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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Strong second half earns win for women Pirates

The first five minutes of the second half in any basketball game are always important, but never more so than Tuesday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Trailing Whitman by eight, the Pirates women, ranked as high as 13th nationally in NCAA Division III polls, scored the first 11 points after intermission then hit their free throws down the stretch to rally past the Missionaries 67-61 in a key Northwest Conference game.

Little was working for the Pirates on offense in the opening 20 minutes against Whitman’s aggressive man-to-man defense. They were shooting 32 percent. They were outrebounded 25-16. They were trailing 32-24.

“In the first half, our guards weren’t looking for our shots, we were forcing it inside too much,” Whitworth point guard Wenchi Liu said. “They are a very good fundamental team, especially defensively, and we had to get used to what they were doing.”

It helped that the Missionaries, picked to finish second in the NWC but just 3-4 in league (and 8-8 overall), changed what they were doing. They opened the second half in a 2-3 zone.

“A lot of teams zone us, but they had been successful (in man), so it was a little bit surprising,” Liu said.

But not so surprising that the Pirates (a school-record 15-1 overall and an NWC-leading 6-1) couldn’t take advantage.

Post Kristie Coppin hit a short jumper, and Liu, looking for her shot, nailed a 3-pointer. When the Missionaries began missing, the Pirates began rebounding – they would have a 19-13 edge after halftime – and Sarah Shogren attacked the hoop.

Shogren, the senior forward who led the first-half offense with 10 points, got to the line twice in a row, setting a tone for the rest of the half. Her fourth consecutive free throw gave the Pirates their first lead at 33-32 at the 16:52 mark.

Shogren finished with 21 points, and a game-high nine rebounds, hitting 9 of 12 free throws in the process. Tiffany Speer, Whitworth’s leading scorer, didn’t hit her first shot from the field until 8 minutes into the second half. But she was also 9 of 12 from the line as Whitworth, averaging 23 foul shots per game, hit 21 of 29 (Whitman was 9 of 16). Whitworth scored 11 of its final 17 points from the free-throw line.

“Our players like Sarah and Tiff do a great job of attacking between defenders, and getting them to reach,” said Pirates coach Helen Higgs of her team’s ability to get to the line.

But it was their rebounding that Higgs felt was crucial to the second half.

“We told them at halftime we were getting crushed on the boards,” Higgs said. “It was unacceptable. In the short time we had to prepare for them, we emphasized they were a good rebounding team. By grabbing the boards, we were able to get out and run and that was the difference.”

That and Liu had one of her best offensive games of the season. After being outscored 9-3 at halftime by Whitman’s Megan Higgins, Liu hit all four of her second-half shots, including two 3-pointers, and finished with 15 points, five assists and five steals.

“I’ve been struggling with my shot a little bit,” the senior from St. George’s said. “I was bound to get them sooner or later.”

Whitworth 67, Whitman 61

Whitman (8-8, 3-4 NWC)—Vertatschitch 6-15 0-0 13; Higgins 5-9 0-0 12; Krumdieck 4-9 1-1 9; Patneaude 3-9 2-4 8; Francis 2-5 2-3 7; Stephenson 2-6 1-2 5; Laird 2-5 0-2 4. Totals 24-58 9-16 61.

Whitworth (15-1, 6-1 NWC)—Shogren 6-10 9-12 21; Speer 3-11 9-12 15; Liu 5-7 2-2 15; Coppin 4-12 1-3 9; Bielec 3-7 0-0 7; Hendrickson 0-1 0-0 0; Ridings 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 21-29 67.

Halftime—Whitman 32, Whitworth 24. 3-point goals-Whitman 4-12 (Higgins 2-5; Francis 1-2; Vertatschitch 1-4; Patneaude 0-1), Whitworth 4-7 (Liu 3-3; Bielec 1-3; Speer 0-1). Fouled out—Patneaude, Washburn. Rebounds-Whitman 38 (Krumdieck 6; Patneaude 6), Whitworth 35 (Shogren 9). Assists-Whitman 12 (Vertatschitch 4), Whitworth 15 (Liu 5). Total fouls-Whitman 22, Whitworth 15. A-275