FOREST GROVE – Despite a 17-point performance from Abby Jones, the Pacific women's basketball team came up short of an upset over the No. 13/15 Whitworth Pirates as the Bucs escaped with a 67-63 on Friday evening.
 
Pacific opened the game with a five-point run, all of which came from Nani Ostrom (Sr., Juneau, Alaska) via a 3-pointer and a fast break layup. After allowing Whitworth's first make of the game at 18:51, the Boxers' Sarah Curl (So., Portland, Ore.) found Jones (Sr., Haines, Alaska) open beyond the arc where Jones hit a 3-pointer to put Pacific ahead 8-2.
 
The Pirates used the next five minutes to chip away at the Boxers' advantage, as Pacific struggled on the offensive end and Whitworth did just enough to tie the game at 10-10 with 13 minutes left in the opening half.
 
The Boxers recovered with a jumper from Jones and a 3-point make from Kaila Johnson (Sr., McKinleyville, Calif.), to recover a five-point advantage.
 
Pacific's lead reached six with 9:07 on the clock as Curl hit a jumper in the paint and gave the home side the 19-13 lead.
 
Whitworth again did not let the Boxers stay ahead for too long, cutting the Pacific lead to one within three minutes, and jumping out to a lead of its own with 3:41 left in the period.
 
Curl hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 31-31, before a Pirates layup put the visitors ahead 33-31. Ostrom and Curl combined for three points to put Pacific ahead, before Kyla Siri (Jr., Spring Creek, Nev.) recorded a thee-point play with a layup and a made free throw, which gave the Boxers a 37-33 lead heading into the halftime break.
 
After exchanging makes and misses with the Pirates, Pacific pushed out to a 42-38 advantage on a 3-pointer from Ostrom. Whitworth tied the game at 42-42 less than a minute later with a pair of made free throws and a layup.
 
The Boxers and Pirates traded makes until the clock dropped under 14 minutes and Olivia Cook (Sr., Beaverton, Ore.) made a pair from the free throw line, which sparked a seven-point Pacific run as Cook heated up for seven-straight points.
 
A trio of subs from Whitworth slowed Cook down as the Boxers' seven-point advantage was quickly cut down to a 54-53 lead with 9:09 on the clock.
 
The two sides saw an even scoreline three times over a three-minute period entering the final two minutes of regulation. A jumper in the paint for the Pirates gave the visitors the final lead of the game, which Pacific was unable to recover from when missed opportunities on the offensive end for the Boxers allowed the Pirates to leave with a four-point victory.
 
Jones led the all scorers with 17 points, marking her best offensive output in a Pacific uniform. Jones scored 24 points on one occasion during her time at Peninsula College.
 
Curl added 10-points on the offensive end, while Cook and Ostrom chipped in nine each.
 
On the glass it was Jones who led Pacific with seven rebounds, as Cook snagged six of her own.
 
Pacific turns around quickly with a 4 p.m. scheduled tipoff at home against the Whitman Missionaries on Saturday.