BOX SCORE
SPOKANE, Wash. - Senior Christina Herring scored a season high 19 points as the Lewis & Clark women's basketball team earned a 74-70 Northwest Conference win over the Whitworth Pirates on Saturday night. With the victory the Pioneers and Pirates split the conference series, with the Pirates being the only team to defeat the Pioneers in NWC this season.
The Pioneers are now 15-4 on the season and 9-1 in the NWC. The win keeps the Pioneers one game ahead of the Puget Sound Loggers and George Fox Bruins, while extending the teams win streak to 11 games. The Pirates had their four-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 10-9, 6-4.
Herring finished the night 7-10 from the floor and a perfect 4-4 from the charity stripe. She also chipped in a game-high six assists. Junior Megan Spence knocked down 14 points for the Pios and pulled down a game-high seven boards. Neva Hauser scored 13 points in the Pioneer victory and Kristina Williams finished the night with 11.
Lauren Picha and Emily Travis led the Pirates with 15 points, while teammate Emily Guthrie had 14.
The first half began in Whitworth's favor, as the Pirates surged to a 21-8 lead within the first seven minutes of action. The Pirates extended their lead to 25-10 with 10:42 on the clock but the Pioneers kept calm and slowly began to chip away at the Whitworth lead. Hauser pulled the Pioneers within six points with 4:512 remaining, cutting the Pirate advantage to 30-24. The Pioneers would close the gap to four points on a Williams layup with 2:13 to go in the half. Whitworth got a couple baskets back to take a 36-30 lead to the locker room.
Whitworth maintained control of the scoreboard for the first nine minutes of the second half, before the Pioneers tied things at 46-46 with 10:35 to go. Herring came alive for the Pioneers in the final seven minutes of action, scoring nine points in a five minutes span to put Lewis & Clark ahead 64-58. The Pirates would try to recapture the lead but the Pioneers would hit six free-throws in the last 90 seconds to secure the win.
Lewis & Clark return to action on Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. when they take on the Linfield Wildcats in McMinnville.
