Dec 21, 2011
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. – For the second straight game, the Pacific women's basketball team was slow getting started. This time, a 16-point first half deficit was too much to overcome.
The Boxers fell to Lakeland College 66-55 at the Ocean Center to complete a 1-1 road trip to Florida.
Paige Jensen (Jr., Bemidji, Minn.) buried a three-pointer to open the game on the way to a 17-point, 14-rebound performance, but that would be the only lead for the Boxers (7-2), who quickly found themselves down by double-digits as the shots refused to fall.
The Muskies sprinted past Pacific with a 10-0 run and never looked back, racing to a 27-11 first-half lead as Pacific connected on just 9 of 33 shots in the first 20 minutes (27 percent).
Down 32-20 at the half, the Boxers got it rolling on offense, but Lakeland was able to keep them at arms-length, helped by their talented front line of forwards Jessica Genke and Becky Mayo. Genke, a sophomore transfer from University of Dubuque, led all scorers with 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting, while Mayo chipped in 17 points with seven rebounds. Genke and Mayo combined to go 15 of 23 from the field for tQPghqpgh1he game.
Pacific's Erica Schultz (Sr., Medford, Ore.) struggled in both games of the tournament, but her layup with 13:26 remaining cut the Muskie lead to single digits at 44-35. Lakeland would answer when Geske retrieved her own block shot and scored. Twice more the Boxers cut the lead to nine and each time the Muskies had a response.
Schultz nailed a three-pointer then stole the ball from Geske, leading to a Brittney Anderson (Sr., Missoula, Mont.) layup that closed the gap to seven points at 58-51 with 4:14 left to play.That's as close as the Boxers would get as Becca Tilleman drained a trey on the next possession and the Muskies held on for the 11-point win.
While the two Lakeland forwards came in carrying the scoring weight, it was long-range shooting that made the difference. The Muskies hit seven three-pointers in 16 attempts (44 percent), while holding the Boxers to 3 of 13 from beyond the arc (23 percent).
Jensen more than held her own against the talented frontcourt tandem for Lakeland, connecting on 8 of 11 shots while hauling down 14 boards for the second consecutive game. Heather Hitch (Jr., Enumclaw, Wash.) had another impressive game off the bench, earning all-tournament honors after scoring 15 points on 6 of 12 shooting. The transfer from Highline Community College has hit at least 50 percent of her shots in all nine games as a Boxer.
Schultz was held to five points on 2 of 10 shooting and finished the tournament a combined 6 for 26 from the floor, but led the Boxers with three steals and three assists.
After a nine day break for the holidays, Pacific returns to the home floor to take on La Sierra University at 2:00 p.m. on Dec. 30 at the Stoller Center.