BOX SCORE
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Sophomore Tara Vanweerhuizen scored a team-high 20 points, but it was not enough as Corban's women's basketball team watched Lewis-Clark State attempt 54 free throws in an 86-77 win for LCSC Friday in the opener of the KER Classic hosted by Whitman College inside the Sherwood Center.
With today's result, Corban falls to 3-8 overall and Lewis-Clark State improves to 3-9 on the season.
Along with Vanweerdhuizen, freshman
Julia Young and sophomore
Haley Holboke added 10 and 9 points, respectively, while the freshman duo of
Jade Lowery and
Megan Benedict added eight points each. On the boards, senior
Emily Tsugawa grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to go along with a team-high three-assist performance by sophomore
Katherine Salness.
Over the opening four-plus minutes, both teams would score 10 points before Lewis-Clark State used an 8-0 run over a span of two minutes to pull ahead 18-10 on a Laurenna Plourd lay-in with 13:31 on the clock. Corban would use a 9-2 run to pull within a single point (20-19) thanks to a Vanweerdhuizen lay-in with 9:44 left before LCSC scored six unanswered points to go ahead 25-19. The Warriors of L-C State would push their lead to as much as 10 points (38-28) on another Plourd lay-in before settling for a double-digit lead (40-30) at halftime.
The second half would begin with Lewis-Clark State running out to a quick 13-point lead (56-43) over the opening six minutes before Corban battled back to within eight points (61-53) on a lay-in by Vanweerdhuizen with just over nine minutes on the clock. After LCSC built a 15-point advantage (81-66) with 3:09 left, Corban used a 9-0 run to pull within six points (81-75) on a jumper by Lowery with 1:13 on the clock. Unfortunately, free throw shooting down the stretch by Lewis-Clark State would seal the win as LCSC made five shots from the charity stripe over the game's final 65 seconds en route to earning a nine-point win (86-77).
Tanis Fuller would lead Lewis-Clark State with 23 points and a game-high 17 rebounds, while Annie Kane also added 23 points to go along with a 14-point effort by Plourd. LCSC's Brittaney Niebergall would hand out a game-high six assists, while also registering a game-high five steals.
As a team, Corban combined to shoot 27-for-71 (38.0%) from the field that included a 6-for-24 (25.0%) showing from beyond the three-point line and a 17-for-27 (63.0%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Lewis-Clark State was a combined 27-for-59 (45.8%) from the field, 2-of-9 (22.2%) from long distance, and an astonishing 30-of-54 (55.6%) at the charity stripe.
Corban will close out play at this weekend's KER Classic tomorrow – Saturday, December 8th – against tournament-host Whitman beginning at 4:00 p.m. inside the Sherwood Center in Walla Walla, Washington.
