LEWISTON, ID – The No. 13 LC State Women’s Basketball defense continued to be one of the best in the Cascade Conference on Friday when the Warriors defeated (RV) College of Idaho 61-44. LC held every Yote player to less than 10 points and forced 21 turnovers for 18 points.
“I thought our defense was very good tonight,” coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “We forced 21 turnovers against a really good team and our defensive intensity was exactly what we needed. We communicated well and had multiple players with steals.”
Sitara Byrd led the contest with 17 points and Tatum Brager added 14 off the bench. Darian Herring notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“Tatum was great on the defensive end and had multiple deflections that didn’t show up in the stat sheet and Sitara did an excellent job dropping on the backside for steals,” Orlandi added. “A great team effort on the defensive end today. Fun win for us tonight, but now we look to tomorrow and to get ready for a very talented and hard-working Eastern Oregon team.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
Three baskets by Herring and one by Kendall Wallace in the first five minutes had LC State in front 8-4 in a tight first quarter. Byrd and Payton Hymas each hit a 3-pointer in the final minutes after a back-and-forth to give the Warriors a 17-16 edge after the first frame.
A triple by C of I’s Mia Austin had the Yotes in front, but five straight points by Byrd tipped the scale back to LC State with a 22-19 lead. Triples by Byrd and Brager grew the advantage to six points, 30-24, at 4:50, and Herring sparked a nine-point run that saw the lead grow to 39-26 with less than a minute in the half. LC State led 39-28 at the break.
LC State allowed just eight points in both the third and fourth quarters. Wallace scored on the first possession of the second half to keep the momentum with the Warriors. Baskets by Brager and Herring kept the lead in double digits before a jumper by Grace Beardin made it 49-36 with 10 minutes to play.
Back-to-back buckets by Brager and Beardin had the difference at 58-40 at 5:50 before a triple by Brager gave LC State its largest lead of the game at 61-42. The Warrior allowed one C of I basket in the final five minutes.
STAT RECAP
Byrd led all scorers with 17 points including three 3-pointers. She was 3-for-4 from 3-point range and collected six rebounds and three steals. Brager added 14 points with a pair of triples.
Herring was a key defensive force with a game-high 10 rebounds. She tallied three steals and blocked two shots.
Camden Barger led the Warriors with five assists and Hymas dished out four assists with three steals.
The LC State defense forced 21 turnovers and capitalized with 18 points. The Warriors hit seven 3-pointers and finished the night with 13 assists and 13 steals to just seven turnovers.
Kylie Waltermeyer led C of I with eight points and Brooke Beresford grabbed nine rebounds.
