TACOMA, Wash. – Lewis & Clark College women's basketball made nine of ten free throws over the final 2:45 of play and held off a late game comeback by Pacific Lutheran University to earn their first Northwest Conference win since January 6 of last year with a 58-55 road victory on Friday night in Olson Gymnasium.
 
THE BASICS
 
Lewis & Clark 58, Pacific Lutheran 55
(Lewis & Clark 3-10, 1-4 NWC)
(Pacific Lutheran 9-5, 1-4 NWC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The two teams played a back-and-forth first quarter, but freshmen Lauryn Frederickson and Kaela Guidry each hit shots in the final 90 seconds to break an 11-all tie and give the Pioneers a 15-11 lead after the first 10 minutes. Frederickson (eight points, three steals) was one of two Pios to play the full opening quarter and pulled down four of her career-high 15 rebounds in the process. Senior Natalie Elstone (two points, four rebounds) was the other Pioneer to play all 10 minutes of the first quarter.  
 
Senior Charlotte Carroll (10 points, 7 rebounds) gave Lewis & Clark their largest lead of the first half (21-14) when she made her first two free throws at 6:49. The forward finished a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe; she has made all her free throws in three consecutive games. Pacific Lutheran went on a 12-6 run to end the half and close their deficit to 27-26.
 
The Lutes took their first lead since 7:06 in the first quarter at 28-27 right out of halftime, but a steal and jumper from Carroll put the Pioneers back on top less than a minute later. Senior Jamison Richards, who scored three of their team-high 15 points in the first half, put up six straight points for Lewis & Clark in the middle of the third quarter. Guidry and Frederickson each hit layups towards the end of the third to give the Pioneers a 39-36 lead.
 
Senior Karli Mukai broke an almost four-minute scoring drought for both teams when she drove to the basket for a layup at 7:19 to record her first points of the half. Coming out of the final media timeout, Richards found Guidry in the paint for a 46-41 lead. Guidry earned a steal on a contested rebound jump ball on the opposite end of the court. Richards earned their fourth assist of the night when they found freshman Madilyn Palosi for a three with 3:21 left. It would be the last field goal for the Pioneers.
 
On the next trip down the court, Guidry helped force a Lutes shot clock violation with her career-high fourth block of the game. Mukai drew a foul on the inbound play at 2:45 to earn the trip to the charity strip. Her two made free throws gave Lewis & Clark a 51-41 lead, their largest of the night. Pacific Lutheran fought their way back to within a point (54-53) with 38 seconds left but would get no closer. The two teams would trade shooting free throws for the remainder of the game. Richards hit both of their free throws to go up 56-53, and Mukai made both of hers with 18 seconds remaining on the clock. The Lutes missed four free throw attempts in the final seven seconds of the game.       
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Carroll has made 11 consecutive free throws, including going 10-10 in the last three games she has been at the line.
• The Pioneers shot a season-high 84.6% from the charity stripe and have not shot that efficiently as a team from the free throw line since shooting 87.5% (14-16) against George Fox University on February 2, 2022.
• In the last four games, Richards has averaged 15.6 points per game and shot 44.7% from the field.
• Frederickson is averaging 10.8 rebounds in NWC play and has grabbed double-digit boards in four of the five NWC games to start her career.
• Lewis & Clark beat Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma for the first time since a 60-51 win on January 13, 2018.  

WHO'S NEXT
 
The Pioneers take on defending co-regular season champion Puget Sound tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. in Tacoma.