The Pioneer women's basketball team defeated the Whitworth
Pirates 69-57 (box
score) Friday night at the Pamplin Sports Center. Crystal
Castle scored 17 points and Kim Kittell put up 14 on Think Pink
Night.
The Whitworth Pirates broke a 7-7 tie with a three-pointer by
Alida Bower followed by a three by Cassie Snider to take an early
13-7 lead. The Pirates extended their lead to eight, 17-9, on a
pair of Bower freethrows with 11 minutes left in the first half.
The Pioneers Crystal Castle (senior, Rocklin, Calif.) went on a 6-0
run of her own, getting fouled on a made layup and hitting a
freethrow followed by a three pointer, to get the Pioneers right
back into the game. The Pioneers tied up the game at the eight
minute mark, 21-21, on a layup by Kelly Vega (sophomore, Clackamas,
Ore.). The two teams traded leads, tying up the game six more times
before going into the locker rooms at the half with a score of
34-34.
The second half began in much the same manner, with the two
teams tied 39-39 with just over 15 minutes left in the game,
before the Pioneers went on a 7-0 run to push out to a 46-39 lead.
Whitworth answered, pulling within two, 46-44, on a three-pointer
by Alida Bower with 10:30 remaining. The Pioneers answered with a
pair of threes, one by Laura Snider (senior, Colorado Springs,
Colo.) and one by Shawna Castle (senior, Rocklin, Calif.) to build
the lead back up to eight, 52-44, with 9:23 remaining. A
jumper by Shawna Castle with 7:39 remaining gave the Pioneers their
first double-digit lead, 55-45. The Pioneers kept the lead close to
ten points for the rest of the game, with the Pirates managing to
pull within seven, 64-57, on a three-pointer by Alida Bower
with 1:28 remaining, but they would get no closer as the Pioneers
held on for the 69-57 victory. The Pioneers shot 61.9% in the
second half while the Pioneer defense held the Pirates to just a
26.9% efficiency in that same time frame. The Pioneers finished the
game shooting 57.1% to the Pirates 36.7%.
Crystal Castle scored a game-high 17 points, also pulling in a
game-high eight rebounds. Kim Kittell (sophomore, Tillamook, Ore.)
scored 14 points, going 5-7 from the floor. She had five assists,
four rebounds and a steal. Christina Herring (freshman, San Dimas,
Calif.) played a strong defensive game, with six rebounds.
For the Pirates, Natalie Orrell scored 15 points with five
rebounds, three assists, and three blocks. Alida Bower scored
fourteen points, hitting four three-pointers. She also had four
rebounds and a pair of steals.
With the victory, the Pioneers remain in a tie for third place
with a 7-4 Conference mark. They improve to 11-9 overall. The
Whitworth Pirates fall out of third place with the loss, posting an
11-9 overall mark and 6-5 in the Northwest Conference.
The Pioneers will host Whitman Saturday afternoon at 4pm.
Whiworth heads out to Forest Grove to take on Pacific
tomorrow.
It was Think Pink night at Pamplin as Lewis & Clark
College joined with other schools around the country to highlight
breast cancer awareness. In addition to coaches, fans, and staff
wearing pink, the game refs blew pink whistles in the game. The
Pioneer crew team held an Erg-A-Thon in the Pamplin foyer. Their
efforts, along with the findraising efforts of SAAC reps, helped
raise over $500 for breast cancer research.
