LEWISTON, Idaho – Another battle of the Cascade Collegiate Conference mascot twins concluded in favor of the nationally ranked program, as the Corban University Women's Basketball team fell on the road to No. 7-ranked Lewis-Clark State College earlier this evening by a final score of 86-50.
"LCSC is a top ten team in the nation for a reason, and I thought we played very well for three quarters tonight," Corban head coach Bill Pilgeram stated. "Our defense and rebounding was able to keep them uncomfortable in the first half. We have a lot of young players that are getting better every time out on the court, and I love seeing the team continue to play together and improve."
Taking care of the ball on the offensive end of the floor has been a struggle for the road Warriors (2-7, 1-3) as of late, and the trend continued in Lewiston as they coughed up the ball on seven separate occasions in the opening quarter alone, which led to a handful of transition buckets for LC State (8-1, 4-0) on their home court.
However, Corban was able to knock the home team off-kilter just enough to scrap their way back into a contested 14-10 score to end the first quarter thanks to some superb defense. The Navy and Gold held a slight edge in shooting percentage through 10 minutes of action at 33.3% compared to just 30% for Lewis-Clark, mostly in part to an abysmal 0-for-9 from beyond the arc for the home Warriors.
The scoreless streak from three-point land would finally be snapped by LC State in the second quarter, as senior guard Callie Stevens finally connected on a pair to launch her team into a double-digit lead midway through the period. Corban refused to back down though, hitting their own three-pointers to keep within striking distance despite struggling in the paint. The hometown Warriors had over half of their points scored within the key to this point of the contest, while the Navy and Gold had just two points to their name.
With double the number of three-point shots cashed in for Corban compared to their Friday night hosts, a 35-27 halftime score in favor of Lewis-Clark seemed like an advantage for the Navy and Gold thus far on the road against the NAIA Top 10 program. Their defense had been the story of the first half, as LC State was held to under 40% from the field and reached the free throw line on only six occasions, thus resulting in the single-digit lead in a series that has been dominated by Lewis-Clark State.
Slowly but surely, LC State's shooting percentage crept up over the course of the third quarter, finally surpassing the 40% mark in a 28-point quarter for the home Warriors to extend their lead to 63-45 and their sights set on another conference victory. Try as Corban might, the extended bench Lewis-Clark had tonight opposed to years past, as well as their lockdown defensive pressure resulted in a difficult second half of play for the visiting program, resulting in the - score to conclude tonight's matchup.
A 23-11 turnover margin against the Navy and Gold was detrimental in what was once a narrow contest, as LC State scored 29 points off the Corban miscues compared to just 11 visiting points in their double-digit victory. While Corban was able to finally find some consistency in the key, Lewis-Clark State still rattled off double the number of points in the paint (28-14) to also stand out as a key statistic from tonight's game.
On the offensive side of the ball, Corban was led by senior guard Maddie Godwin and her 16 points on the evening, adding seven rebounds and a pair of steals in 26 minutes played. Freshman guard Autumn Agnew logged the first start of her collegiate career with 11 points in a team-high 27 minutes played, while sophomore forward Sevennah Van De Reit added four points and a team-best eight boards off the bench.
For Lewis-Clark, senior forward Maddie Holm secured a second-consecutive double-double performance with a game-high 18 points and 12 rebounds, with Stevens adding 14 points with a quartet of three-pointers. Three additional hometown Warriors scored in double-digits this evening, all of which also hauled in at least five rebounds in a full team-effort win for LC State.
The road Warriors will play in one final conference game to close out the 2023 calendar before a non-conference matchup at home next Monday, as Walla Walla University (5-4, 2-2) is scheduled to host tomorrow night for a 7pm start.
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