BOX SCORE
LA GRANDE, Ore. – Freshman
Emily Tsugawa (Gladstone, Ore.) scored a team-high 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field that included a 3-for-6 performance from beyond the arc, but it was not enough as Corban's women's basketball team fell to Eastern Oregon, 78-64, Friday night in the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament semifinals.
With tonight's result from Quinn Coliseum in La Grande, Corban concludes its season at 14-18 overall. Meanwhile, Eastern Oregon improves to 20-10 overall and secures the conference's second automatic berth to the NAIA Division II National Tournament following regular champion The College of Idaho's victory earlier tonight against Southern Oregon.
Tsugawa was aided scoring-wise by sophomores
Katie Steigleman (Eugene, Ore.) and
Becky Buhler (Clackamas, Ore.), who tallied 13 and 11 points respectively. Steigleman, who came into tonight's game a mere 16 points shy of scoring 1,000 points in her career, fell three points shy of the career milestone and will have to wait until next season to become the 12th player in program history to score 1,000-or-more points. On the boards, junior
Jennesa Miller (Mica, Wash.) grabbed a team-high five rebounds to go along with Tsugawa's game-high tying five assists.
In the opening half, Eastern Oregon would climb out to a quick five-point lead (10-5) before Corban used a 6-0 run that concluded thanks to a Buhler lay-in to grab a slim one-point lead (11-10) with 11:55 remaining. Unfortunately, Eastern Oregon would use its own 6-0 run in a span of 75 seconds to pull ahead by five points (16-11) before the visiting Warriors put together the third straight 6-0 run following a jumper in the paint by senior
Monique Tribble (Coquille, Ore.) to go ahead by one point (17-16) with 6:21 showing on the clock. Over the next five-plus minutes, Eastern Oregon would use a 12-2 run to pull ahead by nine points (28-19) thanks to a Kelsea Hurliman three-pointer with 72 seconds left in the opening half. Sophomore
Rachel Harter (Grass Valley, Calif.) would close out the first half scoring with a pair of free throws, as Corban went into the locker room trailing by seven points (28-21).
The opening four-plus minutes of the second half would belong to the host Mountaineers, as Eastern Oregon came out of the break and used a 15-6 run to secure a 16-point advantage (43-27) following a Tana Stickney jumper with 15:46 to go. Corban would pull within eight points (53-45) thanks to a fast break jumper in the paint by freshman
Tess Bennett (Sutherlin, Ore.) with 6:46 left on the clock. Unfortunately that would be as close as Corban would get, as Eastern Oregon extended its lead to as much as 16 points (67-51) following another Stickney jumper in the paint with 1:55 left. Even though the game was out of reach, Tsugawa proceeded to score the Warriors' final 13 points in a span of 67 seconds that included a trio of three-pointers, two free throws, and a lay-in. Despite the first-year Warriors' last-minute scoring spurt, Corban had its magical season come to an end at the hands of the host Mountaineers by the final score of 78-64.
Eastern Oregon was led in scoring by Kyle Miller, who scored a game-high 18 points on 2-for-7 shooting from the field to go along with a 14-for-16 showing at the free throw line. Miller was aided scoring-wise by three other Mountaineers – Stickney, Salena Leavitt, and Shaylee Nielsen – who tallied 12, 10, and 10 points respectively. On the boards, Stickney and Anne Barnett pulled down a game-high eight rebounds each to go along with Leavitt's game-high tying five assists.
As a team, Corban shot 25-for-58 (43.1%) from the field to go along with a 7-for-20 (35.0%) showing from beyond the three-point arc and a 7-for-13 (53.8%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Eastern Oregon was 24-for-59 (40.7%) from the field, 9-for-26 (34.6%) from long distance, and 21-for-35 (60.0%) at the charity stripe.
Corban, who won six of its last nine games, will now look to the future with 90.0% of this year's roster expected to return for another season of Warrior women's basketball.
