TACOMA, Wash. – A staunch defensive effort put the Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team up nine with under six minutes to go on Sunday afternoon but visiting United States Coast Guard Academy managed to slip away with the 57-54 win at the seventh annual Pacific Northwest Tournament inside Olson Gymnasium.
The game was tied heading into the fourth quarter before the Lutes (0-9) mounted a 9-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game with 5:57 remaining on a pair of
Taylor Schmidtke free throws. An
Ava Edmonds layup sparked the run, before getting a layup from
Ashley Akamine and a three from Edmonds.
The Bears (4-6) quickly negated the Lute lead, tying the game at 49 with 2:57 remaining. PLU pushed back ahead on an Akamine layup and again on a
Sydney Reisner bucket with 1:24 left to go up 53-51. Coast Guard would answer over the final 84 seconds, outscoring the Lutes 6-1 to hang on for the victory.
PLU had a chance to take the lead on a three with 15 ticks remaining and tie the game with five seconds left but both opportunities fell short.
"Our goal was to limit their three-point makes and we were able to do that effectively," said Head Coach
Lee Aduddell whose squad allowed just four threes all game and just one in the second half.
"
Sydney Reisner had a lot to do with that from her exceptional defensive effort. Although we've had great growth so far this season, we haven't learned to win yet, but that will come and we won't stop working."
The homestanding Lutes got off to a sluggish start, conceding 11 of the opening 14 points but was able to erase the gap later in the first with an
Ava Edmonds trey giving PLU the lead and enjoying a slim 19-18 edge after one quarter of play.
The Bears surged back into the lead early in the second, building an eight-point gap with 5:03 remaining but the Lutes held Coast Guard off the scoreboard the rest of the period, scoring the final 12 points of the half, including threes from Taylor Schmitke and Edmonds to take a 34-30 lead into the halftime intermission.
Edmonds finished with a game-high 14 points, hitting four treys and hailing in six rebounds. Reisner added 13 points and six assists with Akamine finishing two boards shy of a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Schmidtke came off the bench and scored eight while grabbing five rebounds.
PLU outrebounded USCGA 41-35 and held a 12-2 advantage in second chance points. Coast Guard won the turnover battle 11-to-19 and enjoyed a 20-9 edge in points off turnovers.
The Lutes take the next 10 days off before returning to the court on Dec. 29 with a showdown in Los Angeles against Occidental College.
