(Lewiston, Idaho) Sitara Byrd grabbed her milestone 500th rebound and Ellie Sander continued her strong offensive streak on Friday to hep No. 21 LC State Women’s Basketball defeat The Evergreen State College (Wash.) 76-42.
The Warriors controlled the contest from start to finish and showed off a strong defense. LC State held TESC to single-digit points in two of the four quarters and outrebounded the Geoducks 41-28.
“Great win for our team tonight,” coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “Our focus this week in practice was defensive rebounding and defensive rotations and I was extremely proud of our teams’ efforts this week in practice. To see that roll over into the game is always a great feeling as a coach and I always believe in this team and what we can do. A big congratulations to Sitara Byrd on her 500th career rebound. Rebounds require technique, but it truly is a big-time effort stat. Sitara brings 100% effort to all she does and all those rebounds are most definitely hard earned.”
The victory improves the LC State record to 15-4 overall and 9-4 in Cascade Conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
A triple by Payton Hymas on the first possession and jumper by Sander had the Warriors out to a 5-0 lead early in the contest. Back-to-back buckets by Darian Herring and Mataya Green kept LC State in front 9-6 in the tight first quarter, and five points from Sander to end the frame gave the Warriors a 14-12 edge.
A layup by Lindsey Wilson continued the run before back-to-back 3s by Tatum Brager and Sander capped the 13-point stretch. LC State led 22-12 at 7:22 in the second quarter.
Byrd’s 500th board was offensive, and she made it count with a put-back basket to start another 13-point rally to end the first half. Sander, Green, Herring and Kendall Wallace each scored in the stretch to send the Warriors into the locker room with a 37-18 advantage. LC State allowed just six points in the second frame.
The Warrior defense continued to thrive in the third quarter and only let nine points through. Herring ended the 15-point run started in the previous quarter, and a jumper by Byrd set another scoring stretch, this time of seven points, into action. A run of eight with tallies by Hymas, Herring and Wilson had the lead at 54-22 at 3:17 before buckets by Sander, Wilson and Ella Nelson had the Warriors up 59-27 heading into the final 10 minutes.
The Geoducks hit a pair of 3s to open the fourth quarter, but Wallace answered with a triple of her own to keep LC State in control. Green and Brager combined to push the margin to 67-37 midway through the frame before Keira O’Neill and Nelson made it 73-42. Wallace ended things with a 3-pointer to close out the 76-42 victory.
STAT RECAP
Sander led all scorers with 16 points on a 7-for-9 night from the field. She grabbed four rebounds to go with two assists, two blocks and two steals. Hymas added 10 points with three steals.
Byrd, Herring and Green each grabbed six rebounds. Byrd and Herring both had two steals and Green blocked two shots. Herring and Wallace led the team with three assists each.
The LC State defense held TESC to 32.7% shooting from the field and forced 20 turnovers that led to 28 points.
“Offensively our keys were to take care of the basketball and turn our defense to offense,” Orlandi explained. “Both of those goals were achieved and to turn our defense into 28 points off of their turnovers was a big key to the game.”
Mikail Montez and Sydney VanNess led Evergreen with 10 points each and Jalyn Sackrider grabbed eight rebounds.
