SPOKANE, Wash— Olivia Mayer scored 18 points to help Whitworth beat visiting Pacific Lutheran  53-40 in a Northwest Conference women's basketball game on Friday evening at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Whitworth improved to 7-11 overall and 4-5 NWC while the Lutes fell to 1-17, 1-8. 

Whitworth and Pacific Lutheran's offense struggled to start the opening frame, with each team only scoring four points apiece heading into the first media timeout. Kimberly Dewey's three pointer sparked an 8-2 run for the Pirates to end the quarter with a 12-6 advantage. 

Pacific Lutheran's Taylor Schmidtke made both free throws to start the second period, but Whitworth responded with a 9-0 run to take a 21-8 lead and force a PLU timeout with 5:52 remaining. Schmidke's layup brought the Lutes to within 21-12 but Quincy McDeid answered with a trey on the other end of the floor. The Lutes' Stacie Spahr made a layup to end the period but Whitworth took a 29-16 at the half.

The Pirates opened up the third quarter on a 7-0 run capped by Tara Kanashiro's three pointer. Akamine was able to score for the Lutes but Quincy McDeid's trey with 2:56 remaining stretched Whitworth's lead to 39-19, their largest of the game. Pacific Lutheran outscored Whitworth 8-2 in the final minutes to trim the margin to 41-27 heading into the final frame. 

Pacific Lutheran continued to battle in the fourth quarter, but WU kept them at distance. Spahr's hook shot with 3:36 remaining got the Lutes to within 47-40, but Kanashiro's three pointer put the Pirates back up double digits. Whitworth held the Lutes scoreless for the final minutes to win 53-40. 

Whitworth's Olivia Mayer led all scorers with 18 points and seven rebounds. It was the first time this season that Mayer didn't grab at least 10 rebounds in a game. Kanashiro added 10 points. Dewey finished with nine points and eight rebounds. Whitworth finished shooting 36.4% (20-55) from the floor and 29.6% (8-27) from behind the arc. The Pirates outrebounded the Lutes 39-31. 

Pacific Lutheran's Akamine finished with nine points and six rebounds. Schmidtke added eight points and six rebounds. The Lutes made 17 of 50 (34.0%) from the floor and were 1 of 10 (10.%) from three point range. 

Whitworth will play Puget Sound on Saturday at 4:00 PM at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.