PORTLAND, Ore.—Whitman College built an early 22-2 lead and Lewis & Clark College women's basketball was never fully able to dig themselves out of the early hole in a 65-38 Northwest Conference loss on Friday night.
THE BASICS
Whitman 65, Lewis & Clark 38
(Lewis & Clark 2-18, NWC 1-10)
(Whitman 14-5, NWC 9-2)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Lewis & Clark won the second quarter (15-11) and matched the Blues with 16 points in the fourth but couldn't overcome their struggles in the first and third quarters.
Junior
Charlotte Carroll posted a team-high 10 points and added four rebounds. She finished the game 6-8 from the free throw line.
Senior
Gabby Beltran had an extremely efficient 22 minutes of action. She recorded eight points, six rebounds, five steals and one block and went 4-9 from the field.
Junior
Karli Mukai chipped in four points and a team-high four assists and freshman
Tatiana Rebanal led the bench with five points.
Carly Martin and Korin Baker scored 15 points apiece to lead Whitman. Elena McHargue tacked on 10 points and seven rebounds for the reigning NWC Champions who currently sit in second place in the conference.
After struggling to get their offense going in the first quarter (22-5), Lewis & Clark scored the first eight points of the second to cut the deficit to nine. Mukai started the run with an old-fashioned 3-point play and Curry followed with a three to make it 22-11. On the next possession, Rebanal forced a turnover and drove the length of the court for a fastbreak lay-in to cut the deficit to single-digits.
Whitman would extend their lead back to 16 late in the half but junior
Natalie Elstone drained a 3-pointer to make it 33-20 at the break.
The Blues would put the game away in the third quarter, as they outscored the Pioneers 16-2 to push their advantage to 49-22.
Beltran did the majority of her damage in the fourth. The Pioneers senior scored all eight of her points and posted all five of her steals while playing the entire fourth quarter. She went 4-6 in the quarter and posted four rebounds.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Lewis & Clark forced 20 Whitman turnovers and only posted 10 turnovers of their own. The hosts used that to their advantage as they earned an 18-11 edge in points off turnovers.
- Beltran tied her career-high for steals with five and posted five steals for the second time in the past four games. She is averaging almost two steals per game (1.78).
- The Pioneers ended the game shooting 72.7 percent (8-11) from the free throw line. The mark was the third-highest for the team this season.
- Carroll posted double-digits points for the 14th time this season. She has recorded double-figures in six of her past nine contests.
WHO'S NEXT
The Pioneers will host Whitworth University on Saturday at 4 p.m. In the first meeting this season, Lewis & Clark defeated Whitworth 93-90 in double overtime behind a program record 38 points from Mukai.
