Feb. 23, 2008

Lute Women Finish Season With 67-64 Victory Over Pacific

Box Score

Amy Spieker - leads Lutes with 17

Kyle Haag - 12 points in finale

PARKLAND, Wash. – Pacific Lutheran held off a furious second half rally by the visiting Pacific Boxers to win a 67-64 Northwest Conference women’s basketball decision on Saturday night in Olson Auditorium.

The game brought to an end the season for both teams. The Lutes, under first-year head coach Kelly Warnke, ended up 14-11 overall and 7-9 in the Northwest Conference, good for sixth place. Pacific, also under a first-year head coach in Sharon Rissmiller, ended up 4-20 overall and 3-13 and tied for last in the conference.

The Boxers erased an early 5-0 deficit to take a 9-8 lead on a pair of free throws by Christine Kim with 15:17 remaining in the half, but the Lutes responded by scoring 32 of the game’s next 40 points to take a 40-17 lead with 2:22 on the clock. Amy Spieker, who led the Lutes with 17 points, capped the run with a three-point basket. PLU eventually took a seemingly comfortable 43-24 lead into the locker room.

Pacific refused to give up in the second half, finally cutting its deficit under 10 points just more than halfway into the period when Amy Pedersen hit a jumper to make the score 56-48 in favor of the Lutes.

The Lutes never did relinquish the lead, but the Boxers continued to make it difficult to the very end. Emily Voorhies hit a layup with 53 seconds remaining to give PLU a 65-58 advantage, but Mallory Goldammer and Kalei Frank hit baskets to make it a three-point game. Trinity Gibbons hit a pair of free throws with 4.1 seconds to put the Lutes back on top by five, and Goldammer made two charity tosses with 0.3 seconds remaining for the final margin.

Spieker was sharp from the field, going 7-for-12 overall and 3-for-4 from three-point range, for her 17 points. She also added a game-high five assists for the Lutes. Trinity Gibbons collected 14 points and a team-high 10 rebounds and Kyle Haag added 12 points, all on three-point field goals, for the winners. Haag was one of three seniors playing their final game for PLU. The other two were Voorhies, who had eight points and eight rebounds, and Trish Buckingham, who finished with four points and four assists.

Amy Pedersen had a double-double for the Boxers, scoring 16 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Frank added 15 points, with Kristina Stevens scoring 12 points and Kim adding 10.

- PLU -