LEWISTON, ID – No. 12 LC State Women’s Basketball swept its weekend at home with a 72-52 victory over Warner Pacific (Ore.) on Friday. The Warriors grabbed 16 offensive rebounds that resulted in 16 second-chance points, and 52 points came from in the paint. Sitara Byrd scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed six offensive boards.
“I thought that we did a tremendous job today crashing the glass and scoring in the paint,” coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “Sitara led the charge with six offensive rebounds, Lindsey (Wilson) was right behind her with four offensive rebounds and we were able to convert 16 points off of offensive rebounds. I was proud of our effort on the glass.”
The victory has the LC State record at 18-6 overall and 12-4 in Cascade Conference play.
HOW OIT HAPPENED
Baskets by Lindsey Wilson and Darian Herring opened the contest as the teams battled to a 12-12 tie after 10 minutes. Warner Pacific pulled in front 17-14 in the first three minutes of the second frame before back-to-back buckets by Payton Hymas and Kendall Wallace turned the momentum back to LC State.
Elle Brockman scored before assisting Byrd on a 3-pointer for a 23-20 advantage at 4:36. Baskets by Herring kept the lead at two points, and tallies by Hymas and Herring had the Warriors in front 31-27 at the half.
LC State’s shooting woes all but disappeared to start the third quarter. Hymas, Byrd, Wallace and Wilson combined for an 11-2 run to start the frame and grow the margin to 42-29 by 7:29. Wallace added another five points in a 20-second span, and a run of six by Herring and Byrd made it 55-37 with 2:04 left in the quarter. Tatum Brager knocked down a 3 to send the Warriors into the final 10 minutes with a 58-39 advantage.
Consecutive baskets by Wallace and Herring pushed the lead to 23 points, 72-49, before a final basket by the Knights ended the contest 72-52.
STAT RECAP
Byrd led all scorers with 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. She grabbed five steals and had three assists. Herring notched a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, Wallace added 13 points and Hymas tallied 12 points, seven assists and four steals.
“We had 52 points in the paint tonight and I thought that was absolutely tremendous,” Orlandi added. “When we didn’t have a successful night shooting the 3, we found ways to score inside and that was vital to our offensive success. Payton Hymas did a great job of getting in the paint and dishing the ball to her teammates, and seven assists with one turnover is exactly what I need from her. A great job for our team and I look forward to next week and getting better at practice.”
LC State shot 41.9% from field including a 61.1% (11-18) mark in the third frame. The defense forced 24 turnovers and grabbed 39 rebounds.
Matty Woolf led WPU with 11 points while KJ Custer and Shielteal Watah had six boards.
