Whtiman Women's Basketball Beats Pacific 69 – 54, January 5, 2013
Forest Grove, OR -- After a signature win last night at # 5 Lewis & Clark, the Lady Missionaries showed no signs of a letdown as they controlled most of the game in defeating the University of Pacific this evening in Forest Grove, 69 – 54.
The victory improves Whitman's record to 4 – 0 in the Northwest Conference and 11 – 1 for the season. After losing in overtime to nationally ranked NAIA Eastern Oregon University back on November 25, the Missionaries have won 8 in a row with the average margin of victory just above 20 points. The Boxers drop to 2 - 2 in the NWC, and 9 – 3 overall.
Sophomore point-guard Heather Johns paced the Missionaries in tonight's victory with 19 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds. The West Richland High School grad was the only Missionary to score in double figures but forwards Sarah Anderegg (Jr, Redmond, WA) andHallie Buse (Jr, Boise, ID) added 9 each, and junior Tiffani Traver (Oregon City, OR) and senior Mary Madden (Huntington Bch, CA) contributed 8 apiece.
Whitman withstood an early flurry from the Boxers, trailing the first 8 minutes of the game, before taking the lead 14 – 13 on a layup by freshman forward Hailey Ann Maeda (Kailua, HI). From there, the Missionaries built on their lead and took a 10-point advantage into halftime.
Early in the second stanza, Pacific narrowed the lead to seven, 40 – 33 on an Alex Pfefferle layup. After an exchange of baskets, Erica Colter got the Boxers to within four with a trey at the 14:06 mark. But then, the Missionaries went on a 10 – nothing run, triggered by a Traver jumper and finished off by two buckets by Busie, the second a three-pointer, that pushed the lead back out to twelve, 50 – 38, with 10 minutes remaining.
Pacific never got closer than 9 and Whitman truly pulled away at the 7-minute mark when Traver sank a jumper to give the Missionaries an 11-point lead that grew to as many as nineteen when Maeda converted a layup with 3:49 left in the game, making the score 64 – 45.
Head Coach Michelle Ferenz got another great defensive effort from her squad as the Missionaries held the Boxers to only 32 % shooting from the field. Whitman converted 50 % on 29-of-58 shooting.
Pacific got 11 points from Paige Jensen, and 9 points each from Alex Pfefferle, Erica Colter and Aunhea Wall.
The Missionaries continue their road trek this Tuesday night against Whitworth – tip-off at 6 pm.