LEWISTON, ID – The No. 7 LC State Women’s Basketball team faced its toughest challenge so far this season on Friday against Montana Western. The Warriors sat in a deficit after the first quarter, but players stepped up throughout the lineup to help LC State edge UMW 75-69.
Sitara Byrd continued her strong senior season with a game-high 20 points, Darian Herring notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Payton Hymas orchestrated the offense with eight assists.
The win has the Warriors off to a 3-0 start on the season.
“There were multiple players that stepped up at different times during the game and this team is so fun to coach because of that,” head coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “Each player on this team cares only about winning and will do whatever is needed of them to get the win.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
LC State came out of the gate on a 8-0 run with a pair of 3-pointers from Tatum Brager and a basket by Byrd. The rally lasted two minutes, and UMW turned the tables through the next four minutes with its own 10-0 run. Brager stopped the Bulldogs with another triple, but Montana Western held a 16-14 edge after 10 minutes.
The Warriors regained their footing in the second quarter after an and-1 play by Lindsey Wilson started a run of 11 points. Grace Beardin and Byrd hit back-to-back 3s before Herring capped the run for a 25-19 advantage at 7:28. Baskets by Byrd, Herring and Brager had LC State in front 32-29 at the break.
Herring and Byrd combined for the first 12 LC State points in the third quarter as UMW attempted to chip away at the Warrior lead. Wilson totaled six points in a two-minute span, and Beardin closed out the frame with five straight points to grow the LC State advantage to 58-51 with 10 minutes to play.
Free throws by Wilson and a layup by Kendall Wallace kept LC State ahead 62-53 after the first minute of the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs cut the difference to four, but five straight points from Byrd pushed the lead back out to nine points, 67-58, at 5:22. Hymas drained eight key free throws in the final three minutes to secure the 75-69 win.
STAT RECAP
The Warriors shot 45.3% from the field and held UMW to 25% from 3-point range. LC State made 18-of-23 free throws (78.3%) and forced 17 turnovers. The Warriors had 14 assists on 24 made baskets.
“Fun game for our team to be a part of early in the season,” Orlandi added. “Montana Western was an extremely physical and aggressive defensive team, and I thought we battled and made multiple in-game adjustments throughout the game. We defended the 3-point line extremely well tonight and were able to force 17 turnovers for 26 points for our team.”
Byrd led the contest with 20 points on an 8-for-14 night from the field and 4-for-8 from 3-point range. She grabbed six rebounds and had two steals. Wilson added 12 points and six rebounds. She went 3-for-3 from the field and drained a career-high six free throws.
Herring notched her third straight double-double with 10 points and 10 boards. Hymas had nine points, all on free throws, with eight assists and two blocks.
Wallace, Beardin and Brager each scored eight points and Beardin did so on 3-for-5 shooting.
“Tatum Brager started the game off hot for us, Lindsey Wilson might have played her best all-around game in a Warrior uniform tonight, Grace Beardin came up with timely steals, Kendall Wallace always makes things happen, Payton’s eight assists were huge, Camden is flying around on defense and Sitara and Darian were consistently tough the whole game,” Orlandi said. “Truly a good test for us early in the season and I look forward to tomorrow and what we can do to be even better than we were today.”
UP NEXT
LC State continues its homestand on Saturday against Park-Gilbert (Ariz.) in the P1FCU Activity Center at 4 p.m.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
