LEWISTON, Idaho – A sluggish and turnover-riddled third quarter of play was the difference maker in this afternoon's contest for the Corban University Women's Basketball team (11-13, 8-10), who fell 79-59 to No. 9 Lewis-Clark State College at the P1FCU Activity Center.
"We came out and really played hard, competing for all 40 minutes. I couldn't be prouder of our team," Corban Head Coach Bill Pilgeram said after his team's valiant effort against an NAIA Top 10 squad. "The stats all around were very even aside from field goal percentage, which LC had a couple of runs that we weren't quite able to match."
After a disappointing loss yesterday to the Walla Walla University Wolves, Corban knew they needed to come out with much more intensity and momentum today if they wanted to overcome the No. 9 team in the country and did just that to kick off the contest.
Leading on multiple occasions through the first quarter, the road Warriors tested the home Warriors ability to setup the offense in transition while scoring by utilizing their own playbook, something they have struggled to do as of late. With five seconds remaining in the first period, junior guard Kirsten Koehnke connected on a jumper to lead LC State 18-16 on their own home floor.
Lewis-Clark State was able to take their first lead of the game with 7:19 remaining in the first half, stretching their lead to 31-23 and forcing a timeout from Coach Pilgeram. However, Corban continued to chip away at the LC State defense, hitting 43% of their three-pointers to keep the lead well within lead down the stretch of the second quarter.
Multiple missed jump shots followed by blown coverage on the defensive end allowed the hometown Warriors to stretch their lead out before the halftime buzzer sounded, but not before Koehnke connected on a midrange jumper from the free throw line to allow the visiting Warriors to trail by only five points, with both offenses heating up in a 38-33 game that LC State held a slight advantage in.
Koehnke and sophomore guard Gemma LaVergne were the driving forces for the Navy and Gold thus far, each scoring a team-high nine points through the first half, with LaVergne responsible for three of Corban's three-point shots. Lewis-Clark guard Callie Stevens was unstoppable in the first half, scoring 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting while the rest of the lineup scored just eight more points than Stevens.
It was just over a minute into the third quarter when Lewis-Clark State forced an unorthodox timeout to start the second half, scoring seven-straight points on a first possession three-pointer and back-to-back fastbreak layups, giving the hometown crowd their first double-digit lead of the afternoon. It wasn't until two and a half minutes into the third quarter when Corban connected on their first field goal of the half.
A cold third quarter shooting the basketball combined with multiple turnovers by Corban resulted in a 16-point lead for LC State, as the No. 9 team in the NAIA began to run away with this contest with ten minutes of game still to be played. The hometown Warriors outscored Corban 23-12 in the third quarter alone, despite the visiting Warriors outshooting them at the three-point line for another quarter of action.
The fourth quarter featured more back-and-forth action for both sides, something the Warrior squads were each able to do in the first half, but the hole that Corban dug in the third quarter was far too deep to climb themselves out of over the course of the final minutes of play, falling 79-59 on the road.
LaVergne earned a team-high 12 points by splashing four three-pointers, collecting a pair of rebounds and three steals along the way. Senior forward Holly Golenor needed just 23 minutes to gather six points and tie the game-high in rebounds with nine boards.
LC State's Stevens dropped a game-high 20 points by connecting on 50% of her field goal attempts, dishing out a trio of assists and hauling in a trio of rebounds. Forward Maddie Holm came one rebound shy of a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds, while guard Sitara Byrd came off the bench to score 11 points and nab seven boards.
The road trip continues next weekend for the Warriors, as they'll head east to battle The College of Idaho (13-10, 8-9) at 5:30pm MST/4:30 PST on Friday, February 10th at the J.A. Albertson Activities Center with each team battling for a higher CCC Playoff seed.
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