The Lutes edged the Pioneers 64-52 i
n the second game of their back-to-back conference opening weekend
in Tacoma, Washington on Saturday, January 3 (boxscore). The Lutes
entered the match-up 1-0 in conference play, while the Pioneers
were 0-1 after coming off of a tough loss to the Puget Sound
Loggers the night previous.
The Lutes jumped out to an early lead, but not without receiving a
response from the Pioneers late in the half. For the first 16
minutes of play, the Lutes maintained an eight point lead. However,
their lead would slowly diminish, as the Pioneers launched a
comeback, led by the outside shooting of freshman Megan Spence
(Kingston, Wash.). With 2:40 remaining in the half, Spence hit a
nothing-but-net three-pointer to bring the Pioneers within four
points of the Lutes. A burst of adrenaline resulted, as the
Pioneers earned a defensive stop and a lay-up from Kim Kittell to
cut the Lute-lead to two. But the Lutes did not rollover,
responding to the Pioneer comeback with seven more points in the
final two minutes of play. The Pioneers had rallied back to within
four points, 26-22, by the end of the half.
After shooting just 28.1% from the floor in the first half, the
Pioneers hoped for more success in the second, but found the same
misfortune in the final 20 minutes of play. The Pioneers shot just
27.5% from the floor against the Lutes' impressive 53.8% shooting
in the second half. Despite their efforts to stage a comeback late
in the second half, the Pioneers were unable to recover from the
Lutes 57-38 lead, which came at the 3:40 mark in the contest.
Spence continued her impressive performance in the second half,
scoring nine points to pace the Pioneers. Finishing the game 64-52,
the Pioneers earned just eight fewer points than the Lutes in the
second half.
Megan Spence led all scorers in the game with 17 points, nine of
which came from beyond the arc. Christina Herring (So., San Dimas,
Calif.) added 11 points to help pace the Pioneers.
The Pioneers are now 0-2 in conference play and 6-5 overall. They
will return to play on Friday, January 9, when they host first
place George Fox, currently undefeated at 11-0 overall and 2-0 in
conference, at Pamplin Sports Center. Tip off is set for 6 pm
followed by the men's game at 8 pm.
