Whitworth Falls to Lewis & Clark on Senior Night - SWX Right Now-Sports for Spokane, CdA, Tri-Cities, WA

by Whitworth Athletics

SPOKANE, Wash. - The Pioneers drew first blood and held off the Pirates en route to an 83-64 victory at the Whitworth Fieldhouse in a Northwest Conference contest on Saturday night. 
 
The Pirates finished their season on Saturday at 6-10 in the NWC (10-15). Lewis & Clark sits at 16-9 overall and 9-7 in the NWC and will enter the conference playoffs as the #4 seed.
 
Ten seconds into the game, Miyah Leith got the Pios on the board with a layup and Erika Kuehn responded with a layup at the end of the next possession to tie the game. Whitworth kept the game in single digits with a six-point first quarter from Kuehn and four points from Chloe Quinnett and Madison Moffat. The Pios went up nine (24-15) on back-to-back scores from Lauren Wood to end the first.
 
Jessica Thoens kicked off the second quarter with a three to bring the game to a six-point margin. Sarah Anderson stretched it back to nine with a three of her own, but the Pirates cut the lead to three with buckets from Moffat, Thoens, and Quinnett. The second quarter stayed within two possessions until the last seven seconds when an 8-0 run from the Pios brought the score to ten, 41-31.
 
A Thoens free throw made it the last single-digit differential of the game at 45-36. Lewis & Clark finished the third quarter with an 18-5 run to go up 23. Anderson and Ayisat Afolabi scored six apiece in the Pioneer's run. 
 
Kuehn and Thoens cut the lead to 19, less than a minute and a half into the fourth quarter, but the Pioneers continued to answer, keeping the lead around 20 for the remainder of the game. Moffat scored four for the Pirates and Kelley Koeppen and Jacki Lizarraga added a bucket apiece for the Pios for the final score of 83-64.
 
Maddison Moffat shot 2-7 from the floor, but finished with 18 points after a 14-16 showing from the free throw line to lead all scorers. Afolabi shot 8-11 to lead Lewis & Clark with 16 points. The Pirates finished 23 of 65 shots from the floor (35.4%) and 16 of 22 (72.7) from the charity stripe. Anderson made 5-8 from long range as the Pios finished 7-16 (43.8%). Lewis & Clark finished 34-70 from the floor (48.6&) and 8-9 from the free throw line (88.9). Afolabi stuck with her double-double average with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Moffat dished four assists and had one steal for Whitworth.