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TACOMA, Wash. - Pacific Lutheran University's 308 day drought without intercollegiate competition ended on Monday night with the Lute women's basketball team trekking up I-5 for an exhibition game against Division II Seattle Pacific University. Ava Edmonds and Emma Janousek both finished in double figures but it wasn't enough with host SPU slipping away with the 56-51 victory.

"With all that my players have been asked to do over the last three months dealing with isolation, COVID protocols, and uncertainly about the season. They chose to come together and invest in each other. Their effort was awesome tonight!" said Head Coach GC Hillburn.

The host Falcons owned a 27-23 lead at the halftime intermission in a wild opening 20 minutes that featured six lead changes and five ties.

Edmonds made her Lute debut in style, giving the Lutes their first lead of the night with a three-pointer midway through the opening quarter at 5-4. Edmonds would hit another trey with 1:38 left in the first stanza but a SPU jumper with four ticks left gave the Falcons the 14-13 edge after one quarter of play.

Edmonds struck again just 16 seconds into the second quarter, draining a jumper to give the Lutes' the 15-14 advantage. A Jorie Lambert three bumped the advantage to 18-14 while a Megan Drake three midway through the quarter gave visiting PLU the 21-16 advantage.

Seattle Pacific held PLU scoreless the final four minutes of the second quarter to take a four-point edge into locker room at the halftime break. Pacific Lutheran whittled the gap to just a single possession, first on a Drake jumper 20 seconds into the fourth quarter and again on a Madison Mosier layup with 8:10 left but the host Falcons held on down the stretch, relying on free throws in the final minutes to fend off the Lutes.

Edmonds scored 10 of the Lutes' opening 15 points, finishing with a team-high 16 points and two blocks. Janousek added 12 points, five assists and four rebounds while Alex Gallaher and Megan Drake added six and five points, respectively.

"We expect everyone on this team to play with full effort all the time and tonight was a great step in that direction."

PLU forced 27 SPU turnovers but was outrebounded by a 42-20 margin. The Falcons additionally enjoyed more made free throws (15) than the Lutes had trips to the charity stripe (14). Pacific Lutheran shot 34.0 percent from the floor (34.0 percent), draining nine three-pointers and holding the hosts to shooting a paltry 12.5 percent (one-for-eight) from distance.

The Lutes open the regular season on Jan. 22, hosting Whitman College inside Olson Gymnasium. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. Fans will not be allowed to attend the game but can watch the action live on GoLutes.com.