Nov. 20, 2007

Cagers Go 1-1 in Tournament; Travel to Northwest University

THIS WEEK: The Pacific Lutheran women’s basketball team travels to Kirkland on Saturday to take on Northwest University in a non-conference match up. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

ABOUT NORTHWEST: The Eagles enter this weekend’s game with a 0-2 record after dropping both of their games at the First Western Bank Classic, played in South Dakota. Northwest stumbled in their first game as Black Hills State won 85-61. The following day South Dakota Tech beat Northwest 93-66. Brittany Bowsher was the leading scorer for the Eagles in the tournament scoring 38 points between the two games. Freshman Erika Hornyak added 28 points for the Eagles.

ALL-TIME SERIES: The first time these two teams met was in the 1988-89 season when the Lutes came out on top 83-45. Since then the schools have played each other on 17 different occasions with PLU winning every meeting, giving the Lutes a 18-0 advantage in the series. Last year when the two teams played Northwest gave the Lutes little trouble as PLU came out on top 84-47.

PLU STOMPS TLU: Pacific Lutheran gave new head coach Kelly Warnke an impressive debut last Friday, setting a Lute women's basketball single-game record for fewest points allowed in a 64-16 victory over Texas Lutheran at the Northwest Lutheran Invitational Tournament hosted by Concordia University. The Lutes shattered the previous PLU women’s basketball single-game defensive record of 26 points set twice in January 2001. That PLU team defeated Susquehanna, 64-26, and two games later beat Whitman, 80-26. Warnke’s team shut down a Texas Lutheran squad that had only six players, five of whom played the entire 40 minutes. The Bulldogs made just 6-of-44 field goals (13.6 percent) during the game, and the Lutes dominated in the rebounding column, 59-21, including 30 on the offensive end. In addition, Texas Lutheran committed 32 turnovers. The game was never in doubt as the Lutes scored the first 14 points before the Bulldogs scored their first basket with 12:46 left in the half. When Nikki Scott hit a layup with 4:58 left in the period, the Lutes had extended their lead to 27-2. PLU held a 34-8 lead at the break and they cruised in from there. Kyle Haag made 4-of-11 from three-point range to lead the Lutes with 17 points in 19 minutes, and Emily Voorhies came off the bench to score 15 points and grab nine rebounds in 19 minutes. All 10 Pacific Lutheran players spent at least 12 minutes on the floor and only one did not score. That player, Meghan Dowling, tied Voorhies for team-high rebounding honors with nine in just 14 minutes of action. The Lutes shot 27-of-68 from the field for the game, though they did commit 26 turnovers.

Kyle Haag

LUTES FALL IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Concordia-Nebraska used an 11-0 run early in the first half to take the lead on the way to an 81-62 victory over the Pacific Lutheran last Saturday in the championship game of the Northwest Lutheran Invitational Tournament hosted by Concordia University. PLU’s Kyle Haag, who earned all-tournament honors, hit a basket to give the Lutes a 9-8 lead at 15:33 of the first half. Concordia-Nebraska, located in Seward, responded with its 11-0 run, including a trio of three-point field goals, to grab a 19-9 advantage. After that, PLU was able to cut its deficit to five points, but the Nebraskans went into the half with a 44-28 lead. The Lutes fought back in the early minutes of the second period and pulled to within 10 points at 50-40 on Haag's three-point basket with15:46 to play in the game. Once again, Concordia-Nebraska responded, this time with a 10-2 run, to lead 60-42. The visitors from the midwest led by as much as 25 points before settling for the 19-point win. Haag followed her 17-point performance in the Lutes' tournament-opening 64-16 win over Texas Lutheran with 13 points in this contest. She was the only PLU player selected to the all-tournament team. Trinity Gibbons added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Lutes, who also got nine points and a team-high seven rebounds from Emily Voorhies.

NEW COACH: Pacific Lutheran opens its first season under the direction of head coach Kelly Warnke, who was hired April 30, 2007, to take over the program. A native of Casco, Wis., Warnke brings with her eight years of college assistant coaching experience in which she helped teams to three conference championships and one NCAA Elite Eight finish. Warnke started her coaching career in 1999 as an assistant coach at University of Evansville. From there she moved back to her alma mater and became an assistant coach at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. While serving as an assistant at Oshkosh, Warnke helped the Titans to two Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships (2001 and 2004). In 2005, Warnke moved to Ohio to became an assistant coach at Baldwin-Wallace College, where in the past two seasons the women’s basketball program won 46 and lost 12. Warnke played on UW-Oshkosh's undefeated 1996 NCAA Division III national championship team, on conference championship squads in 1996, 1998 and 1999, and also helped the Titans reach four straight NCAA tournaments while compiling an impressive record of 107-8.

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