KIRKLAND, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team was unable to stop a late surge from College of Idaho in Friday's season opener at the Cascade Challenge, stumbling 50-41 inside Northwest University's Kristi Brodin Pavilion.
A bucket by
Sydney Reisner with 5:27 left tied the game at 39 apiece but the Coyotes pulled away over the final minutes, outscoring the Lutes 11-2 in the final five minutes to hold on for the win. An
Ashley Akamine basket with 2:04 remaining made it a one possession ballgame but PLU (0-1) was held scoreless the rest of the way with the Yotes (1-0) hitting three free throws and a pair of field goals to hold on for the nine point win.
It was a slugfest in the opening half with College of Idaho owning a 13-10 lead after one quarter of play and taking a slim 23-20 edge into the locker room at halftime. CoI led by as many as eight points late in the third before the Lutes scored 14 of the next 20 to knot the score at 39 with 5:27 to go.
"I'm really proud of our defensive effort tonight. We executed our scout and put ourselves in a position to win. We have a quick turnaround but will look to take learns from tonight's game into tomorrow," said Head Coach
Lee Aduddell.
Akamine led the Lutes with 10 points, hitting four of her eight shots from the floor while also adding six rebounds.
Emi Wada added nine points while
Stacie Spahr had a team-high 10 boards while also adding six points on the offensive end.
PLU's defense limited College of Idaho to shooting just 36 percent (18-for-50) from the floor and 13.3 percent (two-for-15) from three-point range. The Lutes held an 11-2 edge in second chance points but were sabotaged by turnovers, giving up the ball 21 times and allowing the Yotes to have a 19-11 edge in points off turnovers.
The Lutes are back on the hardwood tomorrow, facing host Northwest at 5 p.m. to close out the Cascade Challenge.
