Goehri Leads Lutes Past Eau Claire, 50-43

Tracy Goehri led Pacific Lutheran with 13 points and seven rebounds as the Lutes defeated visiting Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 50-43, in a non-conference women's basketball game played Wednesday night in Olson Auditorium.

Goehri, a senior post from Spokane, connected on 6-of-7 shots from the field and grabbed all seven of her rebounds on the defensive end as the Lutes improved their season record to 2-7. Sara Backstrom scored 11 points and dished out four assists and Jordan Westering added 10 points for the Lutes.

Wisconsin-Eau Claire, which lost its sixth straight game, is now 3-10 for the season. Hannah Mesick recorded a double-double for the Blugolds with 18 points and 13 rebounds, seven coming on the offensive end.

Pacific Lutheran never trailed in the game after Goehri opened the scoring with back-to-back baskets. Backstrom and Westering hit consecutive three-point shots to help the Lutes take a 12-2 lead with 14:22 left in the first half.

The Blugolds responded with an 8-0 run, including a pair of layups by Mesick, to cut their deficit to 14-12 with 9:44 left in the half. That was as close as the visitors would get, however, as the Lutes scored six unanswered points on the way to taking a 25-16 lead at the intermission.

PLU led by as much as 15 points, 38-23, when Westering found Mandy Wall with a back-door pass leading to a layup. The Blugolds made a game of it late, however, pulling to within six points, 44-38, with 2:36 remaining. Mesick scored a layup with 14 seconds remaining to make it 48-43, but the Lutes broke full court pressure and iced the game on Ayla Mull's layup with five seconds left.

Neither team did a good job of taking care of the basketball, Eau Claire committing 23 turnovers and the Lutes giving it away 21 times. PLU shot the ball well, however, making 48 percent (22-of-46) from the field compared to 31 percent (15-of-49) for the Blugolds. The much taller Blugolds enjoyed a slight 34-31 edge in rebounding.

Pacific Lutheran opens Northwest Conference play at 4 p.m. Saturday when it takes on the Linfield Wildcats in McMinnville, Ore.

- PLU -