Box Score
PORTLAND – Chalk it up to just another sign of how far this team has come in one year.
Mark the calendar, Jan. 20, 2012, game number 15. For the first time this season, the Pacific women's basketball team had its tails whipped, losing 74-37 at Lewis & Clark. The loss was the Boxers' fourth straight and sixth of the season and by far the most lopsided. The only lopsided loss of the season, in fact.
Sure, the Boxers (2-5 Northwest Conference, 9-6 overall) have faced some double-digit deficits and even lost one game by ten points. But, even against the No. 3 team in the nation, George Fox, Pacific had stretches of success during the game and forced the Bruins and others to play hard and stick to the game plan and the rotation to the finish line.
Not Friday night. The veteran Pioneers (6-1, 15-1), currently ranked 7
th in the latest USA Today/ESPN Division III poll and 8
th in the D3Hoops.com poll, raced out to a 9-0 start, led 43-15 at halftime and never relented in the second half on the way to their 15
th victory in 16 games. Lewis & Clark's only loss of the season came at home to George Fox.
Daron Dean came off the bench to lead three players in double figures for the Pioneers with 13 points, while reigning NWC Player Of The Year Kristina Williams struggled through an off-shooting night (4-14 from the field), but finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. Senior forward Neva Hauser, a constant thorn in Pacific's side for two years, finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
Paige Jensen (Jr., Bemidji, Minn.) led Pacific's scoring effort with eight points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. The Pios shut out Pacific's leading scorer
Erica Schultz (Sr., Medford, Ore.) in the first half, holding the 15 point per game scorer to just six points on 3 of 9 shooting, while the Boxers connected on just 14 of 47 shots on the night (.298).
The Pioneers set the tone on their first possession of the game. Williams missed a 3-pointer, but the Boxers were unable to secure the rebound. Hauser scored easily underneath on an inbounds play to start the game-opening 9-0 run, later following up her own miss after rebounding a missed shot by Megan Spence, ending a possession that featured four offensive rebounds..
The bigger, stronger Pioneers pounded the glass all game long, outrebounding Pacific 51-32 with 26 offensive rebounds to the Boxers' 10.
Down 15-4 after a pair of Margaret Dowling free throws, Pacific's
Erica Colter (Jr., Kennewick, Wash.) hit a three. But again, a missed Dowling three that should have been rebounded slipped out of bounds, giving Lewis & Clark a second chance, leading to a Megan Spence basket inside on the ensuing inbounds play.
Nani Ostrom (Fr., Juneau, Alaska) followed with another trey to cut the Pioneer lead to 17-10 with 10:53 to go in the half, but what could have been a momentum changing couple of possessions turned out to be the final spark of life for the Boxers.
Lewis & Clark closed the half on a 26-5 run, limiting Pacific to just one more made field goal the rest of the half, a Colter three at the 6:28 mark.
The second half opened much like the first, with the Pioneers pulling down three offensive rebounds on their first three possessions. Hauser hit a pair of free throws to give Lewis & Clark a 49-19 lead with 16:00 to play and the Pioneers took their largest lead 58-19 on back-to-back jumpers by Dean with 11:21 remaining.
Lewis & Clark shot a less than sizzling 40 percent from the field and 26 percent from 3-point range, but thanks to the offensive rebounds and 23 Pacific turnovers, the Pios had a 70-47 advantage in shot attempts. Meanwhile, Pacific forced only 10 Pioneer turnovers, falling to 0-6 on the season when their opponent turns the ball over less than 20 times.
A bright spot off the bench for the Boxers was the little-used
Anuhea Wall (Fr., Kealakekua, Hawaii). The freshman forward was a ball of barely- contained aggression for seven minutes on the floor, something much-needed against the more physical Pioneers. Wall missed her only two shot attempts including a three-pointer, but dished out two assists and had two rebounds and had her nose right in the middle of every loose ball scramble while she was on the floor.
With the toughest part of their schedule behind them, the Boxers return to the Stoller Center Saturday night to take on Pacific Lutheran. The Lutes had Friday night off after their game at George Fox was cancelled due to continued weather difficulties in the Puget Sound area following snow and ice storms this week. Saturday's tipoff time is 6:00 p.m. with live webcast coverage beginning at 5:45 p.m. on www.goboxers.com.
