Although the Pacific Lutheran University women’s basketball team didn’t shoot particularly well from the field Saturday evening, Samantha Potter’s rebounding made up for the Lutes’ errant touch.
Potter scored 21 points and pulled down seven of the visiting Lutes’ 22 offensive rebounds to knock off The Evergreen State College, 65-58, in a nonconference matchup Saturday at CRC Gymnasium.
“Samantha just has a knack for grabbing the offensive board,” said PLU coach Kelly Robinson, whose team snapped a three-game skid with the victory. “We ask a lot of her in the paint, probably too much, but her play just gives us that shot in the arm we need.”
Potter’s biggest offensive board came with just under four minutes remaining and PLU (3-3) clinging to a 58-54 lead.
Potter wrestled the loose ball away from a pair of Geoducks and kicked it out to Shelly Kilcup, who drained a 3-pointer to give the Lutes some breathing room.
Kilcup, who finished with 19 points on 7-of-20 shooting, had missed her first nine attempts from beyond the arc.
“Shelly didn’t shoot very well tonight,” Robinson said, “but that was a big shot and she did a lot of little things out there that don’t show up on the stat sheet.”
PLU, which holds an 8-4 series advantage but had dropped two straight to the Geoducks, converted its offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points.
“Closing out games is something we’ve really been working on,” said Potter, who finished with a game-high 12 rebounds. “Last year we lost six games by six points or less, so winning tonight is a big step forward for us.”
Evergreen (2-8) was paced by sophomore Danielle Swain, a graduate of Black Hills High School, who scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
The Geoducks also received 19 points and 10 rebounds from Jessica Edge.
“I told the girls before the game that whichever team had the fewest turnovers would win,” Evergreen coach Monica Heuer said. “We didn’t do a good job taking care of the basketball tonight.”
The Lutes turned Evergreen’s 25 turnovers into 26 points.
PLU missed 40 of 64 field-goal attempts, including 13 of 16 shots from 3-point range, to shoot 37.5 percent for the contest.
Evergreen took a slim 30-29 lead at the half, getting 18 first-half points from Edge, who hit seven of 12 shots from the field and all three free throw attempts. Edge scored seven points and Swain chipped in six during a 13-0 run, which helped the Geoducks erase an early 8-point deficit to post their first double-digit lead at 28-18 with 5 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half.
PLU, which went scoreless for nearly seven minutes, closed out the first half with an 11-2 run, with Kilcup scoring the final six points of the half to make it a one-point game.
“We haven’t weathered runs very well this season,” Robinson said. “Being able to respond to their run and make it close at the half was key for us tonight.”
The Geoducks took a 51-50 lead with eight minutes to play on Mele Rich’s putback, but the Lutes used an 11-3 run, with offensive rebounds leading to three field goals, to put the game away.
Sara Backstrom scored nine points and had seven rebounds, while Chrissy Swope had eight points for the Lutes.
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