PORTLAND, Ore. - (From L&C Sports Information) Lewis & Clark, in a must-win game, defeated visiting Whitworth 74-65 at the Pamplin Sports Center Saturday afternoon to keep its post-season hopes alive and move within a game of the Pirates for third place in the NWC standings.

Alida Bower scored 17 points for the Pirates

The game began as a slow, defensive battle. Whitworth took an early 11-7 lead with Susan McDaniel scoring six of those eleven points. After the Pirates extended their lead to seven, the Pioneers' Sarah Moon hit a pair of freethrows at the 12:48 mark to cut it back to a five-point lead, 15-10, with 12:48 left in the first half. The two defenses dug in their heels, with just one point going on the board for either team in the next five full minutes of play. A layup by the Pioneers' Crystal Castle with 7:44 left in the half broke the stalemate and changed the tempo. With the offenses back in control of the game, Whitworth pushed their lead back out to 24-19 on another McDaniel layup with 4:19 remaining in the half. The Pioneers went on a 9-2 run to close out the half and take a 30-26 lead into the break.

The Pioneers held a six point lead, 39-33 with just under fifteen to play when the Pirates rattled off a six-point run to tie the game 39-39 on a Tiffany Corigliano layup with 12 minutes remaining. The two teams battled through five lead changes until Carrie Centlivre drove the lane and scored a layup to give the Pioneers a two-point edge with 6:24 reamining. This began a three-minute 12-3 Pioneer run, capped by an Allison Farr bucket that put the Pioneers up 62-51 with three minutes to play. The Pioneers played tight defense and hit clutch free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 74-65 victory.

Crystal Castle played one of the best games of her career. Castle shot 70% from the floor and was 9-10 from the freethrow line, scoring a career-high 25 points. Castle also had seven rebounds to lead the team and a pair of assists. Sarah Moon did a fantastic job of driving the basket and drawing fouls, hitting 11-13 from the free throw line. She finished with 13 points and six rebound. The Pioneers were 32-41 (78.0%) from the free throw line.

For the Pirates, it was a game of foul trouble. Susan McDaniel got off to a blistering start, scoring 11 first-half points, but also drawing three first-half fouls. McDaniel played just one minute in the second half, drawing another two fouls and the disqualification. The Pirates had three players foul out on a night when they were whistled for 29 total personal fouls. Alida Bower led the Pirates in scoring with 17 points. She had five rebounds, five assits, and four steals.

With the win, the Pioneers improve to 12-7 (5-5 NWC). Whitworth falls to 12-7 (6-4 NWC).

Next week Whitworth will try to strengthen its 2007 playoff hopes by hosting Linfield (Friday) and George Fox (Saturday).