PARKLAND, WASH. – It has been a long while since the Pacific women's basketball team has had a bus ride this enjoyable.
 
The Boxers (6-9 Northwest Conference, 13-10 overall) got a career-best performance from one of their newest recruits and an incredible display of guts and toughness from their oldest soldier in a 66-58 victory at Pacific Lutheran, cinching their first winning season since 2003-04.
 
Kaila Johnson (Fr., McKinleyville, Calif.) scored a career-high 16 points, leading three players in double figures. Paige Jensen (Jr., Bemidji, Minn.) chipped in with her third double-double in four games, adding 14 points and 11 rebounds. But it was the play of four-year starter Erica Schultz (Sr., Medford, Ore.) that most impressed on the eve of her final game in a Boxer uniform.
 
Schultz contributed 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals in what would appear to be a usual day at the office for one of the NWC's top players. But six days ago, Schultz's Boxer career appeared to be in jeopardy after a badly sprained ankle early in the second half against Whitworth.
 
After needing assistance to get off the floor, Schultz eventually returned to that game, but spent the days, hours and literally minutes leading up to Friday night's matchup against the Lutes in a walking boot, suffering from a very similar injury to the one that kept Colin Wester out of the Pacific men's lineup for three full games. When the Boxers took the floor for pregame warmups, Schultz was still back in the locker room receiving treatment. But by the time the ball was in the air for the opening tipoff, there was Schultz in her usual starting spot.
 
Wincing in pain at times after landing wrong, Schultz played 30 minutes, only leaving the floor twice. After sitting out a five minute stretch in the first half, Schultz took an elbow to the head in the opening seconds of the second half that opened a gash in her scalp. With blood pouring down the right side of her neck, Schultz gestured to the nearest official at midcourt with a blood-spattered palm, expecting a stoppage of play. The Pacific Lutheran scoreboard operator expected the same, sounding the buzzer without an indication from the officials, just before PLU's Mackenzie Bieker stuck in a jump shot on the right baseline. Amazingly, the basket was allowed to stand, giving the Lutes a 29-25 lead.
 
The Lutes would stay in front for a while, pulling ahead 36-30 on Shelly Kilcup's 3-pointer at the 16:54 mark. The bleeding stopped, Schultz returned to the game with the Boxers down 40-39 and missed a jumper that would have given them their first lead of the second half. The Lutes got back-to-back baskets in the lane from Samantha Potter to push the lead back to 44-39. Potter finished with game highs of 18 points and 13 rebounds, nearly duplicating her performance from Jan. 21 when the Lutes beat the Boxers 62-48. The NWC's leading rebounder scored 20 points with 13 rebounds on that night and picked up her conference-leading 13th double-double with Friday night's performance. 
 
While the Lutes were able to maintain the lead into the final ten minutes, the Boxers always stayed one or two possessions behind until Schultz buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 49-all with 7:06 left to play. After a PLU timeout, Schultz stole the ball from Sara Backstrom and took it to the other end for an uncontested lay in, giving the Boxers their first lead in over 15 minutes.
 
The lead would hold to the finish. After Potter hit a layup with 2:41 to play to make it 55-53, Pacific scored eight straight points in the final two minutes, capped by a pair of Johnson free throws with 42 seconds remaining. Schultz and Heather Hitch (Jr., Enumclaw, Wash.) each blocked 3-point shot attempts by the Lutes in the final 33 seconds.
 
The Boxers shot 52 percent in the second half, hitting four of their eight threes after halftime and 7 of 18 (39 percent) overall from beyond the arc. Johnson went 6 for 12 from the floor and 2 for 5 from three. Schultz hit three treys in seven attempts, while both she and Jensen went 5 for 13 from the floor overall. Jensen and Brittney Anderson (Sr., Missoula, Mont.) each had four assists. Hitch scored all seven of her points in the second half, adding four rebounds.
 
The Boxers extended their streak of games with at least 16 free throw attempts to six, going 9 for 16 at the line, all in the second half. Pacific Lutheran shot just four free throws, making them all. The Lutes shot 40 percent for the game, but were just 4 of 15 (27 percent) from beyond the arc. Backstrom scored 11 points with a game-high six assists for the Lutes (4-11, 7-17), who close out the season at home against 24-0 George Fox Saturday night.
 
Pacific will wrap up the season at home Saturday against Lewis & Clark. Schultz, Anderson and fellow senior Kandice McArthur (Sr., Post Falls, Idaho), who had two points, three steals and two rebounds in an impressive six minute stint off the bench Friday) will be playing their final games as Boxers. The game tips off at 6 p.m., with live webcast coverage beginning at 5:45 on www.goboxers.com.