WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Lutes Struggle; Look For Some Home Cooking

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran hosts George Fox, Friday, 6 p.m.; PLU hosts Pacific, Saturday, 6 p.m.

LOST WEEKEND: The Lutes fell out of a five-way tie for first place after losing to Whitman (63-52) and Whitworth (63-60) in road games last weekend. At 3-3 in NWC play, the Lutes are now in a tie with Lewis & Clark for fifth place. The Lutes struggled mightily against Whitman and Whitworth. Against Whitman, the Lutes’ shooting woes hampered their hopes of staying atop the conference standings. PLU shot just 28.3 percent from the floor for the game. The Missionaries however, shot 44.2 percent from the field. Against Whitworth the efforts of seniors Kezia Long (Federal Way, Wash. / Thomas Jefferson HS) and Nikki Johnson (Tenino, Wash. / Centralia CC) were not enough for the Lutes to pull out the come-from-behind victory. Johnson tallied 21 points and nine rebounds while Long added 11 points and 10 boards for her fourth double-double of the season.

THIS WEEKEND: The Lutes hope to gain some momentum in front of the home crowd after playing the last three games on the road. If they hope to have any chance of repeating as conference champion, this weekend will have a to be a huge step in that direction. At 3-3 and in fifth place, the Lutes are two wins behind the conference leaders Puget Sound and George Fox. Friday’s game against conference co-leader George Fox and Saturday’s contest against Pacific will be among the bigger games the Lutes have played all season. With 10 games left on the conference schedule, the Lutes still have plenty of time to be back at the top of the conference by season’s end, but losses this weekend would all but finish PLU’s conference championship hopes. The last time that a team won the Northwest Conference regular season title with three losses was during the 2003-04 season when UPS and Whitman shared the crown with 13-3 records. The year before that, Whitworth won the championship with a 13-3 record. Going all the way back to the mid 1980s, no team has finished atop the conference regular season standings with four or more losses.

ABOUT GEORGE FOX: Erupting for 33 points over the final 13 minutes of the game, George Fox overcame the upset-minded Pacific Boxers and maintained a share of the Northwest Conference women’s basketball lead with a hard-fought 70-59 victory last Saturday night. George Fox improved to 9-4 overall with its fifth straight win and to 5-1 in the conference, keeping it in a tie for the league lead with the University of Puget Sound. After starting the season 4-1, the Bruins lost three straight non-conference games before putting together its current five-game win streak. Guard Robin Taylor (12.2 points per game) and post Melissa Marek-Farris (11.2 points per game) lead a balanced George Fox attack. Katy Campbell, another post player, leads the team in rebounding (8.4 per game), followed by Marek-Farris (7.0 per game). PLU fans had a chance to see George Fox during the Christmas break when it played an exhibition game against Thompson Rivers (Canada) in Olson Auditorium. George Fox easily won that game, 74-40.

ABOUT PACIFIC: While George Fox comes into the game with a five-game win streak, the Pacific Boxers are currently in the midst of a five-game losing streak. The Boxers have a chance to end that streak when they play at Linfield on Friday night. Pacific is 0-6 against Northwest Conference opponents. Junior guard Amy Pedersen has played well this season and leads the Boxers in scoring (14.5 points per game) and in rebounding (7.5 per game). Pacific has out-rebounded its opponents by almost four per game, but shooting woes (36 percent from the field, 27 percent from three-point range, 56 percent from the free throw line) have hurt the team on the scoreboard.

NIKKI NOTES: Senior wing Nikki Johnson continues to lead all Northwest Conference players in scoring average, both in regular season and conference-only games. In all games, Johnson averages 16.3 points per game, well ahead of Pacific’s Amy Pedersen at 14.5. In conference-only games, Johnson averages 13.8 points per game, followed by Whitworth’s Alida Bower at 13.7 and Pedersen at 13.0. In rebounding, Whitworth’s Susan McDaniel averages 8.62 in all games, followed by Johnson at 8.57. In conference-only games, George Fox’s Katy Campbell is first with 8.8, followed by McDaniel with 8.7 and Johnson with 7.0.

NEXT WEEK: The Lutes will play a pair of Northwest Conference road games against Linfield and Willamette on January 26 and 27, respectively. Both games are set to start at 6 p.m.

- PLU -