SALEM, Ore. – A night after their best three-point shooting night in program history, the No. 18-ranked Corban University Women's Basketball team had the narrative flipped on them against the No. 15-ranked Warriors of Lewis-Clark State College, as the host Warriors were unable to find consistent offense while LC State shot lights out all afternoon long for a 97-77 road victory, finishing with a 61.4% field goal percentage and 56.3% from beyond the three-point arc.
"LC State is a tough team to play and unfortunately, we couldn't string together enough stops on the defensive end tonight," explained Corban head coach Kylie Frizell after suffering her first home Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) loss of the regular season. "We're going to reset next weekend at EOU and C of I to finish out our first round of games in conference play."
It felt as if every offensive possession tonight for Lewis-Clark State (12-4, 6-2) resulted in points being scored, as everything bounced the right way for the visiting Warriors whereas the host Warriors (13-3, 6-2) couldn't buy a bucket for three quarters of today's contest. LC State missed just 11 field goal attempts the entire first half while the Dubs managed to convert the same number of made field goals, resulting in a lopsided 49-28 halftime score.
However, the Navy and Gold regained their footing in the third quarter, exploding for 32 points to trail 70-60 with ten minutes remaining in regulation. They would go on to cut that deficit to five points on the next made basket in the fourth period, but a 16-3 run by LC State over the next five minutes negated the Corban rally and became just the third team of the 2025-26 season to stymie the CCC's highest scoring offense.
The fifth double-double outing of the year for graduate student center Emilia Bishop provided Frizell and the Corban coaching staff with consistent minutes on both ends of the court, as Bishop tallied 11 points yet hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds, nine of which came off the offensive glass. The CCC's highest scoring player in points per game, redshirt sophomore guard Jersey Huerta, scoring 21 points and added four assists, two steals, and two boards along the way, while junior Tayla Yost was 50% from the field for a career-high 18 points in 31 minutes played. Redshirt junior guard Jenna Albrecht led all players with six assists.
Guard Sitara Byrd once again caused fits for the Navy and Gold, as she scored a game-best 26 points and added 11 rebounds for a double-double performance. Forward Darian Herring added another all-around performance to her resume with 16 points, eight boards, and five assists, with three other teammates in double-figure scoring as well. The starting five for both Corban and LC State were responsible for 138 of the 174 combined points scored, with just 36 points averaged across ten reserves.
An RV Eastern Oregon University program (15-1, 7-1) that just suffered their first loss of the regular season tonight in Ashland will play host to the No. 18-ranked Warriors on Friday, January 16th at 5:30pm, with the winner securing a huge advantage in the CCC standings and potential postseason seeding implications.
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