Feb. 15, 2007

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Lutes Pursue Two Wins and Need Help

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

STILL IN THE HUNT: The battle for the third and final spot in the Northwest Conference women’s basketball tournament has come down to the final weekend with the possibility of a five-team tie for third place in the conference standings. Two teams are in the tournament – Puget Sound and George Fox – with their order to be determined by games played Friday and Saturday. Pacific Lutheran is among the five teams with at least a whiff of a hope for the final playoff spot. Bottom line for PLU: Take care of business and hope for some help from other teams. Should the Lutes win twice and Puget Sound win twice, PLU would make the tournament. There are too many variations on this theme, however, to list them all. Currently, Lewis & Clark and Linfield share third with 8-6 records. L&C, however, has games remaining against Puget Sound and George Fox. PLU has the tie-breaker advantage over Linfield because of two previous wins over the he Wildcats, who play at Pacific on Friday and host Puget Sound (12-2 and in first place) on Saturday.

CONFERENCE TOURNEY: The NWC women's tournament is scheduled for next Thursday and Saturday, Feb. 22 and 24. The second-place finisher during the regular season hosts the third-place finisher on the 22nd, and the winner of that travels to the regular season champion for a game on the 24th. The winner of the postseason tournament earns the NWC's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III national tournament scheduled to start the following week at college sites around the country. The runner-up could receive an at-large bid to the national tournament.

ABOUT THE BRUINS: What the Lutes have ahead of them, first, is a visit to George Fox on Friday. The Bruins are currently in second place with an 11-3 record, and they still have a chance to win the regular season title and with it the home court for the conference tournament title game. The Bruins beat the Lutes earlier this season, 50-47, at Olson Auditorium. There were 10 ties and five leads changes in the second half of that game. Pacific Lutheran junior wing Kyle Haag hit her third three-point field goal of the second half to tie the score at 43-43 with 6:16 remaining. The teams traded field goals until Katy Campbell’s layup hung on the rim then dropped in to give the Bruins a 49-47 lead with 1:55 to play. Pacific Lutheran missed three shots down the stretch, and Nicole Hudson hit a free throw with 16 seconds on the clock to give George Fox the game’s final point. The Lutes had one more chance at a game-tying three-point field goal, but Katy Campbell blocked Trish Buckingham’s effort from the top of the key and the clock expired. Melissa Marek-Farris had a huge game for the Bruins with 10 points, nine rebounds and five of the team’s seven blocks. The Bruins hit 43 percent from the field and limited the Lutes to 29 percent shooting. Buckingham led all scorers with 14 points and Nikki Johnson contributed 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for Pacific Lutheran.

ABOUT PACIFIC: Next on PLU’s weekend “must-win” list is Pacific. The Lutes, 7-7 in the conference, battle the Boxers in Forest Grove on Saturday night. Pacific is tied with Willamette for last place in the NWC standings, both teams at 2-12. The Lutes defeated Pacific, 68-45, in their earlier meeting. Junior guard Megan Clarno paced the Lutes with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 from behind the three-point line. She also added five assists and four rebounds.

LAST WEEK: The Lutes split a pair of Northwest Conference home games last weekend, losing 67-55 to Whitman and coming back one night later to beat Whitworth, 72-55, with one of their better performances this season. Kyle Haag scored 20 of her game-high 23 points in the win over Whitworth. She was 6-of-6 from beyond the three-point line during that big first half.

CLOSING IN ON 200: Head coach Gil Rigell is five wins away from the 200-win mark in what is now his 10th season at Pacific Lutheran. Entering this weekend’s action, Rigell has a 195-67 record (.744 winning percentage).

LUTES ON THE AIR: Selected Pacific Lutheran women’s basketball games can be heard in the Tacoma area on KLAY 1180 AM, or on the worldwide web at http://www.klay1180.com. Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Robertson calls the action for both PLU women’s and men’s basketball games.

- PLU -