Pacific Lutheran Faces Two of NWC's Top Teams

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran (7-12 overall, 5-5 NWC) hosts Puget Sound (16-3, 8-2), Tuesday, 6 p.m.; PLU at Lewis & Clark (12-7, 6-4), Saturday, 6 p.m.

LISTEN TO THE LUTES: You can listen to PLU women's basketball games on KLAY 1180 AM in the Tacoma area and also at www.klay1180.com. Long-time announcer Bob Robertson calls the action for the Lutes. KLAY will carry Tuesday's game against Puget Sound but not Saturday's contest at Lewis & Clark. That game may be heard online on the PLU athletics web site at the following address: http://www.golutes.com/information/listenlive. Nick Caraballo and Drew Griffin will call the action.

LUTES IN FIFTH PLACE: With six Northwest Conference games remaining on the schedule, Pacific Lutheran occupies fifth place in the NWC standings. This week's opponents, Puget Sound and Lewis & Clark, both are ahead of the Lutes in the standings. Puget Sound has an 8-2 conference mark and holds down second place, while 6-4 Lewis & Clark is tied with Whitworth for third place. With the circuit's top four teams earning postseason tournament playoff berths, the Lutes need to pick up at least one game on either Lewis & Clark or Whitworth to have a shot at the postseason.

ABOUT PUGET SOUND: The Loggers, 16-3 overall, have compiled a pair of seven-game winning streaks this season. They are ranked 18th in the d3hoops.com national poll and are tied for 18th in the USA Today ESPN Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll. Senior guard Claire Ely is making a bid for Northwest Conference Player of the Year honors with an average of 20.1 points per game. Jocelyn Riordan is the team's top three-point threat and averages 13.8 points per game, while Natasha Ludwig paces the Loggers with an average of 8.3 rebounds per game. Head coach Suzy Barcomb, in her 12th season at UPS, has compiled an impressive 229-85 record.

THE SERIES: Puget Sound leads the all-time series, 38-23, including a 61-54 home win over the Lutes on Jan. 6. The Loggers have won 10 of the past 13 games between the programs. You never know what to expect when the Lutes and Loggers square off on the hardwood, however, and last year's games were evidence of that fact. Pacific Lutheran played its most complete game of the season in blistering the Loggers, 69-39, on its home court. The next time that the teams met, about a month later at the UPS Memorial Fieldhouse, Puget Sound had little trouble in rolling to a 79-57 victory.

THE LAST TIME: PLU dug itself a deep hole early in the second half and despite a spirited comeback could not overcome a 20-point deficit in falling to the Puget Sound Loggers, 61-54, at Memorial Fieldhouse. Puget Sound ran off the first 13 points of the second period to take a 40-20 lead. The Lutes rallied behind senior post Tracy Goehri to get back into the game in the late going. After scoring just four points in the opening half, Goehri torched the interior of the Puget Sound defense for 20 of the Lutes' 34 second-half points. The Lutes trailed by 16 points with 4:41 remaining when Mandy Wall hit a pair of charity tosses to start the furious rally. Goehri hit three straight baskets, Melissa Pixler buried a three-point shot, and Goehri added three more field goals, the final one cutting the Lutes' deficit to 58-54 with 24 seconds remaining. Puget Sound put the game away on Lindsay Layland's three-point play with 15 seconds left. Goehri finished the game with a career-high 24 points. Claire Ely, Puget Sound's all-conference guard, tied Goehri for game-high honors with 24 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. Puget Sound was 17-of-20 at the foul line compared to just 6-of-8 for the Lutes.

ABOUT LEWIS & CLARK: After opening the conference season with six straight wins, the Pioneers have lost four in a row. Kristina Williams leads the team with an average of 15.2 points per game, but her numbers drop off to 13.3 points per game in conference action. L&C is balanced, however, with Christina Herring, Megan Spence, Neva Hauser and Margaret Dowling all averaging between 8.0 and 9.6 points per game in the conference. Dowling is one of the NWC's top rebounders with an average of 9.1 boards per conference contest.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Pacific Lutheran has a 42-14 advantage in the all-time series.

THE FIRST TIME: Five players contributed all but two of the points for the Lewis & Clark Pioneers in a 74-62 win over host PLU on Jan. 9. The Pioneers got to the foul line 40 times in the contest, knocking down 29 of those attempts. The Lutes tied the game at 46-46 at the 11-minute mark of the second half, but the Pioneers were able to pull away from the Lutes, going on a 14-6 run to make the score 60-52 with 5:34 left in the game. Margaret Dowling scored 19 points to lead Lewis & Clark, followed by Kristina Williams and Christina Herring with 16 points apiece. Tracy Goehri led the Lutes in scoring with 14 points, and she was joined in double figures by Jordan Westering and Sara Backstrom with 12 each and Melissa Pixler with 10.

LUTES MAKE IT 30 IN A ROW: The Pacific Lutheran women's basketball team made it 30 consecutive wins over Northwest Conference foe Linfield, beating the Wildcats, 55-40, last Friday night in Olson Auditorium. Senior Meghan Dowling recorded her third double-double this season, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, both team highs for the Lutes.

PLU KNOCKS OUT BOXERS: Jordan Westering led all scorers with 21 points as PLU defeated Pacific, 70-53, in a conference game played last Saturday night in Olson Auditorium. Pacific kept things close at the start until Westering drained back-to-back three pointers, sparking a 13-0 run by the Lutes and giving the hosts a 22-11 lead halfway through the period. Julianne Erbe recorded a double-double for the Boxers, scoring 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in the game, but the Lutes kept her in check during the second half as she managed to score just two of her points after the break. The Lutes made 10-fo-15 (67 percent) from the three-point line and led by as many as 21 in the second half. Westering hit all five of her long-range shots on her way to game-high scoring honors. Sara Backstrom scored 15 points in addition to Melissa Pixler's 12 points in the victory. Meghan Dowling grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Lutes in that category.

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