TACOMA – Puget Sound broke away from a tie game with a late first half run and carried that momentum into the second period of a 74-46 Northwest Conference women's basketball win over Pacific Lutheran on Wednesday night in Memorial Fieldhouse.
Pacific Lutheran saw its three-game winning streak come to an end and is now 3-7 overall and 0-3 in the conference. With its eighth straight victory in the series, Puget Sound is now 8-4 overall and 1-2 in the NWC.
There were plenty of runs, three ties and 11 lead changes in the opening half. The Lutes, in fact, held a five-point lead about 11 minutes in but could not hold off the Loggers.
The Lutes took a 10-7 advantage about 4 1/2 minutes into the game when Kara Sherman passed to Chrissy Swope for a layin, but the Loggers scored eight unanswered points – including a pair of three-pointers - to go on top 15-10 with 12 minutes left in the half.
Sherman took over at that point, passing to Swope for another layin and then draining a pair of long threes to give the Lutes an 18-15 advantage. The junior guard from Olympia then grabbed a rebound on the other end of the floor and converted a short jumper after a nice jump stop to end a 10-0 Pacific Lutheran run, making the score 20-15.
Puget Sound had an answer, scoring seven in a row, and then with the score knotted at 25-25, it scored nine straight before Sherman passed to Katelyn Smith for a 17-foot jumper with seven seconds on the clock. By closing the final nine minutes of the period with a 19-7 run, the hosts took a 34-27 lead at the intermission.
Playing all 20 minutes, Sherman finished the half with 10 points, four assists and three rebounds, while Samantha Potter chipped in eight points. Megan Abdo, the team's 5-foot 7-inch freshman point guard, led all players with eight rebounds in the first period.
As close as it was in the opening half, the Lutes couldn't stay with the Loggers over the final 20 minutes. Puget Sound pulled away from PLU, out-scoring Pacific Lutheran 25-5 in the opening 10 minutes of the period to go on top, 59-32. The lead eventually reached 35 points, 74-39, on Sarah Stewart's three-point play with 4:35 on the clock.
Potter finished with 13 points and Sherman added 11 for the Lutes, who shot 28 percent (17-for-60) overall and 25 percent (3-for-12) from beyond the three-point line. Abdo had another strong rebounding game, leading all players in that category with 11.
Puget Sound ended up shooting 37 percent (26-for-70) overall and 44 percent (8-for-18) from beyond the arc. The Loggers also enjoyed a 4slight 49-45 edge in rebounding. PLU turned the ball over 15 times compared to just six for the Loggers.
Amanda Forshay came off the bench to lead all players with 17 points. Kelsey McKinnis added 11 points while Katy Ainslee and Taylor Jones both chipped in 10 points.
Pacific Lutheran returns to conference action at 6 p.m. Saturday when it faces the Linfield Wildcats in McMinnville, Ore.
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