Portland, Ore. – Lewis & Clark College women's basketball team used a huge third quarter and held on late, to earn their first win of the 2022-23 season against visiting Warner Pacific University in a non-conference match-up Monday night.  
 
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 61, Warner Pacific 59  
(Lewis & Clark 1-7)
(Warner Pacific 0-7
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Junior Karli Mukai posted her third 20-point game in the past four contests and three Pioneers posted double-doubles to help Lewis & Clark past the Knights. 
 
Mukai finished with a game-high 22 points on 9-20 shooting. She hit two threes and added two assists and one steal. 
 
Sophomore Piper Curry added 10 points, the second-double digit point game of her career, and a a game-high 17 rebounds. Curry pulled down 14 defensive rebounds in the win and more than doubled her previous career-high of seven boards. 
 
Juniors Charlotte Carroll and Natalie Elstone joined Curry with double-doubles of their own. Carroll finished second on the team with 12 points and corralled 11 rebounds. Elstone posted an impressive line of 10 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and tied her career-high with five assists. 
 
McKeeley Tonkin led the visitors with 14 points. Emily Brown (13 points) and Paityn Rhode (10 points) joined Tonkin in double-figures for Warner Pacific. 
 
Warner Pacific held the edge through most of the first half but couldn't pull away from a Pioneers team who was missing Jamison Richards for the first time this season and saw Kendal Jones get into early foul trouble. The Knights took a 23-20 lead after one and stretched their advantage to 39-34 at halftime. 
 
The third quarter proved to be all Lewis & Clark. The Pioneers opened the quarter on a 9-0 run and held Warner Pacific to just one made free throw in 10 minutes. Lewis & Clark outscored the visitors 15-1 in the stanza after holding WPU to 0-15 shooting in the quarter. 
 
Mukai and Carroll hit back-to-back baskets to cut the deficit to one early in the third, before a Curry jumper with 4:46 to play in the quarter gave the Pioneers a 40-39 lead. The next trip down Curry drained a three to make it 45-39. After a Knights free throw ended their 8:23 scoreless drought, Mukai hit a free throw and a layup and Jones added a free throw to give the Pioneers a 49-40 lead after three. 
 
Lewis & Clark extended their advantage to 12 early in the fourth (54-42) on a Curry three, but the Knights weren't going away. 
 
Warner Pacific went on a 7-0 run late to cut the deficit to 58-55 with 1:33 to play. After a Pioneers missed layup, freshman Tatiana Rebanal came through with a huge steal and found Jones for a lay-in to restore the advantage to five (60-55) with 1:09 left. 
 
The lead was still at five points with nine seconds left, before Rhode hit an acrobatic 3-pointer and was fouled to give the visitors life. She missed the free throw on purpose but Elstone grabbed the rebound for the Pioneers to secure the win. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Rebanal and Jones each made huge contributions in the second half. Rebanal posted a career-high and game-high five steals and tacked on three points and two assists. After early foul trouble, Jones totaled three points, four rebounds, two blocks and one assist. Both players were crucial to the Pioneers defensive efforts. 
• Curry's 17 rebounds are the most by a Pioneers player since Delsie Johnson pulled down 18 against Multnomah University on November 10 of last year. 
• Lewis & Clark earned a 45-29 advantage in rebounds and a 13-8 edge in offensive boards. The Pioneers used that edge to gain a 12-7 lead in second-chance points. 
• Elstone grabbed six of the Pioneers 13 offensive rebounds. She notched double-digit points for the fourth time this season, double-digit rebounds for the first time in her career and five assists for the second time in her career. 
• Lewis & Clark snapped a three-game losing streak against Warner Pacific in the win. The Knights defeated the Pioneers in each of the past three seasons Lewis & Clark had played in. 

• In just three games this season, Curry has nearly doubled her point total from a year ago and has already matched her point total. She finished with 21 points and 27 rebounds in 115 minutes as a freshman and has racked up 37 points and 31 rebounds in 103 minutes in the last week.  

WHO'S NEXT
 
Lewis & Clark will have a break for final exams, before traveling to California for three games from December 16-19. The Pioneers will open their trip with a tilt against Caltech on Friday, December 16 at 6 p.m.