SPOKANE, Wash. -- Trailing by as many as 15 points early in the second half, visiting Lewis & Clark rallied to defeat Whitworth 74-70 in a Northwest Conference women's basketball game on Saturday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The Pioneers improved to 15-4 overall and 9-1 in the NWC, keeping a one game lead over Puget Sound and George Fox for first place in the conference. The Pirates had their four-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 10-9, 6-4.
Whitworth hit 8 of its first 11 shots to race out to a 21-8 lead. Emily Guthrie made three three-pointers in the opening minutes. The Pirates stretched the lead to 25-10 on a jumper by Emily Travis with 10:42 to play in the half.
But then L&C began to chip away. Kristina Williams hit a jumper to pull the Pioneers within 30-22 and scored again to get her team within 33-29 late in the half. A pair of free throws by Taylor (LaMoreaux) Taylor gave Whitworth a 36-30 lead at the break.
Whitworth continued to hold its lead through the first nine minutes of the second half before the Pioneers tied the game 46-46 with 10:35 left. The Pirates went back up 55-51 after Lexi Belcher made one of two free throws with 6:23 to play. But then Christina Herring took over for L&C, scoring nine of her game-high 19 points over the next five minutes to help L&C take a 64-58 lead with two minutes to play.
Guthrie hit two more three-pointers in the final minute to help the Pirates rally. But the Pioneers, who made only 3-10 from the free throw line in the first half, made 17-18 from the line in the second half - including 6-6 in the final 90 seconds to secure the win.
Herring led the Pioneers with 19 points and six assists. Megan Spence added 14 points and seven rebounds while Neva Hauser scored 13 points. L&C had a 42-21 rebounding advantage in the game.
Lauren Picha had 15 points, six boards and four assists to lead the Pirates. Travis also scored 15 points and Guthrie finished with 14 points. The Pirates stayed with the league-leading Pioneers by making 9-18 from three-point range.
Whitworth will travel to Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran next weekend.