PORTLAND, Ore. – Junior guard Julia Young (Snohomish, Wash.) tied her career-high for points in a game with 24, leading the Corban University women's basketball team to a convincing 69-52 non-conference triumph over Lewis & Clark College on Wednesday night.  For the Warriors, the win snapped a four-game skid against non-conference opponents.

After the Pioneers took an early lead while Corban was struggling to get into an offensive rhythm, Young got the Warriors going in the right direction at the 12:25 mark, nailing a three-pointer to tie the contest at 7-7.  She then followed that up by converting an and-one opportunity after being fouled, giving the Navy and Gold a three-point advantage midway through the first stanza.

Another made shot from Young and a pair of layups from senior center Tara Van Weerdhuizen (Spokane, Wash.) gave Corban the 16-11 lead.  Sophomore forward Payton Wilcox (Salem, Ore.) joined in on the scoring and made a bucket before Young stayed hot from the field, sinking another shot from beyond the arc to put Corban up by eight points.

Closing out the stanza strong, junior forward Megan Benedict (Lebanon, Ore.) and senior center Danielle Vanderstoel (Salem, Ore.) got in on the act, hitting back-to-back jumpers to go along with another long-range effort from Young, ultimately giving Corban a 32-21 lead at the break. 

During those first 20 minutes, Young finished the half with 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting, while Van Weerdhuizen ended up with four points, three rebounds, and four blocks.  Defensively, the Warriors held the Pioneers to just a 32.0% shooting effort from the field.

Lewis & Clark tried to make runs to get back into the game during the second half, but every time the Pioneers inched close, Corban was there with an answer.  Junior guard Jade Lowery (Oregon City, Ore.) sank consecutive jumpers for the Warriors early on in the half, and then sophomore forward Sadie Pilgeram nailed a shot from downtown to give Corban a 41-32 lead after five minutes in the second stanza.

Young added another three-pointer a couple of minutes later before Lowery and Vanderstoel both converted their jump-shot opportunities, pushing the Navy and Gold advantage to 15 points.  Pilgeram then sank another shot from deep, and Young continued her offensive assault, sinking another jumper to extend the lead to 19 points.

Again, the Pioneers tried to mount a comeback, but Pilgeram and Young hit back-to-back shots from beyond the arc, giving Corban its largest lead of the game at 20 points.  From that point on, the Warriors closed the contest out defensively and sealed the 17-point victory over the Division III opponent.

As a team, Corban shot 40.6% from the field overall and nailed eight three-pointers in the process, while Lewis & Clark hit 33.3% of its shots.  The Warriors took advantage in a key statistical department on the night on top of just shooting the ball, and that was in forcing the Pioneers into 21 turnovers while only committing 15 themselves.  Off of those turnovers, Corban held the 22-13 points-off-turnovers advantage.

Young's 24 points led the way for the Warriors while she also grabbed four rebounds, dished out three assists, and nabbed five steals.  Lowery was the second-highest scorer on the night for Corban with 10 points, while Pilgeram added nine and Wilcox tallied eight.  Van Weerdhuizen finished the night with five blocks, four points, and eight rebounds.

"We started a bit slow offensively, but our defensive pressure kept them from taking any advantage," commented head coach Dave Bale.  "We had a lot of players contribute both offensively and defensively.  Julia moved into the starting spot to rest Chris and gave us a nice shooting performance.  Jade was delivering the ball and picking her shots really well.  Sadie had another nice night shooting as well.  Tara and Dani were doubled every time they touched the ball and as a result were doing a nice job with getting the ball back out to the shooters.   It was good for us tonight as we had only seen a few minutes of zone and the Pios zone was very active."

The Warriors (3-4) return to the court on Saturday when they travel to Portland again to take on Division I opponent, Portland State University, in an exhibition contest.  Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.