TACOMA, Wash. -  The Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team outscored Whitworth University by five in the third quarter to cut a 12-point halftime lead down to just seven, but the Lutes ran out of steam in the fourth, falling to the Pirates 78-71 inside Olson Gymnasium. 
 
The Pirates (9-13, 4-9 NWC) led for the entirety of the 40-minute affair on Friday night.  PLU trailed by five after the opening quarter before heading to the locker down by a dozen.  Five Lutes scored in the third quarter as the home team nearly halved the Pirate edge.  The Pirates regrouped in the fourth however, as their lead swelled to 16 points with 5:42 remaining.  The Lutes fought to the finish line though before simply running out of time. 
 
Josie Napoli had 18 points to lead the offensive attack and had a team-high five assists.  Ava Edmonds had eight points, but was a beast on the boards and snatched 14 rebounds.  Stacie Spahr also hit double digits in rebounds with 10 and scored nine.  Kasidy Javernick added 14 and Maddie Plevyak chipped in 13. 
 
PLU struggled shooting the ball on Friday night, hitting just 32 percent of its shots from the field and was 8-for-27 from beyond the arc.  The Lutes were incredible at the line though, knocking down 15-of-16 from the charity stripe. 
 
The Lutes (6-14, 3-10 NWC) will remain at home tomorrow afternoon when they host Whitman College at 4:00 p.m. The Blues are currently ranked sixth in the country by D3hoops.com.