TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team never trailed on Thursday night, pulling away in the final quarter to register a 63-56 win over Multnomah University to remain undefeated inside Olson Gymnasium this season.
Ava Edmonds paced the Lutes (5-3), dropping 21 points and was one of four PLU players in double figures in the seven-point win.
Pacific Lutheran led by as many as 12-points in the game but needed a big final quarter after the pesky Lions (2-6) clawed back into the game and tied the contest at 42 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
Edmonds put the Lutes back in front just 16 seconds into the fourth, converting an and-one play— hitting a layup and a free throw before
Taylor Schmidtke hit a jumper to open up a five point gap.
Multnomah reduced it to a single possession with 7:33 remaining but a
Raylie Wardenaar jumper followed by a Schmidtke three ballooned the Lute lead to eight. PLU would enjoy at least a five point buffer the rest of the way to collect the seven-point win.
The Lutes scored the opening five points of the game with Wardenaar scoring a bucket off the opening tip before Edmonds drained a three-pointer. Wardenaar and Edmonds would reverse roles at the end of the quarter with Wardenaar sinking a trey and Edmonds hitting a layup with seven seconds left as the Lutes enjoyed a 23-12 advantage after 10 minutes of play.
The second quarter saw the Lions roar back into the game, reducing the deficit to just a single possession after draining a three with 1:51 remaining as PLU took a 29-26 lead into the halftime intermission.
A
Sydney Reisner trey put the Lutes up seven with 6:33 left in the third quarter but Multnomah whittled the gap to two with 3:49 left in the third before tying the game on a layup to head into the final quarter of play deadlocked at 42.
Edmonds hit nine of her 13 shots and hauled in nine rebounds to lead all scorers. Wardenaar added 11 points while Reisner and Schmidtke each collected 10.
Brandie Tobin did a bit of everything to net the Birthday win, finishing with five points while leading the team in assists (five), blocks (three), and steals (two).
"Ava was outstanding tonight. The stats speak for themselves but her basketball IQ helped us win that game," said Head Coach
Lee Aduddell.
"We had to battle for 40 minutes and every time they made a run we answered. Really proud of this team and how we responded tonight."
PLU finished the game shooting 48.0 percent (24-for-50) from the field while holding Multnomah to shooting at a 30.9 percent clip (21-for-68).
The Lutes are back in action on Friday, Dec. 15, hosting Northwest Indian College at 5 p.m.
