BOX SCORE
PORTLAND, Ore. – All five starters scored in double figures led by junior
Emily Tsugawa with a game-high tying 19 points, as the NAIA's No. 10-ranked Corban's women's basketball team earned a 79-72 win over Concordia to secure its ninth straight victory Friday inside Cavalier Gymnasium.
With tonight's win, Corban improves to 19-5 overall and 13-2 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play. The Warriors have a one-game lead over Warner Pacific heading into tomorrow night's matchup against the Knights in the Rose City. Meanwhile, Concordia falls to 7-19 overall and 3-12 in league games.
Tsugawa, who shot 5-for-14 from the field to go along with a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line, also handed out a team-high six assists. The Warriors other four starters – junior
Tess Bennett, senior
Katie Steigleman, freshman Tara Vanweerdhuizen, and senior
Shayla Fetters – all scored in double figures registering 16, 14, 14, and 10 points, respectively. Senior
Becky Buhler was the only other Warrior to score a point adding six points off Corban's bench, while Vanweerdhuizen pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season.
A back-and-forth battle over the opening two minutes would result in a 5-5 before Corban used a 9-2 over a span of three minutes to take a seven-point lead (14-7) on a Vanweerdhuizen lay-in at the 14:54 mark. Concordia would battle back to take a one-point lead (25-24) thanks to an 18-10 run that concluded with a jumper by Courtney May with 7:09 remaining. Neither team would hold more than a two-point lead over the final seven-plus minutes, as Tsugawa hit a jumper in the paint with 13 seconds left to knot the game at 35-35 heading into halftime.
The second half would begin with Corban using an opening 9-4 run over the first three-plus minutes en route to earning a 44-39 lead on a Steigleman jumper with 16:40 left. A 6-0 run by Concordia would hand the host Cavaliers a one-point lead (45-44) before Corban used a 13-7 run over a span of six minutes to earn another five-point lead (57-52) thanks to a Vanweerdhuizen lay-in with 8:08 on the clock. The visiting Warriors would continue its offensive pressure pushing their lead to double digits (73-62) with 59 seconds left following a pair of Tsugawa free throws. Concordia would continue to fight getting within five points (77-72) before Corban's free throw shooting would seal the deal with a seven-point win (79-72).
Concordia was led in scoring by Rachel Scarpelli's game-high tying 19 points, while May and Lexi Amundsen added 11 points each. Five Cavaliers – May, Amundsen, Brittney Yates, Grace Cappleman, and Caitlyn McCutcheon – grabbed a team-high five rebounds each, while May dished out a game-high seven assists for Concordia.
As a team, Corban combined to shoot 27-for-66 (40.9%) from the field to go along with a 6-for-25 (24.0%) showing from beyond the three-point line and a 19-for-22 (86.4%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Concordia was 25-for-66 (37.9%) from the field, 8-for-20 (40.0%) from long distance, and 14-for-18 (77.8%) at the charity stripe.
Corban will return to action tomorrow – Saturday, February 11th – against nationally-ranked Warner Pacific in a battle for first place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference standings beginning at 5:30 p.m. inside C.C. Perry Gymnasium.
