KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – A slight setback was in store for the Corban University Women's Basketball team (8-6, 5-3) in their first contest of the new year, as the Warriors dropped a road game of runs to the Oregon Tech Owls (10-4, 6-2) at Danny Miles Court, falling 66-53 in an inefficient night of offense.
"OIT is a tough place to play, and we weren't as ready from the start as we needed to be," Corban Head Coach Bill Pilgeram shared earlier this evening. "They were able to get up on us in the first and the rest of the game we played even, but never got enough momentum to get back into it entirely."
"I liked our fight in the second half, and we will show up very determined tomorrow at another tough venue," Pilgeram continued.
The Owls kicked off the contest with the hometown advantage well in their grasp, scoring seven-straight points to force the Warriors into a quick 7-0 hole. Corban was able to crawl back to within a possession at 9-6, but the defensive consistency from Oregon Tech was too much to handle in the opening frame, as Corban trailed by eight going into the second quarter.
A five-point opener from the Navy and Gold pulled to them within a single possession once again, but OIT hit a two-point bucket and called timeout before the Warriors could really get the momentum rolling with 8:41 left in the half.
Even though Corban hung around through the rest of the first half, Oregon Tech ended the quarter on an 6-2 run, capped by a last second steal to hold the Warriors from scoring from the field over the final 5:23 of the opening half. Trailing 31-22, the Warriors' only consistent scoring option came in the form of junior guard Maddie Godwin, who held a game-high eight points at the halftime break.
OIT had three different student-athletes with six points apiece, spreading the ball across the floor to allow seven total Owls to chip in on the scoring action. One of the leading scorers at the half for Oregon Tech was center Maddyson Tull who was shooting 50% from the field and nabbed a pair of rebounds.
Godwin immediately reached double-digit scoring to kickstart the second half, hitting a deep three-pointer to put some fire in the Warriors offense. Senior forward Holly Golenor combined with Godwin for the first seven points of the third quarter to keep Corban in the equation for a win, yet the Owls continued to shoot the lights out, specifically from beyond the three-point arc.
Oregon Tech ran their lead to double digits near the midway point of the third quarter, as despite the Warriors' best efforts to raise their field goal percentage from a cold first half performance, the Owls continued to raise their offensive intensity as well and now led 45-34 over Corban. The two teams exchanged a pair of buckets as the third quarter clock ran down, with OIT leading 47-36 with one final quarter to play.
While the Owls continued to shoot over 40% from the field, Corban steadily creeped back into the conversation point by point, as the Warriors held possession and trailed by an even 10 points with four minutes remaining in the contest and a called timeout from Coach Pilgeram.
In the end, Oregon Tech's consistency in the key and too many miscues on the offensive side of the ball for Corban wrote the Warriors' 66-53 road loss to the Owls in Klamath Falls, their first loss since December 17th. OIT held a staggering 22-10 advantage in points scored off turnovers, while shooting 41% from the floor and 40% from deep.
Despite a 40-39 rebounding advantage in favor of the Warriors, the Oregon Tech's deep bench showed tonight to keep pace off the glass against Corban, with eight different Owls grabbing at least four boards.
Golenor put together one of her best performances of the season thus far, dropping a game-high 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting, while also scooping up a game-high 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Godwin completed her evening with 16 points and hit four of her three-point attempts, adding four boards along the way.
Redshirt freshman Izzy Boring provided a huge spark off the bench for Corban tonight, scoring eight points on 80% field goal shooting, combined with a team-high three steals on the defensive end. Meanwhile, junior guard Kirsten Koehnke led all players with six assists and snagged five rebounds too.
The Owls were led offensively by guard Olivia Sprague, who scored 18 points as well to match Golenor at the top of the scoring leaderboard. Tull and forward Melissa Lee added 13 and 11 points, respectively, with each of them hauling in five rebounds as well.
Corban Women's Basketball now makes the hour and twenty-minute drive east to Ashland for a 3pm PST contest tomorrow afternoon against the No. 23 Southern Oregon University Raiders (11-3, 7-1).
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