Dec. 12, 2006

Lutes End Weekend 1-1, Set to Play Northwest

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran hosts Northwest, Saturday, 6 p.m.

LAST WEEK: In a pair of non-conference home games against Evergreen State and Corban the Lutes went 1-1 last weekend. In Friday night's game against Evergreen State, the Lutes weren’t sharp but still pulled off the win. Pacific Lutheran was paced Kezia Long who shot 7-of-11 from the field and scored 17 points. She also led all players with nine rebounds as the Lutes won that battle, 35-31. PLU shot 11-of-15 from the free throw line and shot 42 percent from the field. Defensively, the Lutes created 18 turnovers. The Lutes led by as many as 16 points on two occasions in the second half. In the second game of the weekend the Lutes faced a hot-shooting Corban team that shot 50 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free throw line. Defensively, the Warriors limited the Lutes to 32 percent shooting. Senior wing Nikki Johnson paced the Lutes, now 5-3, with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Trish Buckingham added 11 points for Pacific Lutheran.

NON-CONFERENCE GAME SET FOR THIS WEEKEND: This weekend the Lutes will face off against another NAIA Division II school from the Cascade Collegiate Conference. The Lutes will host Northwest at 6 p.m. Saturday. It will be their fifth consecutive home game.

NORTHWEST: In the third of five consecutive non-conference games the Lutes will be looking to get back on track after a tough loss to Corban. Northwest, at 6-7, will be looking to improve to .500 on the year. The Eagles have lost five of their last seven games but are coming off a 98-28 win versus Walla Walla College. The play of Northwest seems to be inconsistent, to say the least. In their seven losses they have lost by an average of 18 points, but in their six wins they have won by average of 33 points.

UPPER CLASSMAN AT WORK: In the eight games played in this young season, seniors Kezia Long and Nikki Johnson and junior Megan Clarno have shouldered 56.4 percent of the Lutes' total offense. Collectively, they have averaged 32.4 points per game with Johnson leading the with an average of 14.8 ppg, followed by Long with 9.8 ppg, and Clarno with 7.8 ppg.

TOP 25: The Lutes' national ranking has been on a roller coaster throughout the year. After starting the season 16th in the d3hoops.com Division III poll and dropping out the following week, the Lutes were ranked at No. 25 one week ago. This week, the Lutes once again dropped out of the top 25 poll and are listed second in "others receiving votes."

NEXT GAMES: On Dec. 27, the Lutes will head to Concordia (Ore.) for a 5 p.m. game. During the Christmas break, the Lutes will host the PLU Classic on Dec. 29-30. Teams coming for the event are Thompson Rivers (formerly College of the Caribous in Canada), Wisconsin-Oshkosh and George Fox.

- PLU -