PORTLAND, Ore. – The #9 Lewis & Clark women's basketball team secured the No. 2 spot and a hosting seed in the Northwest Conference with a 76-65 victory over Pacific Lutheran Saturday evening.
The Pioneers stretched their record to 21-2 overall and 12-2 in the NWC, while the Lutes fell to 7-16 and 4-10. The win guarantees that L&C will host the semi-finals of the Northwest Conference playoffs on February 23 at 7 p.m.
Neither team scored for the first minutes of play before Katelyn Smith scored a layup to give the Lutes the first lead.
Neva Hauser responded on the next play to tie the game, beginning a quick back and forth battle as each team tried to gain the upper hand.
Pacific Lutheran went on a short run to go up 12-7, led by two more layups by Smith, but the Pios inched back and
Kristina Williams' jumper at 11:30 spurred a 12-0 run for L&C. A three by Hauser took the Pioneers up 24-14 before Samantha Potter responded with a layup for the Lutes.
The Lutes' comeback was short-lived, however, and threes by
Tayler Wang and
Daron Dean, followed by a layup by
Sara Villanueva, kept the momentum in the Pioneers' hands as they went up 38-23 with 2:27 to go in the half. Shelly Kilcup scored from behind the arc for the Lutes, and Mackenzie Bieker made two quick jumpers, but the Pioneers still went into halftime ahead 41-30.
Much like the first, the second half also started a little slow, with Smith making the first field goal a little over a minute into play. Two minutes later, Villanueva scored on a three-point play, giving L&C the 45-32 edge, and Pioneers continued to dominate with yet another long run of 12-3, ultimately gaining a 19-point lead with 13:56 to go.
One minute later, a layup by Dean took the Pioneers up by 21, but Pacific Lutheran began to respond. Andi Adams scored a layup, followed by a jumper of Chrissy Swope's, and then Adams and Bieker scored two successive threes to get the score to 60-49 at the 9:19 mark.
Over the next few minutes, Dean and Villanueva scored to go up 66-49, but the Lutes continued to attempt to chip away at the lead. Hauser scored at 2:28 for the Pios' final points, but the gap was too much for the Lutes and despite two quick layups by Swope, the final score came to 76-65 for Lewis & Clark.
Villanueva led all scorers with 19 points and dished out four assists. Williams scored 16 points, while Dean contributed 11.
Tayler Wang also had 11 points and six assists, and Hauser grabbed nine rebounds for the Pios.
Four Lutes also scored in double digits, led by Potter's double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds. Bieker had 13, Smith ended with 12, and Swope scored 10 for the PLU effort.
Lewis & Clark will conclude its regular season next weekend with the final home game against Puget Sound on February 17 at 6 p.m., followed by a game at Pacific (Ore.) on February 18, also at 6 p.m.
