LEWISTON, ID – The No. 13 LC State Women’s Basketball team dominated on both ends of the ball on Friday with a 92-57 victory over Northwest (Wash.). Five Warriors scored in double digits while the LC State defense forced 45 Eagle turnovers in the contest.
The Warrior women shared the ball well with 24 assists on 34 made baskets as LC State shot 53.1% from the floor. Kendall Wallace and Payton Hymas each dished out five assists, and Tatum Brager led all scorers with 18 points including 12 in the fourth quarter.
“A fantastic team win for us today,” coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “We had multiple players with excellent stat lines for us. One of my favorite stats to look at is assists and to have 24 assists on 34 made field goals demonstrated how willing we were to share the ball tonight. I loved our transition offense as well and scoring 45 points off 25 forced turnovers was great for our team today. A truly great team win for us today.”
The victory improves the LC State record to 13-4 overall and 7-2 in Cascade Conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Warriors opened the contest on a massive 15-2 run that featured baskets by Darian Herring, Wallace, Lindsey Wilson, Hymas and Sitara Byrd. A triple by Wallace sparked a 10-point run, capped by a 3-pointer by Byrd, for a 25-7 advantage at 3:05. Free throws by Ellee Brockman had the lead at 28-15 after 10 minutes.
Grace Beardin scored the first basket of the second frame as the teams traded points, but LC State closed out the half on an 11-0 run to push the margin to 51-26 at the break.
The scoring stretch doubled in the third frame as the Warriors opened the second half with another 11-0 span for a 22-point total swing. Hymas scored the first nine points of the third quarter, all assisted by Wallace. Each of Hymas’ four baskets in the stretch started with steals by Herring or Wallace. A layup by Herring at 7:25 capped the run LC State in front 62-26, and the Warriors carried a 71-42 cushion into the final 10 minutes.
The fourth quarter was highlighted by Brager as the junior tallied 12 points in 10 minutes. She hit two 3-pointers and added three layups before Hymas closed out the contest with a basket in the final minute.
STAT RECAP
Brager led all scorers with 18 points. She was 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-7 from 3-point range. Hymas added 17 points, Byrd scored 16 with a career-high seven free throws, Wallace tallied 13 with three 3-pointers and Herring scored 10.
Herring led LC State with seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Byrd, Wilson and Beardin each grabbed five rebounds.
Wallace had a career night with five assists and five steals, Hymas dished out five assists with four steals and Herring had four steals. The Warriors totaled 18 steals as a team and 24 assists.
“Tatum Brager was very confident tonight, and I loved seeing her have success scoring the ball,” Orlandi added. “Madalyn Green made some great passes for us and came in confident and ready to play, and Grace Beardin rebounded the ball well for us. A great job by every player today.”
The LC State defense was overwhelming and forced 25 turnovers that resulted in 45 points. The Warriors shot 53.1% from the field, netted 10 triples and went 14-for-17 from the free throw line. Northwest was 5-for-26 from 3-point range.
Ella Whittaker led the Eagles with 10 points and Ellie DeWaard grabbed eight rebounds.
UP NEXT
LC State hosts The Evergreen State College (Wash.) on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the P1FCU Activity Center.
