TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team will travel down to Oregon for the final weekend of Northwest Conference play to end the season on a positive note against Pacific University and Lewis & Clark College.

The Lutes (10-13, 5-9 NWC) are coming off a tough weekend loss on Senior Night to Willamette University. The Lutes honored their two seniors Kylie Rademacher and Emma Janousek during their last home game at PLU. For the game itself, the Lutes fell behind early to the Bearcats trailing by as much as 18 points in the second half before the Lutes made a strong fourth quarter push behind Janousek and Megan Drake. The Lutes were down by five with a minute to go before Willamette iced the game from the free throw line to prevail 70-59.

Senior Emma Janousek led the Lutes with 20 points on Saturday and junior forward Megan Drake dropped 15 including going 3-for-4 from three-point range. Freshman guard Toni Thibert had a big first half for the Lutes and ended the night with 14 points to round out the Lutes in double figures.

Thibert, a freshman business major from Kent, Washington has shown an immediate impact during her first year on the team. She credits her teammates and coaches as, "Both have helped me to transition to the team culture and to learn what it takes to be successful in this conference. I'm thankful for their continued support and encouragement throughout the season."

Thibert who has many memories already in her first year said that her favorite memory was "beating Pacific and giving them their first conference loss." With one weekend left to play Thibert is looking forward to going out and enjoying the moment with her teammates as the season is coming to a close.
The game this Friday will tip off at 6:00 p.m. against the Boxers and at 4:00 p.m. against the Pioneers on Saturday

Feb. 22: PLU @ Pacific inside Stoller Center (6 p.m.)

Series History: The Lutes and Boxers have met since the 1980-1981 season with the Lutes leading the all-time series 45-33. PLU has won the last two matchups with Pacific including earlier this season. In the matchup on January 25^th, the Lutes handed the Boxers their first NWC loss as they won 61-58. Brilie Kovaloff led all scorers with 20 points in the game.

About the Boxers: Pacific (15-8, 9-5 NWC) have lost four of their last five Northwest Conference matchups. They won last Friday by 11 over Whitworth before losing to Whitman by 26 on Saturday. Pacific currently sits in a tie for 2^nd in the conference standings and will look to improve their seeding in this final weekend.

The Boxers are led by Courtney Carolan who is averaging 14.6 points per game on the season. Camy Aguinaldo and Brilie Kovaloff are also averaging more than 10 points per game. The Boxers are relentless on the defensive end as they have racked up 227 steals on the season.

Feb. 23: PLU @ Lewis & Clark inside Pamplin Sports Center (4 p.m.)

Series History: The Lutes and Pioneers have met since the 1980-1981 season with the Lutes owning a 48-30 advantage in the all-time series. The Lutes have won the previous two games against the Pioneers including an earlier matchup this season. In that game Megan Drake led all scorers with 15 and Toni Thibert tacked on 10 as well to give the Lutes a 21-point victory.

About the Pioneers: In its last time on the floor, Lewis & Clark (3-19, 2-12 NWC) beat Linfield College 79-71 last Saturday at home.

The Pioneers are led by Delsie Johnson who is averaging 15.4 points per game. The only other player averaging in double digits in Hannah Martin who is just above 10 points per game. The Pioneers will honor their lone senior, Blythe Ballesteros on Saturday.