SPOKANE, Wash. – The short-handed Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team hung tough on Friday night but were unable to dig out of an early deficit in a 53-40 setback to Northwest Conference rival Whitworth University.

Playing without the services of two starters, the Lutes held a 4-2 lead just over three minutes into the game on layups from Emi Wada and Stacie Spahr. The homestanding Pirates (7-11, 4-5 NWC) would end the opening quarter on a 10-2 run before methodically building a 15-point buffer in the second and taking a 29-16 lead into the halftime intermission.

Whitworth's lead ballooned to 20 in the third but the Lutes (1-17, 1-8 NWC) refused to back down, whittling the deficit to single digits on a Wada jumper with 6:20 left in the fourth before crawling within seven on a Spahr jumper with 3:36 remaining. The Pirates responded with a pair of threes and kept PLU off the scoreboard the rest of the way to seize the win.

"We couldn't find it offensively tonight," said Head Coach Lee Aduddell.

"It certainly hurt us not having Sydney Reisner and Breeze Bartle but we battled and stayed within striking distance. It came down to who made more shots and they were able to do that."

Ashley Akamine led the Lutes with nine points while also adding six rebounds. Taylor Schmidtke, Emi Wada, and Stacie Spahr all added eight points.

PLU struggled from the field on Friday, hitting just 34 percent (17-for-50) of its shots including just one of its 10 attempts from three-point range.

The Lutes thrived underneath the basket, enjoying a 30-14 advantage in points in the paint, while winning the turnover battle 8-10.

PLU is back on the hardwood tomorrow afternoon, facing Whitman College in Walla Walla.