Setting the Scene: The next three weeks have a healthy dose of hoops surrounded by the Holidays for the Pacific Lutheran University Athletic Department. The Lute women's basketball team hosts two home non-conference games and the men host another to close out December before the two squads open up Northwest Conference play at home to open up the New Year.

SUNDAY DEC 21:
WBB hosts UC Santa Cruz inside Olson Gymnasium (12 p.m.)
SUNDAY DEC. 28:
MBB hosts UC Santa Cruz inside Olson Gymnasium (2 p.m.)
TUESDAY DEC. 30:
WBB hosts Middlebury inside Olson Gymnasium (2 p.m.)
FRIDAY JAN. 2:
WBB hosts George Fox inside Olson Gymnasium (5:30 p.m.)
MBB hosts George Fox inside Olson Gymnasium (7:30 p.m.)
SATURDAY JAN. 3:
WBB hosts Lewis & Clark inside Olson Gymnasium (3 p.m.)
MBB hosts Lewis & Clark inside Olson Gymnasium (5 p.m.)

Get with the Flo: This summer the Northwest Conference signed an exclusive five-year deal with FloSports to be the live streaming platform of the Lutes and the rest of the conference.
 
Make sure to sign up for FloSports today so you don't miss any of the action at home or on the road. Sign up today: LINK

Men's Basketball: The Lutes (6-2) dropped an exhibition to Division II Saint Martin's University last night but are riding a six-game win streak in games that count in the standings. 

That included sneaking past Warner Pacific University 64-61 last Friday night and pummeling Douglas College 97-54 on Monday evening. 

PLU is now 5-0 inside Olson Gymnasium this season and has its next three games at home. 

The Lutes have built their success this season on a balanced scoring attack that includes four players averaging in double figures. Ben Tellez leads the way, dropping 15.6 points per game with Dom Perasso chipping in 13.8 ppg.

Milestone Watch: Head Coach Chad Murray is closing in on his milestone 100th win as the Lutes' top man. Murray currently sits with 98 career wins at PLU while boasting 169 overall in his collegiate coaching career, accumulating 71 over eight seasons at Cornell College in Iowa. 

Track & Field: Pacific Lutheran opened the lid on the indoor season on Saturday, sending a small contingent of student-athletes to the Spokane Invitational.

On the women's side, Ki Neir was runner-up in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet, 10 inches with Madison Downey third overall after clearing the same height. Abi Caprye was fifth in the high jump, clearing 5' 1 ¼" while reigning NWC Champion Kyleigh Archer was seventh in the triple jump with a mark of 36' 9 ¾". 

On the men's side, Bridger Hanis cleared a personal best height of six feet, 2 ¾ inches in the high jump, landing sixth place overall while Peter Essex made his Lute debut by clearing 12' 9 ½" in the pole vault. 

The Lutes take the rest of the month off and will return to action on Jan. 16 for the UW Preview Meet in Seattle. 

Women's Basketball: The Lutes (1-6) opened a six-game homestand in style on Sunday, scoring early and often in a 64-47 wire-to-wire win over The Evergreen State College.

PLU scored the game's first 11 points and held a 24-8 advantage after one quarter of play. Sydney Reisner led the charge offensively with 18 points with Emi Wada and Kylie Griffin both scoring 11. Lilli Williams hauled in a team-best nine rebounds on a day PLU's defense forced 25 turnovers and limited the Geoducks to shooting just 11.8 percent (two-for-17) from beyond the arc.

Women's Soccer: It was a good week for goalkeeper Abby Winkler who on Wednesday became the first PLU women's soccer player in school history to be named a First Team Academic All-American from College Sports Communicators (CSC). Winkler along with teammates Katelyn McDougal and Liv Olson were also named Scholar All-Region from United Soccer Coaches (USC) on the same day.

Volleyball: The NWC Tournament Champion Lutes had four student-athletes secure CSC Academic All-District honors on Tuesday. That included Alexis Eggert, Haley Goto, Macy Matsushima, and Ayre Takamoto. This was the second straight year Eggert has won the award, an honor that requires student-athletes to boast a GPA above 3.5 and play in at least 90 percent of the team's matches.

Welcome Back Zach: This week the Lutes announced the hiring of Zach Walther as the department's new director of strength and conditioning/head coach.

A 2018 Lute graduate, Walther has experience at Seattle University, Florida State University, and Lindbergh High School. Learn more: LINK

Download the GoLutes App: Stay connected to your favorite teams by downloading the official mobile app of the Pacific Lutheran University Athletic Department powered by SIDEARM Sports, available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.

Featuring real-time news alerts, schedules, exclusive multimedia content, gamely details and more, the PLU Athletics app is free and compatible with both iOS and Android devices.

Link to download on Google Play: LINK

Link to download on Apple App Store: LINK