SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Loggers take down Whitworth on the first leg of their four-game road trip, sinking the Pirates 68-52. 

How it Happened
The Loggers got off to a slow start, as they found themselves down 4-10 at the first media timeout. They were down by as much as eight with two minutes to go in the first, but a tough and-one from Grace Lee helped turn the tide. Claire Thompson laid it in to cut the lead to three, but a Pirate triple with three seconds left made it 9-15 at the end of the first. 

From there, Natalia Sefair-Lopez took over, hitting back-to-back buckets to kickstart a Logger run. Puget Sound put up 15 straight points, jumping out to a 24-17 lead. Autumn Hill hit a bucket in the paint, Hailey Quiggle drilled a three, and Sefair-Lopez added another jump shot in the paint, as the Loggers never looked back. Another Sefair-Lopez three made it 27-18, as the Loggers ran into the break up six. 

The third quarter started off back-and-forth, as a flurry of points kicked off a period of scoring. Carmen Cruz hit a pull-up jumper to put the Logs up 11, backing it up with a layup to continue to extend the Loggers lead. The Pirates started to slowly swim back into the mix, but Thompson and Hill's layups pushed the Loggers onward. A final lay-in by Mele Sake made it 53-38, as stout defense and a barrage of scoring helped the Loggers pull ahead. 

Paige Oh got on a roll to start the fourth, scoring five straight points to put the Loggers up 20. Sefair-Lopez added a three to the mix, putting the Loggers into cruise control. Despite giving up a small Pirate run, Katie Anderson and Cayton Smith added buckets to make it 68-45. Whitworth went on a run at the end of the fourth in an attempt to come back, but the Loggers' lead was insurmountable. They took this one, 68-52.

Top Performers
Sefair-Lopez was the star of the evening, going 6-7 from the field, including 3-4 from three to lead the Loggers with 16 points. Cruz and Hill added nine apiece, while Quiggle had six points and six boards. 

What Happens Next
The Loggers travel to Walla, Walla, Wash. to take on the Whitman Blues on Saturday, January 24th. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 pm.