TACOMA, Wash. — Ashley Akamine dropped a season-high 21 points as the Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team never trailed in a 65-50 victory over Manchester University on Tuesday night inside Olson Gymnasium.
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PLU (7-3) never trailed against the Spartans (3-7), scoring nine of the opening 11 points to remain undefeated at home this season. Akamine scored the game's opening bucket before Manchester answered with a basket of their own to tie the game. It would be the only tie of the night with
Sydney Reisner burying a three followed by buckets from
Ava Edmonds and
Raylie Wardenaar to stake a 9-2 lead just under three minutes into the game.Â
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The Lutes enjoyed a 16-11 advantage after one quarter of action before seeing their lead mushroom to double digits in the second, enjoying a 34-23 cushion at the halftime intermission.
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Manchester cut the gap to nine points on four occasions in the third quarter but every time the Lutes answered, paving the way for the 15-point victory to improve to 4-0 at home this season.Â
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"Our focus has been attacking offensively and that was evident tonight by our 40 points in the paint," said Head Coach
Lee Aduddell.Â
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Akamine led all scorers with 21 points, hitting 10 of her 14 shots from the floor while also adding six rebounds. Edmonds dropped nine points while Reisner sunk a trio of treys to also end the night with nine.
Taylor Schmidtke contributed three steals while
Brandie Tobin had four assists along with eight points.Â
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"Ashley's performance tonight was impressive on both ends of the floor. We're a better team when she's that type of scoring threat."
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PLU outrebounded the Spartans 37-29 and dominated in the paint, enjoying a 40-8 advantage in points in the paint.Â
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The Lutes are back in action on Dec. 29, hosting Northwest University at 4 p.m.
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