TACOMA, Wash. --- The Pacific Lutheran Women's Basketball team began the 2024-25 campaign inside Olson Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon, as they fell to the Warner Pacific Knights, 54-45.
 
Kasidy Javernick and Sydney Reisner scored the first baskets for the Lutes in the opening quarter of the season, with Reisner's next lay-in giving the Lutes a 9-1 lead to cap off a 9-0 run. Raylie Wardenaar sank a three of her own to later give the Lutes a 12-5 lead before freshman Brooke Samura closed the first quarter with a jumper to make it 14-9 Lutes thorugh one.
 
Javernick began the second with a layup after gaining an offensive rebound, which Emi Wada answered by knocking down a three to give the Lutes a 19-11 lead. A bucket by Schmidtke and a free throw from Ashley Akamine gave the Lutes their largest lead of the game (14), putting the Lutes up 25-11 halfway through the second quarter. The Knights went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to just seven, but Reisner knocked down another three late in the quarter, giving the Lutes a 28-18 lead at the break.
 
The Knights fought back yet again, cutting the Lutes lead to four early in the second quarter, but the run was halted by a Schmidtke three-pointer. Warner Pacific got hot from beyond the arc as the shooting woes continued for the Lutes, earning the Knights an 8-0 run to take their first lead since the start of the game, 32-31. Schmidtke sank a layup to then tie the game up at 33-33, but a jumper from Warner Pacific gave the Knights a 35-33 lead heading into the fourth.
 
Brandie Tobin and Emi Wada cut the deficit to just one-point a pair of times in the first five-minutes of the final quarter, but a 6-0 run in favor of the Knights over the course of 104-seconds sank the Lutes hopes of a comeback, as Warner Pacific came away with a 54-45 win.
 
Reisner led the Lutes with 12 points in 31-minutes players, adding four rebounds and a steal. Taylor Schmidtke led the Lutes in rebounds with nine, to go along with her seven points, two assists, and two steals. As a team, the Lutes shot nearly 24% from the floor and 20.8% from beyond the arc.
 
The Lutes aim to rebound in a neutral-site matchup tomorrow afternoon against Ripon College inside the gym of Puget Sound at 2 p.m.
 
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