Feb. 15, 2008

Rally Falls Short as Whitworth Sink Lutes, 71-62

Trinity Gibbons - 14 points, 10 boards

Box Score

SPOKANE – The Pacific Lutheran women’s basketball team battled from a 15-point deficit only to have Whitworth pull away for a 71-62 win in a Northwest Conference game Friday night.

This is the fifth loss in a row for PLU, dropping the Lutes to 11-11 overall, 4-9 in NWC play. Whitworth (12-10 overall, 7-6 NWC) was hoping to gain ground on Whitman and Lewis & Clark in the race for the third seed in the NWC but both those teams also won tonight. The Pirates are a game behind Whitman and two games behind Lewis & Clark.

Whitworth shot 41.8 percent on the night (23-for-55), just ahead of PLU who made 38.7 percent (24-for-62) of its shots. Both teams grabbed 38 rebounds. Trinity Gibbons recorded a double-double for the Lutes with 14 points and ten boards.

Kyle Haag drained a three pointer four minutes into the first half to put PLU up 11-6 early. Whitworth battled back and the two teams remained close for the next six minutes. A jumped by Trish Buckingham put PLU up by two with just under ten minutes to go in the half, but a three pointer by Teresa Zeitler sparked a 19-to-2 run to close out the half. The Pirates took a commanding 37-22 lead at the halfway mark.

Whitworth had a sizeable lead for much of the second half. A three pointer by Haag pulled the Lutes within seven, 59-52. It appeared that PLU might stage an epic comeback but three turnovers in the final two minutes stalled the rally. Whitworth made key free throws to seal the win for the Pirates

Nikki Scott had 14 points for the Lutes while Haag added 13 on 3-of-8 shooting from behind the arc. Emily Voorhies had ten points and nine rebounds for PLU.

Natalie Orrell led four Whitworth players in double figures with 18 points. Cassie Snyder added 13 while Tiffany Corigliano and Liz Horiatis each scored ten points. Corigliano led the Pirates in rebounding with nine.

The Lutes are back in action tomorrow when they battle Whitman. Game time is set for 4 p.m. in Walla Walla.

- PLU -