FOREST GROVE – Hitting the game-winning jumper with 18 seconds remaining was the exclamation point on Sarah Curl's double-double performance as she led Pacific to a 58-54 victory inside the Stoller Center against the visiting Schreiner Mountaineers.
Curl (So., Portland, Ore.) opened the 2014-15 season with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while adding an assist and a steal to her stat line.
Olivia Cook (Sr., Beaverton, Ore.) opened the scoring for Pacific less than a minute into the game, before the Boxers saw the Mountaineers rattle off seven straight points to take a 7-2 lead three minutes into the game.
The Boxers battled over the next few minutes to cut the Schreiner lead to one with 16:02 remaining in the first period. The Mountaineers extended their lead beyond five points on multiple occasions between the 15-minute mark and 10-minute mark in the opening period, before a Curl jumper pulled the Boxers within three.
Neither team was able to find their scoring touch over the next three minutes of the opening period. With 5:01 remaining in the half, Lauren Lykins (Fr., Hillsboro, Ore.) broke the drought with a layup to pull Pacific within one with a 21-20 score line.
After the two sides exchanged baskets, it was Lykins who put the Boxers up for the first time in nearly 17 minutes. Lykins jumper put Pacific up 22-21 with 2:13 remaining in the period.
The Boxers were unable to push away from the Mountaineers as Schreiner answered Pacific's six-point run with a run of five points that would put the Mountaineers up by two with 48 seconds remaining in the half. With 32 seconds until the halftime buzzer, Curl was sent to the free throw line, where she tied the game 26-26 with a pair of made free throws.
After a missed layup by Schreiner's Tylor Rambeau, Abby Jones (Sr., Haines, Alaska) found Lykins in the corner for an open 3-pointer to send the Boxers to the locker room with a 29-26 halftime lead.
Curl led the Boxers at half with 10 points and four rebounds, while Cook snagged four boards of her own. Jones dished out two assists in the opening period and tallied a pair of steals. Lykins finished the first half with nine points. Kelsie Jackson led Schreiner with six points in the first half.
Pacific opened the second period strong, pushing out to a six-point lead, capped by a layup from Cook with 14:30 remaining in regulation. Jordyn Villa answered Cook's layup with a 3-pointer to cut Pacific's lead to 37-34, before Kaitlyn Goertz continued the Mountaineers' comeback with a pair of made free throws.
Pacific soon saw its lead disappear when a Codi Simmons layup with 10:13 remaining in the second half turned the advantage back Schreiner's way. The Mountaineers carried momentum to the 7:04 mark, where Schreiner's lead extended to 48-41.
It was a 3-pointer by Curl that cut the Boxers seven-point deficit to four at the 5:25 mark, before Curl and Cook combined for three points from the free throw line to pull Pacific within one with 2:36 remaining.
Schreiner responded to the Pacific comeback with three sets of fresh legs on a substitution with 2:08 on the clock. The fresh legs for the Mountaineers were unable to stop Curl as she hit a second 3-pointer to regain a Pacific lead at 54-52.
The free throw line allowed Schreiner to knot the game at 54-54 with 45 seconds left in the season opener.
After Villa tied the game for Schreiner with the front end of a pair of free throws, the Mountaineers reserve missed the back-end allowing Jonica Durbin (Sr., Seabeck, Wash.) to grab a defensive rebound and head toward the other end of the court.
Durbin missed her layup try after Villa's miss, but Jones snatched up one of Pacific's 19 offensive rebounds before dishing the ball to Curl who hit the would-be game winner with 18 seconds left on the clock.
A pair of misses by Schreiner and a foul on Nani Ostrom (Sr., Juneau, Alaska) put the Boxers at the free throw line with one second left, where Ostrom hit both free opportunities to clinch Pacific's 58-54 victory.
Cook finished the evening with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Jones grabbed eight rebounds and dished out four assists. Sabriyyah Fennell was Schreiner's high scorer with 10 points on the day.
Pacific out rebounded Schreiner 50-41 and finished with an 11-6 advantage in assists.
Transfers Marlee Chovich (Jr., Oregon City, Ore.) and Kyla Siri (Jr., Spring Creek, Nev.) made their Pacific debuts against Schreiner, while Lykins and Maia LaBoy (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) made their collegiate debuts against the Mountaineers. Lykins scored nine in her first collegiate game, while Siri finished with four points and three rebounds in her first game as a Boxer.
Pacific continues its early season home stand with a 4 p.m. tipoff on Saturday against the Caltech Beavers.