KIRKLAND, Wash. - A sluggish start came back to bite the Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team on Saturday afternoon, coming up short 62-51 to host Northwest University in a non-conference tilt inside Brodin Pavilion.
 
It was all Eagles in the opening three minutes, staking an early 11-0 lead before owning a 27-10 advantage after one quarter of play. The Lutes outscored the Eagles 18-15 in the second quarter, trailing 42-28 at the halftime intermission.
 
Northwest increased its lead to 20 points just over 30 seconds into the fourth quarter before PLU scored the next 12 points, whittling the gap back down to single digits. Josie Napoli sparked the run, draining a pair of three-pointers before Maddie Plevyak added three buckets in the paint, including a bucket with 1:42 remaining to close the gap to 59-51. 
 
Unfortunately for the Lutes it was as close as it would get with Northwest making three free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.
 
Napoli paced the Lutes with 11 points and four assists with Taylor Schmidtke adding 10 points and four rebounds off the bench. Plevyak tallied nine points and nine boards while Stacie Spahr hauled down 14 rebounds, matching a career-high.
 
PLU had a tough day shooting, hitting just 26.7 percent (20-for-75) of its shots. The Lute bench outscored the Northwest bench 23-15 but was outmuscled 30-18 in points in the paint.
 
The Lutes take the next two weeks off before trekking to California to face Tufts University on December 30 in day one of the UCSC New Year's Classic.