BOX SCORE

FOREST GROVE, Ore. – In a game that featured 53 combined free throws by both teams, Corban's women's basketball team used the strength of 23 made free throws en route to defeating the Boxers of Pacific University of Oregon, 71-61, Tuesday night inside the Pacific Athletic Center.

Freshman Katie Steigleman (Eugene, Ore.) was 5-for-15 from the field, while going a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line en route to registering a game-high 18 points to lead a trio of Warriors in double figures.

"In the first half, you could tell that this was our initial game back from the holiday due to our number of turnovers," commented tenth-year head coach Terry Williams.  "In the second half, we cut down on our number of turnovers, played smart ball, and controlled the tempo of play which led to the victory."

In the first half, Pacific grabbed a pair of four-point leads (4-0 & 8-4) in the opening four minutes before neither team secured more than a two-point advantage over the next six-plus minutes.  With the score knotted at 18-all with 9:48 remaining, Corban used a run behind four straight points by senior Kailey Bostwick (Medford, Ore.) via a pair of free throws and a jumper to grab a 22-18 lead with just over eight minutes to go.  The host Boxers would battle back via a 9-2 run to secure a three-point lead (27-24) with 6:12 left in the first half before Corban battle back via an 8-2 run to go up 32-29 with 3:16 left.  Pacific would use a 6-0 run over a span of 81 seconds to grab a 35-32 lead before the visiting Warriors closed out the half via a 4-0 run of its own behind a pair of free throws by freshman Joani Reimer (Ferndale, Wash.) and a jumper from senior Ashley Connell (Spokane, Wash.) for the half time difference of a mere point (36-35).

The second half opened with Pacific using a 9-3 run to grab a five-point lead (44-39) with just under 17 minutes left in the game.  Corban then got five straight points from Steigleman behind a three-pointer and back-to-back free throws to knot the game at 44-44 with 16:16 on the clock.  Along with Steigleman's five unanswered points, the Warriors got another five points in the midst of a 10-0 to grab a five-point lead (49-44) with 14:07 left in the game following a fastbreak lay-up by sophomore Ashlee Jensen (Yuba City, Calif.).  Pacific would battle back via a 7-2 run that knotted the game at 51-all with 9:23 on the clock thanks to a Brittany Anderson fastbreak lay-in.  Over the next 109 seconds, both teams combined for 11 points with Corban gaining a three-point lead (58-55) with 7:34 left in the game.  The game then moved to the free throw line over the next five-plus minutes, as both teams went without a field goal and combined to attempt 12 free throws before Corban got a lay-up from sophomore Jennesa Miller (Mica, Wash.) with just under two minutes left en route to grabbing a seven-point lead (66-59).  Corban held Pacific without a field goal over the game's final seven minutes and 38 seconds, while stepping to the charity stripe six times in the final two minutes and converting five en route to the final margin of ten points (71-61).

Along with Steigleman's game-high point total, Miller and Bostwick added 14 and 13 points respectively.  On the boards, Corban was out-rebounded by 12 (50-38) but won the free throw battle thanks to a 9-for-10 performance by Bostwick to go along with Steigleman and fellow freshman Becky Buhler's combined perfect 8-for-8 showing at the charity stripe.  Buhler grabbed a team-best seven rebounds, while Steigleman, Reimer, and junior Monique Tribble (Coquille, Ore.) pulled down six boards each.  Bostwick tied for the game-high lead in assists with five, while eight other Warriors handed out an assist each in the victory.

Pacific was led by Julianne Erbe's 14-point, 10-rebound performance to go along with a trio of Boxers (Mallory Goldhammer, Kalei Frank, & Erica Schultz) that recorded 12, 12, and 10 points respectively.  On the boards, Erbe was aided by Schultz's 10-rebound performance to go along with Frank's game-high tying five-assist performance.

As a team, Corban shot 23-for-59 (39.0%) from the field to go along with a 2-for-12 (16.7%) showing from beyond the three-point line and a 23-for-30 (76.7%) performance at the free throw line.  On the other hand, Pacific was 22-for-68 (32.4%) from the field to go along with a dismal 2-for-23 (8.7%) showing from long distance and 15-for-23 (65.2%) from the charity stripe.

With the win, Corban moves one game above .500 at 6-5 overall compared to Pacific's 1-7 record so far this season.  The Warriors begin the New Year returning to Cascade Collegiate Conference play on Friday, January 2nd, against the Hustlin' Owls of Oregon Tech at 5:30 p.m. in Klamath Falls at Danny Miles Court.