Setting the Scene: The Lutes suit up for their sixth straight home game this afternoon, taking on Oregon rivals Willamette University inside Olson Gymnasium.
Series History: This is the 97th all-time meeting on the hardwood between the Lutes and Bearcats with PLU owning a slim 45-41 edge in the series.
Willamette has won six straight in the series, including a 49-38 victory on Feb. 11 last season in Salem and a 60-55 win inside Olson Gymnasium on Jan. 13.
About the Lutes: Pacific Lutheran (8-3, 0-2 NWC) dives back into conference play after wrapping up its non-league slate by winning eight of its nine games.
PLU's eight wins in non-conference play is the program's most since racking up 10 during the 2005-06 season and the most regular season non-conference victories since the 1994-1995 campaign.
The Lutes head into the weekend riding a four-game win streak, including a 57-54 victory on Dec. 29 against in-state rival Northwest. Stacie Spahr was a hero in the final game of 2023, draining a bucket with 12 seconds left to secure the win.
The timely shot was part of a big day for the junior who finished with eight points, 10 rebounds, and four assists.
The Northwest win came on the heels of victories over Multnomah on Dec. 7 (63-56), Northwest Indian on Dec. 15 (85-35), and Manchester on Dec. 19 (65-50).
The sharpshooting Lutes rank 20th nationally (out of 422 teams) in three-point percentage, hitting 35.0 percent of its shots from beyond the arc this season and 35th in scoring defense, leading the conference after allowing just 52.6 points per game. PLU additionally leads the NWC in field goal percentage defense, allowing the opposition to shooting just 33.8 percent from the floor.
Sydney Reisner is a big catalyst for the Lutes' deep threat, ranking third nationally in three-point field goal shooting (52.0 percent) while also leading the NWC in three-pointer per game at 2.36. Brandie Tobin is the Lutes' leader in assists, ranking fourth in the NWC with 3.8 per game.
Olson Magic: Luteville fans have made Olson Gymnasium one of the toughest venues for opposing teams to play in this season. Across three sports— women's basketball, men's basketball, and volleyball— the Lutes haven't lost inside Olson during the 2023-2024 academic year.
That's a 20-0 record!
PLU women's hoops is 5-0 this season while the men boast a 5-0 record inside Olson. The NWC Champion Lute volleyball team finished the fall a perfect 10-0 at home, taking home the NWC regular season and tournament titles.
Messin' with Texas: The Lutes visited the Lone Star State over the Thanksgiving break and came away with a trio of wins. PLU's good fortunes began the day before Thanksgiving, draining a school single game record 14 treys in a 50-47 victory over host Texas Lutheran University.
The Lutes knocked off Concordia University 75-67 on Black Friday before closing the trip the following day with a 53-37 thrashing of Southwestern University. The three victories was part of a larger four-game win streak for the Lutes, the program's biggest streak since stringing together seven in a row during the 2018-2019 campaign.
About the Bearcats: Willamette (5-6, 2-0 NWC) heads into the weekend looking to stay atop the NWC standings.
The Bearcats opened league play back in early December, netting road wins over both Whitworth (77-71) and Whitman (66-61).
Since the opening weekend of league play, the Bearcats have dropped games to non-Division III members Oregon Tech (66-60) and Western Oregon (57-41), in addition to an 83-40 exhibition loss to Division I Portland.
Sandwiched between the Portland and Western Oregon games was an 89-66 thrashing of Trinity (Texas) on a neutral court back on Dec. 19.
Elyse Wall leads the charge for the Bearcats, netting 13.6 points per game, shooting a blistering 45.5 percent from beyond the arc. Kaitlin Imai adds 10.4 ppg with Carolyn Ho dropping 9.8 ppg. Act Kitchin leads WU on the glass with 6.8 rebounds per game.
Through the opening 11 games of the year, the Bearcats have been remarkably consistent, using the same starting five in each of those games.
1 Weekend. 3 Championships.
Check out all the celebration highlights below as PLU volleyball, women's soccer, and men's soccer all clinched league titles on Senior Day weekend on Oct. 28-29.
Fall Sports Recap
NWC Preseason Coaches' Poll
Summer Lutes
PLU men's soccer student-athlete Elijah Singleton had a busy summer serving as an intern in a lab at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Learn more about his daily routine in the video below.
Trailblazing NIL the D3 Way: PLU Athletics continues to lead the way nationally in Name, Image, and Likeness, unveiling the Luteville Marketplace last fall through the department's partnership with Opendorse. But don't stay on the sidelines, get involved and connect with PLU student-athletes on the Luteville Marketplace: LINK
The Luteville Marketplace is the first dedicated NIL marketplace in Division III on the Opendorse platform that directly connects student-athletes with fans, supporters, and business partners in an easy to use website.
Stay connected to your favorite teams by downloading the official mobile app of the Pacific Lutheran University athletic department powered by SIDEARM Sports, available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
Featuring real-time news alerts, schedules, exclusive multimedia content, gameday details and more, the new PLU Athletics app is free and compatible with both iOS and Android devices.
Next Home Game:
Jan. 12 vs. Lewis & Clark at 6 p.m.
PLU Non-Discrimination Policy: Pacific Lutheran University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability or age in its programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Title IX Coordinator Jennifer Childress-White; 253-535-7361; TitleIX@plu.edu