OREST GROVE – It may not have seemed like the Lewis & Clark women's basketball team had much to play for Saturday night, with their second place playoff position in the Northwest Conference already secured. But the No. 9-ranked Pioneers have more than pride on the line at this time of the season, as they try to build their resume for a potential at-large berth to the NCAA Division III national tournament.
 
Junior guard Sara Villanueva led three players in double-figures with 15 points as the Pioneers defeated Pacific 64-43 at the Stoller Center in both teams' regular season finales. Lewis & Clark (14-2 NWC, 23-2 overall) moves on to host Whitman in the first round of the NWC Tournament on Thursday, while Pacific's season ends with a 13-11 overall record, their best mark in 15 years. The Boxers entered the night tied for fifth in the NWC with Whitworth, but will finish in sixth place at 6-10 after the Pirates defeated Willamette 90-67.
 
Erica Schultz (Sr., Medford, Ore.), playing her final game in a Boxer uniform, scored 15 points and had six rebounds, bowing out along with senior teammates Brittney Anderson (Sr., Missoula, Mont.) and Kandice McArthur (Sr., Post Falls, Idaho) in front of an appreciative home crowd.
 
The Pios scored the first six points of the game on back-to-back 3-pointers by Kristina Williams and Neva Hauser, rolling to a 17-3 lead in the first ten minutes of play. Neither team scored for three minutes at the outset of the game until Williams, the reigning NWC Player Of The Year, hit her only triple of the night. Erica Colter (Jr., Kennewick, Wash.) got Pacific on the board with a trey at the 12:43 mark after three missed field goals, two missed free throws and three turnovers on the first seven Boxer possessions. The Boxers would not score again until Nani Ostrom's (Fr., Juneau, Alaska) steal and coast-to-coast lay in at the 8:27 mark, as the Boxers missed on nine of their first 10 shot attempts with nine turnovers during that span.
 
Both teams gave up the ball frequently on the night, with Pacific's 25 turnovers a season-high. The Boxers forced 20 turnovers from the Pios, who only had a 21-19 edge in points off turnovers. Lewis & Clark's tough matchup zone defense limited scoring opportunities, particularly inside, where the Pios hold a definitive height and strength advantage. The Pios outscored the Boxers 16-6 in the paint and held the Boxers to 36 percent shooting (16 for 45), while connecting on 46 percent of their shots (25 for 55).
 
Once the Pioneers had a double-digit lead, they never gave it up. The Boxers closed to within 10 once on a Schultz 3-pointer with 3:03 to go in the first half that made the score 21-11. After calling a 30-second time out, the Pioneers rattled off six straight points, capped by a Williams basket to extend to a 29-12 lead with 1:10 to go before halftime. Pacific closed to 30-14 at halftime, but Villanueva hit back to back shots to open the second half, including a lay up off a Williams steal that gave the Pioneers a 34-14 lead with 19:25 to play. Pacific closed to within 14, when Schultz nailed a jump shot at the 13:39 mark to make it 39-25, but the Pios went on an 8-0 run after that and never led by less than 20 over the final ten minutes. Villanueva hit a pair of free throws to give the Pios their largest lead, 52-27, with 6:24 to play, a lead they would match three more times.
 
The Boxers closed the rebounding gap against the physical Pios, allowing only 13 offensive rebounds after giving up 26 in a 74-37 loss at Lewis & Clark on Jan. 20. The Pioneers held a 38-27 edge on the glass, but only outscored Pacific 13-8 on second-chance tries. Hauser led the way with seven rebounds to go with 12 points, while Katie Anderson was a defensive pest all night, collecting five steals to go with 12 points.
 
Schultz collected two steals and will finish the regular season as the NWC leader in steals per game at 2.6. Paige Jensen (Jr., Bemidji, Minn.) added eight points to go with five rebounds and a team-high three assists. Anderson went scoreless, but contributed five rebounds and two assists in her final game, while McArthur hit a late three-pointer to go with three steals and three rebounds.
 
The Boxers' overall record is their first winning mark since 2004 and the 13 wins is the most by a Boxer women's team since 1997. Pacific's conference record of 6-10 is their best since reaching the playoffs in 2009.
 
In addition to Schultz's steals mark, Ostrom finished the season by hitting her only 3-point shot attempt, which puts her tentatively second in the conference list at 41 percent for the season (16 for 39). Schultz finished second in blocked shots (1.2 per game) and tentatively third in 3-point shooting (.393), while Jensen was the NWC's third-leading rebounder (8.8 per game), finishing fourth in steals (2.1 per game).