DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Led by a trio of players with double figures in both points and rebounds, Pacific Lutheran defeated Presentation College, 65-60, in Thursday women's basketball action at the 2012 Daytona Beach Shootout.
The Lutes, 2-6 overall, had to hold off the Saints after seeing leads of 15 points in the first half and 13 points in the second half slip away. Presentation is now 4-6 this season.
Samantha Potter recorded her fifth consecutive double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, Megan Abdo had her second straight double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Kara Sherman notched her first collegiate double-double with a career-high 17 points to go along with 11 rebounds.
This was a game of runs as twice PLU built big leads, only to see Presentation battle to make it close down the stretch.
Presentation's Kelli Boekelheide hit a three-point basket to make it a a 13-13 game with exactly 13:13 left in the first half. The Lutes responded by scoring the next nine points over the next four minutes, capped by Austin Schorno's three-pointer. They built a 30-15 margin on Potter's layup with 6:56 left in the period before the Saints cut their deficit to 33-23 at the half.
The Saints shot just 26 percent (8-for-31) in the opening period, including an 0-for-8 performance by guard Rachel Fuhrmann, who came into the contest averaging 16 points. Pacific Lutheran cleaned up the rebounds to the tune of a 37-17 advantage and perhaps should have led by more than 10 points at the break but shot just 35 percent (15-for-43) and turned the ball over nine times in the first half.
In the first four minutes of the second period Presentation, led by Fuhrmann's five points, rallied to tie the game at 37-37, only to see PLU score 13 unanswered points. Katelyn Smith scored six points and Sherman added five during the run.
As it had done at the start of the second half, Presentation battled back and eventually took a 57-56 lead on a Hannah Phillips jumper with 2:26 to play. With the game on the line the Lutes went to Potter, their all-conference post player, who hit consecutive shots to put PLU ahead 60-57 with 1:28 left.
Pacific Lutheran held onto the lead at the foul line, including Sherman hitting 3-for-4 inside the final 20 seconds.
Sherman, just back from missing three games because of injury, added three assists and three steals to her line in 37 minutes of action. Schorno had eight points, three blocks and three steals, and Smith added eight points and five rebounds.
The Lutes used their significant size advantage to dominate rebounding by a 56-39 margin, and they shot just 37 percent (27-for-73) during the game. Presentation, which shot 34 percent (23-for-67) overall and 35 percent (7-for-20) from three-point range, was led by Phillips and Fuhrmann with 15 points apiece. After her cold first half, Fuhrmann was 6-for-9 in the final 20 minutes of the game, and she also recorded four blocked shots.
PLU plays its final game in the 2012 Daytona Beach Shootout at 2 p.m. (ET) tomorrow against Berry University from Georgia. Lutes fans can follow live stats at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/sporttours.portal#.
- PLU -