Big Second Half Lifts No. 8 LC State Women Over Walla Walla

The Wolves showed a great deal of improvement and challenged the Warriors through the first half. It took a big 32-10 third quarter to boost LC State to a comfortable lead with eight points by Herring in the frame.

“I thought our second-half defensive effort was very good and we did a better job of containing the ball in the second half. We forced them into 19 turnovers and capitalized on 25 points which was tremendous,” Head Coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “Offensively, we transitioned extremely well and shared the ball. We saw success going inside and we did a better job the second half going inside and being selective with our outside shots.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

LC State got off to a strong start with big run late in the first quarter to jump in front 24-13.

The Wolves scored the first two baskets of the game before Ellie Sander found Darian Herring on a fastbreak to put the Warriors on the board at 8:35. A layup by Callie Stevens tied the contest 4-4 at 7:45 before a steal by Sander led to a basket by Maddie Holm to put LC State in front. Stevens turned a steal into a triple to keep the Warriors in front by a slim 9-7 margin at 6:01.

Holm, Sitara Byrd, Payton Hymas and Mataya Green combined for a 15-point run to grow the LC State advantage to 24-10 by 1:25.

WWU turned the tables and scored the first 12 points of the second frame to erase the LC State lead and pull ahead 25-24 by 4:52. The Warrior offense restarted with four straight baskets by Herring, Byrd and Stevens to push LC back in front 32-25 at 3:26. Stevens drained a 3 at 2:19 for the final Warrior basket of the half.

LC State carried a 35-34 advantage at the break.

Byrd scored first in the second half and Herring added three of layups to push the margin to 45-36 by the 7:10 mark. Stevens assisted on a layup by Sander before netting a 3 at 6:15. Herring scored with a put-back before a 3-pointer by Sander a basket by Byrd had the Warriors up 57-37 midway through.

Holm turned an offensive board into two points and Green added four points to send LC State into the final 10 minutes with a 67-44 lead.

Ella Nelson drained a 3 to erase three WWU free throws at 8:36 as the teams traded baskets in the fourth frame. Stevens added a triple of her own as the momentum stayed with LC State to close out the contest.

Stevens led LC State with 18 points in the contest and Herring scored a career-high 15 points. Holm notched her third straight double-double with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Byrd tallied 12 points with four steals.

“Darian had one of her best offensive games of the season, Maddie Holm is tough every night, Sitara stuffed the stat sheet, Mataya came in and had some big-time rebounds and scored the ball efficiently and Callie Stevens continued to play great basketball,” Orlandi added. “Another total team effort and every player had impactful minutes tonight.”

UP NEXT

The Warriors continue Cascade Conference play on Dec. 15 against Corban. Tip off is set for 5 p.m. in the P1FCU Activity Center.

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