BOX SCORE

PORTLAND, Ore. - Junior Kristina Williams scored a team-high 20 points in the #7 Lewis & Clark women's basketball teams 82-70 Northwest Conference win over the visiting Whitworth Pirates on Saturday evening in the Pamplin Sports Center. 

The Pioneers, who improve to 18-1 on the season and 9-1 in conference action, have now won seven games in a row. The Pirates fall to 8-11 overall and 4-6 in the NWC.

On top of Williams 20, senior Megan Spence scored 16 points, finishing 6-7 from the free-throw line. Neva Hauser finished the night with the games only double-double, and her first of the season, scoring 13 points and collecting 10 rebounds. Sophomore Katie Anderson had a strong night off the bench for the Pioneers, knocking down 12 points. Sophomore Tayler Wang collected a game-high and season-high 14 rebounds for the Pioneers.

As a team, the Pioneers dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Pirates 48-28. Lewis & Clark also had the advantage in free-throws hitting 23-of-27, while Whitworth made 7-of-10.

Lexi Belcher scored a game-high 26 points for Whitworth, while teammates Emily Guthrie and Kayla Johnson each scored 12. Lauren Picha contributed 10 points to the Pirates.

It took Lewis & Clark just seven seconds to get on the board with Hauser hitting an opening game three pointer from the top of the arc. Spence followed that up with a bomb of her own less than a minute later to put the Pioneers ahead 6-2.

Three Pirate long distance shots would hand an 11-8 lead over to Whitworth with 15:55 left in the half. Whitworth held possession of the scoreboard until the 10:42 mark when Anderson hit her first basket of the night giving the Pios a 17-16 edge.

With 5:39 on the clock, Jamie Lyons laid one in to give the Pirates a 28-23 lead, the teams largest of the game. Anderson once again put Lewis & Clark in the lead with a three pointer, assisted by Hauser, with a little over a minute remaining. Williams hit the last shot of the half, sending the Pios into the locker room with a 35-31 advantage. 

Lewis & Clark opened the second half with an 8-2 run capped off with a Hauser layup to increase the Pirates deficit to 10 points. The Pioneers maintained the momentum through the opening five minutes of the final period, before the Pirates began to make a comeback.

Belcher tied the contest at 50-50 with 13:10 on the clock after stealing the ball away from the Pios and taking it down the court for two. Anderson quickly handed the Pioneers the lead back for good at 52-50 with a jumper with 12:53 to go.

Hauser put the Pioneers ahead by 13 points with 4:33 remaining with a layup following a Guthrie turnover. Belcher managed to pull the Pirates back within eight points with a layup with under a minute remaining in the contest, but it would be a little too late. 

Lewis & Clark quickly pulled its advantage back to double digits over the next 45 seconds with both Sara Villanueva and Daron Dean draining back-to-back free-throws.

Lewis & Clark returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. as the team travels to Newberg, Ore., to take on the #3 George Fox Bruins in a battle of top-10 teams.