SALEM, Ore. – A nine-game losing skid for the Corban University Women's Basketball team against their Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) foes from the eastern peaks was snapped today on Tim Hills Court, as the Warriors shook off multiple comeback bids by Eastern Oregon University to emerge with a 78-67 victory and pick up a massive conference win as the regular season enters the final month of play.
"Eastern is a very good and well coached team," began Warriors' head coach Kylie Frizell when asked to discuss one of the biggest wins of her coaching tenure at Corban thus far. "One of our keys to victory was to win in transition because we both love to push the tempo. I thought we did a great job of that tonight on both sides of the ball. The end of the second quarter and into the third, they went on a run and we truly had a resilient response in staying focused on our game plan to answer with a run of our own. Jenna, Lizzy, and Maddie played so great for us among key contributions from others to help secure this big win."
An early 2-0 lead by the Mountaineers (13-7, 9-6) was quickly erased by a three-pointer on the ensuing possession by redshirt junior guard Tori Younker, allowing the Warriors (10-11, 8-7) to secure their own lead that they never relinquished for the remainder of the first half thanks to an incredibly efficient offensive team effort. An even 50% from the field with six three-pointers and 40 total points had the Navy and Gold in the driver's seat for most of the first and second quarters, though Eastern Oregon did manage to cut the lead to a single possession at the halftime break by ending the final three minutes on a 7-0 run.
The Mounties' scoring run continued into the third quarter by scoring the first six points on back-to-back shots from deep by forward Brie Holecek to reclaim their lead they held in the opening seconds, yet Corban kept punching back on their own offensive end of the court to keep pace with Eastern Oregon. Following three lead changes, EOU was able to reach their largest lead of the game via a 55-48 advantage, yet the Navy and Gold remained resilient and battled back once again with a 5-0 run to end the third period and trail by just a single bucket entering the final quarter of regulation.
For the final time, the momentum would flip back to the Warriors to start the final period and Eastern Oregon knew what happened, Corban had established a double-digit lead after holding the Mounties scoreless for over five minutes of game time. With under three minutes to play, senior forward Madison Hodnett scored the Warriors' 69th and 70th points to grow their largest lead of the night to 13 points, and despite a slight 5-0 run by EOU that was immediately silenced via a transitiion layup by redshirt sophomore guard Jenna Albrecht, the Navy and Gold senior class earned their first win over the Mounties in their collegiate careers to kickstart their penultimate home weekend.
Corban women's basketball secured the turnover battle (16-13), the rebounding margin (30-27), more points off turnovers (23-17), and more points in the paint (36-26) in their convincing win over the Mounties, led by Albrecht and her team-high 17 points with five rebounds and five assists along the way. Sophomore guard Lizzy Bennett scored 16 points for the third time in her past five games, while Hodnett nearly clinched a double-double with 15 points and eight rebounds.
For the Mountaineers, Holecek put forth a complete game effort to hit the game-best scoring mark of 27 points while dishing out seven assists and pulling down five boards. Guard Kelsie Siegner was the only other Eastern Oregon student-athlete in double figure scoring with ten points alongside five rebounds and four dimes.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Warriors will be back in the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center to host The College of Idaho (10-10, 8-7) for their annual Breast Cancer Awareness game, which is scheduled to tipoff at 3pm.
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