WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Emi Wada scored a season-high 14 points on Friday night but the Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team couldn't keep pace with reigning Northwest Conference Champion Whitman College, falling 89-50 to the hosts inside the Sherwood Center to kick off a five-game road swing. 

"Against a physical team like Whitman you have to be ready to compete and I think it took us too long to adjust to their physicality," said Head Coach Lee Aduddell.

"We'll make adjustments and learn from this to be ready tomorrow in Spokane."

Wada was nearly perfect on Friday evening, shooting five-for-seven from the floor, and hitting both her shots from beyond the arc. Wada was one of two Lutes (1-15, 0-7 NWC) finishing in double figures with fellow senior Sydney Reisner adding 11.

The homestanding Blues (10-6, 5-2 NWC) led wire-to-wire, scoring the opening seven points and 11 of the first 13. Whitman would lead by as many as 18 in the first quarter but a three the old fashioned way from Reisner followed by an Wada layup made it a 13-point deficit after 10 minutes of play. The Blues would maintain a double digit lead the rest of the game, owning a 51-29 halftime edge en route to the win.
 
Wada's season-best scoring production also came with five rebounds and three steals, playing all but two minutes in the 40-minute showdown. Ghadir Ramadan was a point shy of double figures, going three-for-four from the floor. Kate Wooten led the team on the glass, yanking down seven rebounds.
 
PLU shot 41.9 percent (18-for-43) from the field but couldn't bottle up a hot Blues team that shot at a 56.9 percent clip (37-for-65), including knocking down 52.9 percent (nine-for-17) of its chances from beyond the arc. 
 
The Lutes are back on the court tomorrow afternoon, facing Whitworth University at 3 p.m. in Spokane.