TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball squad opened up its four-game homestand in style on Friday night, downing Northwest Conference rival Lewis & Clark College 59-52 inside Olson Gymnasium.
"We found a way to win tonight," said Head Coach
Lee Aduddell.Â
"We had a goal of plus 12 on the boards and we beat that and that set the tone for the night."
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PLU (6-10, 3-4 NWC) led by as many as nine points in the first half, taking a 32-27 advantage into the halftime intermission.
Brooke Samura drained a three to open the scoring as PLU tallied six of the game's first eight points.
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The Pioneers (4-12, 1-6 NWC) responded, draining a three with 4:38 remaining in the first quarter to take its first lead of the night. That lead was short lived with PLU retaking the lead just over a minute later on an
Ashley Akamine fast break layup. The Lutes held an 18-15 advantage after 10 minutes of play. That advantage swelled to seven on a
Kasidy Javernick bucket early in the second quarter and hit nine on a
Sydney Reisner layup with 76 seconds left before the break. Lewis & Clark dug into that gap, scoring the final four points of the half to make it a five point spread at the half.
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Kylie Griffin bucket with 4:02 left in the third quarter pushed the Lute lead to double digits for the first time. Lewis & Clark narrowed the gap to five in the fourth quarter but was unable to get any closer as the Lutes won their second straight game.
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Reisner led the Lutes with 13 points, while
Taylor Schmidtke added 12. Samura tallied her second double-double of the season scoring 11 and adding a 10 rebounds.
Shaela Allen-Greggs hauled in 10 boards as PLU outrebounded the Pios 42-26 on the night.
"Winning in this league is hard and we're proud of this one. We'll be back to work tomorrow night with another tough team in Pacific.
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PLU's four game homestand continues tomorrow night, hosting Pacific University at 6 p.m.
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