TACOMA, Wash. — Brooke Samura dropped a career-high 20 points but a second half barrage of threes proved too much for the Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team to overcome on Tuesday night, stumbling 60-46 to host University of Puget Sound.
 
It was the Brooke Samura show in the opening half, scoring 11 of PLU's 25 points. The host Loggers surged to an early 13-4 lead in the first quarter only to see the Lutes (4-10, 1-4 Northwest Conference) pull within a bucket three minutes into the second quarter. PLU closed the gap courtesy of a 9-2 run that was bookended by Samura buckets, including a three to cap off the spurt.
 
Puget Sound (5-9, 4-1 NWC) interrupted the run with six consecutive points but the Lutes scored 12 of the half's final 16 points, tying the game on a Stacie Spahr jumper as the teams entered the halftime intermission knotted at 25-25. 
 
The third quarter saw the Loggers earn separation, turning a one point edge with 8:06 left in the quarter into a 10-point bulge on a trey with 2:19 remaining in the period. The Lutes briefly reduced the gap back down to single digits but when the dust settled, UPS had a 44-32 edge heading into the final 10 minutes of play. 
 
The Loggers scored the opening nine points in the fourth to put the game out of reach.

"The stat sheet shows we competed in a lot of ways that impact winning," said Head Coach Lee Aduddell. 

"Brooke was fantastic handling their pressure. Unfortunately, our shooting percentage as a team sank us tonight."
 
Samura finished the evening with 20 points and four assists, one of two Lutes in double figures. Stacie Spahr tallied a season-high 10 points while hauling in a team-high nine rebounds. Ashley Akamine and Emi Wada both had five points.

PLU held an edge in both points off turnovers (15 to 13) and bench points (25 to 15) but was outmatched by a hot shooting Logger team in the second half with Puget Sound hitting seven of its 11 three-pointers in the second half while the Lutes were able to sink just one of their 10 chances in the final 20 minutes of play. 
 
PLU heads to Oregon on Friday, clashing with Willamette University in Salem with tipoff set for 8 p.m.