Area women: Whits suffer costly loss

Whitworth’s offense flatlined Friday night, and the Pirates’ postseason hopes took an unhealthy turn as a result.

The Pirates shot a woeful 28.3 percent from the field in a 60-47 loss to Linfield in a Northwest Conference game at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Linfield’s victory was the Wildcats’ first in Spokane since Jan. 15, 2000. Whitworth (12-8, 6-5) entered the contest third in the NWC standings, but that cushion vanished with the loss. Lewis & Clark pulled even with the Pirates in the standings with a 58-54 win over Pacific Lutheran on Friday. PLU sits one-half game out of third place, and Linfield is one game back.

The top three teams in the conference will advance to postseason play. The conference’s third seed plays at the NWC’s No. 2 on Feb. 22, and the winner of that game will meet the regular-season champion two days later to determine the conference’s automatic entrant into the NCAA Division III national tournament.

“We’ve just got to win,” Whitworth coach Helen Higgs said. “We need to have the attitude that we can beat anyone in this league, and we’ve got to fight for it.”

Linfield (10-9, 5-6) led comfortably in the second half after seizing a 25-21 lead at intermission.

Whitworth trimmed its deficit to two twice in the second half, but the Pirates’ offensive struggles foiled their comeback.

Alida Bower and Tiffany Corigliano scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, for Whitworth, which missed 17 of 19 3-point attempts and made only 15 of 53 field goals overall.

Casey Stepan led four Linfield players in double figures with 14 points.

“Brittany Duerr and Niki Scott scored 14 points apiece as North Idaho edged Southern Idaho 67-64 in a Scenic West Conference matchup at Twin Falls, Idaho.

Kay Hill and Jessica Thielen each scored 12 and Cassie Pilkinton chipped in seven points and 10 rebounds for the Cardinals (15-6, 7-4), who pulled within one game of Southern Idaho for second place in conference.

Brittany Moore scored 13 for the Golden Eagles (17-4, 8-3).