TACOMA, Wash. – A defensive ambush forced the Corban University Women's Basketball team into an early deficit on the road this afternoon at NCAA DIII University of Puget Sound, as the Loggers forced a season-high turnover margin against the Warriors in their 86-60 Saturday victory. This marked the final non-conference matchup of the 2023-24 season for the Navy and Gold, who also utilized this contest as an exhibition and thus received no record update following the final results.

"We play these games to shake off the rust and get ready for conference games," Corban head coach Bill Pilgeram stated. "We're thankful that the sluggish start we had today didn't come against a conference opponent. We are excited to have four home conference games in a row to kick off the new year and relish the opportunities to come in 2024!"

Puget Sound (8-3) was picked to win the Northwest Conference in the preseason for a legitimate reason, as their full-court defensive pressure is relentless and never gives their opponent more than a few brief moments to collect their thoughts and set up a play should they be lucky enough to cross midcourt before a ten second violation is called. The defending NCAA DIII conference champions forced 25 first half turnovers against the Warriors, leading 38-22 at the halftime horn thanks to 21 points off those costly miscues.

The Navy and Gold shook off their first half turnover issues to more than double their total on the scoreboard in the third quarter alone by scoring 26 points. Only issue for Corban was that Puget Sound also scored 26 points, meaning their 16-point deficit was still in play entering the final ten minutes of action.

Ten more second half turnovers resulted in a 26-point exhibition loss for the Warriors in Tacoma this afternoon, where a season-high 35 turnovers and just as many points for the Loggers off those miscues was too deep of a hole to dig out of come the final buzzer. Corban's lone highlight of the day came in the paint, outscoring UPS 32-24 in the blocks, something Coach Pilgeram and his staff have made a focal point of development for their young roster as the season continues.

Freshman guard Teayona Hoard scored a career-high 10 points and was the only Warrior in double-digit scoring today, dishing out three assists and hauling in three rebounds along the way in 17 minutes played. Three more student-athletes all pitched in eight points apiece for the Corban offense, one of which was junior forward Madison Hodnett who managed to scoop up a game-high nine boards.

The Loggers couldn't seem to miss from range throughout the second half, as they launched 37 shots from beyond the three-point arc and connected on 17 of them, five of which belonged to guard Paige Gerhart that led to a game-high 24 points from the senior leader. Fellow guards Kennedy Brown and Jordyn Reverman each added 15 and 13 points, respectively, as the duo joined Gerhart in being responsible for over 60% of the team's offense this afternoon.

With the final non-conference matchup of the season in the books, Coach Pilgeram and the Warriors will be focused on the Cascade Collegiate Conference playoff race for the remainder of the regular season, beginning with Northwest University (1-9, 1-4) this upcoming Friday at 5:30pm in the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.

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