TACOMA – The Pacific women's basketball team had just about everything going its way at Puget Sound on Saturday night. The Boxer women executed the game plan nearly to perfection, but left out one basic tenet of the game of basketball. Yes, it is hard to win a game of basketball if you don't put the ball in the basket.

Pacific struggled through another nightmarish shooting performance in a 67-47 loss to the Loggers to drop to 3-7 in Northwest Conference play and 10-8 overall. With the win and a season sweep over Pacific, Puget Sound takes sole possession of third place in the NWC standings, moving to 7-3, two games behind second place Lewis & Clark, which knocked Whitman out of a third place tie with UPS with a victory tonight over the Missionaries.

The Boxers defense forced 16 Puget Sound turnovers in the first half, yet they trailed 28-17 at halftime. Pacific hit just 5 of 26 from the field in the first half (19 percent) and misfired on all five 3-point shot attempts.

While the Loggers played hot potato with the basketball in the first half, their shooting hands were hot from start to finish. UPS shot 54 percent for the game (26-48) and hit 7 of 16 (44 percent) from 3-point range.

By the time Pacific found some traction offensively in the second half, they were in an 18-point hole as the Loggers hit five of their first seven shots after the break. Amanda Forshay hit the first of her two second-half 3-pointers to give UPS a 40-22 lead with 17:04 to go.

Pacific began pumping the ball inside to Heather Hitch (Jr., Enumclaw, Wash.). After a 1 for 5 first half from the field, Hitch connected on four straight shots in a four minute span, finishing a three-point play with 13:19 left to cut the Logger lead to 45-31. Hitch scored 13 of her game-high 16 points in the second half.

That's as close as the Boxers would get, as Forshay and Erin Stumbaugh hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Puget Sound up 53-33 with 11:21 to go in the game.

The Boxers held their own early in the first half, forcing turnovers and pounding the ball inside to draw fouls. After shooting just three free throws all game Tuesday night at Linfield, the Boxers got to the line 11 times in the first half, hitting 7 free throws. Puget Sound, which leads the NWC in free throw attempts per game, shot just two first half free throws hitting both.

The Boxers jumped out to a 4-0 lead and held UPS without a point for the first 3:24 of the game while forcing five consecutive turnovers. It took awhile for the Boxers to score, but after back-to-back steals and fast break layups by Erica Schultz (Sr., Medford, Ore.), Loggers coach Loree Payne called time out. Schultz would not score another basket, going 0 for 6 for the rest of the game, hitting one free throw to finish with a season-low five points.

The Loggers scored on their next three possessions to tie the game at 6-6 on a rebound putback by Lindsey Layland, one of 16 rebounds on the night for the 5-11 forward. UPS took its first lead on a Kelsey McKinnis trey to go up 9-8 at the 14:06 mark of the first half. The lead would change hands three more times before 6-3 center Sha'Ran Lowe hit a pair of free throws to put the Loggers up 17-16 at the 6:41 mark. That would be the beginning of a 13-0 run as Jocelyn Riordan followed with a three, McKinnis and Riordan connected on jump shots and Ashley Agcaoili hit a pair of buckets. Pacific missed its final ten shots from the field in the half as Puget Sound built a double-digit lead they would maintain to the finish.

McKinnis scored 12 points with six assists and Forshay added 11 on a perfect 4 for 4 night from the field, including two 3-pointers. The Loggers held a commanding 46-26 advantage on the boards, but that was more to do with the volume of misses on Pacific's end of the floor and the paucity of defensive rebound opportunities on the other end. Each team had eight offensive rebounds.

Despite 22 forced turnovers and a plus-10 turnover margin, the Boxers could not capitalize on the offensive end, scoring just five points off turnovers. Puget Sound converted Pacific's 12 turnovers into six points.

Pacific will play its sixth road game in seven games at George Fox on Friday, before returning home for three straight games beginning next Saturday night against Willamette. Both games tip off at 6 p.m. and will be webcast live on www.goboxers.com starting at 5:45 p.m.