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

Loggers Cut Down Whitworth’s Hopes For Postseason Play

It was a challenge that proved too difficult for the Whitworth College women’s basketball team. The Pirates needed to win this weekend’s final two games in the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges and hope for some outside help.

Forget about asking for charity. Whitworth single-handedly took itself out of the postseason picture when it lost to the University of Puget Sound on Friday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse 63-53.

Fourth-place Willamette beat Lewis & Clark 73-67 and is two games ahead of the Pirates with one to play.

The first-place Loggers (19-4, 14-1 NCIC) clinched homecourt advantage throughout next week’s four-team conference tournament. Fifth-place Whitworth dropped to 12-11, 8-7.

The Pirates trailed at halftime 35-25, but closed to within 36-33 when senior guard Jennifer Tissue scored a 3-pointer. Tissue, one of three starters fighting the flu, led Whitworth with 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Sherri Northington, another hit by the flu bug, pulled in 12 rebounds.

“They (UPS) have the ability to make quick points,” Whitworth coach Helen Higgs said. “That was the difference when we played them there and again tonight.”

Whitworth trailed 41-36 when Rebecca Moore hit one of her 3-point attempts (2 of 10) with 12:50 left. But that was as close as the Pirates got. The Loggers took a double-digit lead at 51-41 when Kelly Kaiser scored on a steal at 8:15.

UPS had 17 steals to Whitworth’s 11 and shot 52 percent (25 of 48) compared to 35.5 percent (22 of 62) for Whitworth. UPS’s Kristina Goos, averaging 17.8 points per game, scored 20 points in the first half and finished with 29.

Puget Sound 63, Whitworth 53

Puget Sound (19-4, 14-1) - Crabbe 1-4 1-1 4, Takesue 0-2 0-0 0, Goos 11-18 5-7 29, Kaiser 3-9 2-4 8, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Tupua 6-9 1-2 13, E.Peterson 0-0 1-2 1, Hansen 0-1 0-0 0, Morgan 4-5 0-0 8. Totals 25-48 10-16 63.

Whitworth (12-11, 8-7) - J.Peterson 0-1 0-0 0, Stuenkel 0-0 0-0 0, Carr 0-1 0-0 0, Sherer 3-9 0-0 6, Moore 3-14 0-0 8, Davis 2-6 0-0 6, Tissue 10-17 0-0 22, Northington 2-7 2-2 6, Werner 0-2 0-0 0, Slwooko 1-2 0-0 2, Viall 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 22-62 2-2 53.

Halftime-Puget Sound 35, Whitworth 25. 3-point goals-Puget Sound 3-9 (Goos 2-3, Crabbe 1-2, Kaiser 0-4), Whitworth 7-22 (Tissue 2-5, Davis 2-6, Moore 2-10, Viall 1-1). Fouled out- None. Rebounds-Puget Sound 30 (Kaiser 7), Whitworth 38 (Northington 12). Assists-Puget Sound 11 (Crabbe 5), Whitworth 11 (Tissue 4). Total fouls-Puget Sound 9, Whitworth 14. Technicals-None. A-NA.

, DataTimes