened its final weekend homestand on Friday night, faltering 85-65 to Northwest Conference rival George Fox University inside Olson Gymnasium. A strong third quarter from the visiting Bruins paired with a great free-throw differential prevented the Lutes from obtaining a victory.

"Some of our old habits came back to bite us, and we didn't execute our fundamentals as well as we could have," head coach Jennifer Childress said.  "We needed to focus on the little things to counter their athleticism, and instead we strayed toward trying to play their game a little too much."

The Lutes (5-15, 1-10 NWC) and Bruins (17-3, 10-1 NWC) traded jabs in the opening quarter with three lead changes and three ties. Visiting George Fox owned a 41-34 advantage at the halftime intermission before pulling away in the third quarter outscoring the Lutes 24-9. PLU regrouped in the final quarter of the game, outscoring GFU 22-20 but the damage was already done.

Madison Salisbury led the Lutes in scoring on Friday night.  Salisbury shot well from both the field and the free-throw line, hitting six-of-12 from the floor while sinking four of her five tries from behind the stripe.  Emma Janousek trailed just behind her with 14 points, hitting six of eight shots while also providing four assists and two steals.

The Lutes remained even with the Bruins across most of the stat sheet, matching them in offensive rebounds (13) while nearly matching them in assists (16 to 17) and besting them in turnovers (27 to 28). The free-throw line became the biggest determining factor Friday night, as the Bruins earned 34 trips to the line, 13 more than the Lutes who hit 62 percent (13-for-21) from the line with the Bruins managing to hit 82 percent (28-for-34).

"We need to be confident that, when we put the ball on the floor, we're going somewhere with it," Childress said.  "George Fox consistently drove until a defender stopped them, whereas we were a bit more hesitant."

Childress saw plenty of positives on the court tonight, though, and she hopes that the Lutes can bring those back on the court Saturday and help the team split the weekend with a win against Linfield College.

"Our intensity was good tonight, and bringing consistent energy has been one of our biggest hurdles this season," Childress said.  "If we can bring that intensity while attacking and being smarter with the ball, we'll have a good shot."

The Lutes take the floor at 4 p.m. on Saturday, as they'll also honor their seniors prior to the game tipping off.