Setting the Scene: The Lutes close out the calendar year and their non-conference slate this evening, welcoming in-state nemesis Northwest University to Olson Gymnasium.
Series History: This is the 33rd all-time meeting between the Lutes and the Eagles. PLU enjoys a 23-9 edge in the series but Northwest's won the last two meetings, prevailing 62-51 in Kirkland during the 2021-2022 season and collecting a 65-59 win last November at the Cascade Challenge.
About the Lutes: Ashley Akamine dropped a season-high 21 points as the Pacific Lutheran University women's basketball team never trailed in a 65-50 victory over Manchester University on Dec. 19 inside Olson Gymnasium.
PLU (7-3) never trailed against the Spartans (3-7), scoring nine of the opening 11 points to remain undefeated at home this season. Akamine scored the game's opening bucket before Manchester answered with a basket of their own to tie the game. It would be the only tie of the night with Sydney Reisner burying a three followed by buckets from Ava Edmonds and Raylie Wardenaar to stake a 9-2 lead just under three minutes into the game.
The Lutes enjoyed a 16-11 advantage after one quarter of action before seeing their lead mushroom to double digits in the second, enjoying a 34-23 cushion at the halftime intermission.
Manchester cut the gap to nine points on four occasions in the third quarter but every time the Lutes answered, paving the way for the 15-point victory to improve to 4-0 at home this season.
"Our focus has been attacking offensively and that was evident tonight by our 40 points in the paint," said Head Coach Lee Aduddell.
Akamine led all scorers with 21 points, hitting 10 of her 14 shots from the floor while also adding six rebounds. Edmonds dropped nine points while Reisner sunk a trio of treys to also end the night with nine. Taylor Schmidtke contributed three steals while Brandie Tobin had four assists along with eight points.
"Ashley's performance tonight was impressive on both ends of the floor. We're a better team when she's that type of scoring threat."
PLU outrebounded the Spartans 37-29 and dominated in the paint, enjoying a 40-8 advantage in points in the paint.
The sharpshooting Lutes rank 11th nationally (out of 422 teams) in three-point percentage, hitting 36.2 percent of its shots from beyond the arc.
PLU leads the NWC in scoring defense, allowing just 52.5 points per game and ranks second in the conference in field goal percentage, hitting 40.7 percent of its shots.
Sydney Reisner is a big catalyst for the Lutes' deep threat, ranking sixth nationally in three-point field goal shooting (52.5 percent). Brandie Tobin is the Lutes' leader in assists, ranking fourth in the NWC with 3.7 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 19-0 record!
PLU women's hoops is 4-0 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 Eagles: Northwest (1-8) heads to Olson Gymnasium after the holidays looking to bust out of a two-game funk. The Eagles earned a 67-62 victory over Evergreen State on Dec. 8 before coming up empty handed the following weekend, suffering a 65-39 setback to Oregon Tech and a 67-51 defeat to Southern Oregon.
Maya DuChesne leads the Eagles in scoring, averaging 12.0 points per game with Kyrie Baklund and Kylie Lunday contributing 10.4 and 9.8 ppg, respectively.
Alli VanKooten is the team leader on the glass, averaging 5.9 rebounds per game while Katie Fleming dishes out a team-leading 3.0 assists per game.
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. 5 vs. George Fox 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