SALEM, Ore. – After more than one year away from the lovely confines of the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center, Corban University's women's basketball team stepped onto the all-new Tim Hills Court and completed its home-and-home weekend with Multnomah University by defeating the Lions, 69-60, in non-conference action Saturday night.

"It's been a long time coming in finally getting to play on our new Tim Hills court," said head coach Bill Pilgeram. "I can't wait until fans can see this new court."

With the win, Corban improves to 2-0 on its young season. Meanwhile, Multnomah falls to 0-6 overall.

The Navy and Gold were led offensively by Halle Wright with a game- and career-high 23 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field to go along with a 11-for-14 performance at the free throw line. The Aumsville native, who was making her return to the Willamette Valley after transferring from NCAA Division I member Montana State University, also added five rebounds, three assists, and one blocked shot.

Wright was aided offensively by a pair of Warrior teammates – Shaelie Burgess and Gemma Lavergne – who also scored in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Holly Golenor led all players with a game-high 13 rebounds, while Lavergne handed out a game-high six assists for the Navy and Gold.

"I love the energy and passion that the team played with," added Pilgeram. "Defense and rebounding really ignited a couple of good runs in the second and third quarters. Now it's back to work to get ready to start conference play next week!"

Coming out of the gates, Corban quickly scored the first four points of the game before Multnomah went on a run of its own to tie the game at 4-4 with 7:24 left in the first quarter on a jump shot by Alaygza Portis. After Lee Audrey Norris put the Warriors up 12-11 on a free throw with 2:03 on the clock, the visiting Lions used a 7-0 run to grab its largest lead of the game (18-12) on a Portis three-pointer with 28 seconds remaining in the opening quarter. Wright would close out the scoring in the opening 10 minutes with a pair of free throws, as Corban pulled within 18-14 at the end of the first quarter.

Both teams opened the second quarter by trading points with Multnomah grabbing a 20-16 lead on a pair of free throws by Katie Skramstad with 9:05 left in the first half. After the visiting Lions secured a 23-20 lead on a three-pointer by Sequoia Wheeler, Corban used an 8-0 run over the course of three-plus minutes to pull ahead 28-23 on a Burgess jumper at the 4:09 mark. Multnomah would pull with two points (28-26) before the Navy and Gold used a 7-0 run to go ahead by nine points (35-26) on a Norris lay-in with just under two minutes on the clock. Corban would push its lead to 12 points (40-28) on a Burgess lay-in with 13 seconds left, as the host Warriors took a double-digit lead into halftime.

Corban would continue to hold a double-digit lead throughout the opening few minutes of the third quarter, as the Warriors increased their lead to as much as 17 points (48-31) on a Wright lay-in with 5:23 on the clock. Over the final five-plus minutes of the third quarter, Multnomah used a slim 9-6 run to cut Corban's lead to 54-40 heading into the game's final 10 minutes.

The fourth and final quarter would begin with Corban pushing its lead back to 17 points (59-42) on another Burgess lay-in with just over eight minutes left. Over the next three minutes, Multnomah used a 9-0 run to get back within single digits (59-51) on a three-pointer by Maddie Hill with 5:27 remaining. The Navy and Gold would push its lead back to double digits (65-53) on a Wright jump shot with just over three minutes left. Multnomah would once again go on a run to pull within single digits, as the visiting Lions used a 7-0 run that concluded on back-to-back free throws by Portis to get Multnomah within 65-60. Unfortunately, that would be as close as Multnomah would get, as Corban used timely defense and free throw shooting down the stretch to secure the hard-fought 69-60 victory.

Multnomah was led offensively by Hill with 18 points, while Portis and Wheeler also scored in double figures with 15 and 10 points, respectively. On the boards, Portis led the Lions with eight rebounds to go along with five assists by Wheeler.

On the night, Corban combined to shoot 23-for-57 (40.4%) from the field, while also knocking down 3-of-14 (21.4%) from beyond the three-point line and were 20-for-26 (76.9%) at the free throw line. On the other hand, Multnomah was a combined 19-for-65 (29.2%) from the field, 8-for-31 (25.8%) from long distance, and 14-for-16 (87.5%) at the charity stripe.

The Warriors now turn their attention to Cascade Collegiate Conference play when they travel north to the Rose City to take on the Knights of Warner Pacific University on Friday, March 19, beginning at 4:00 p.m. in Portland. 

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