BOX SCORE

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Lewis & Clark women's basketball team continued its impressive non-conference run with a 78-69 victory over the Whittier Poets on Thursday night at the Graham Athletics Center as part of the Tiger/Poet Challenge in Whittier, Calif. With their first road victory of the season, the Pioneers improve to 5-1, while the Poets fall to 3-2.

The Pioneers got off to a rocky start in the opening seconds, beginning the game with a quick foul that sent Keimi Lew to the charity stripe where she shot and made both of her free-throw attempts with 19:49 on the clock. A layup with 15:13 to play in the half would hand the Pios their first lead of the game and push the momentum their way. Sophomore Neva House gave the Pioneers their largest lead of the half with 3:23 remaining, laying one up to give her team a 29-24 advantage. The Poets would fight their way back into the half, cutting the L&C lead to 33-32 with 45 seconds remaining in the half on a jumper by Kourtney Zilbert.

Lewis & Clark got on the board first in the second half with a Kristina Williams layup at the 18:11 mark. The Poets refused to go down without a fight, battling the Pioneers for every point, tying the game on four different occasions. The Pioneers pulled ahead for good with on a three-pointer by Megan Spence with 6:29 to play to grab a 61-59 lead. Back-to-back made free-throws from senior Talerra Rich with 11 seconds left to play would hand the Pios the 78-69 victory.

The Pioneers were led by a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds from Williams, while Rich chipped in 17 points. Spence led the Pios in rebounds with nine, eight of which came on the defensive side of the ball.

The Poets were led by Brittany Aranda who scored 13 points, while Zilbert finished with 12 points.

The Pioneers return to the court on Friday at 7:30 to face the Occidental Tigers in the final game of the Tiger/Poet Challenge.