OLYMPIA, Wash. – Sitara Byrd led a second-half comeback for the No. 7 LC State Women’s Basketball team on Friday to help the Warriors defeat The Evergreen State College 81-53. The sophomore tallied a career-high 20 points in the win. The Warriors trailed at the half before a 26-6 third quarter turned the tables for LC State’s 16th victory of the season.
“We started the game flat and didn’t come out with tremendous energy but found a way in the second half to get things done on the defensive end,” Head Coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “Ellie (Sander) did a great job of starting the second half and getting us locked in on defense. Our offensive game continues to excel in a positive direction and I believe we have many scoring threats on the floor. We had a big third quarter offensively and locked things down defensively in the third and I was proud of how we bounced back from that first half.”
With the win, LC State is 16-2 on the season and 12-1 in Cascade Conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Free throws by Mataya Green and Callie Stevens had the Warriors in front 3-2 early in the first quarter. Green, Sitara Byrd and Lindsey Wilson each took their turn at the basket to push the margin to 10-4 by 5:17.
Stevens matched a basket by TESC to keep LC in front as the Geoducks edged closer to pull within one, 12-11, at 4:08. Evergreen jumped in front 13-12 30 seconds later before a triple by Byrd gave LC the lead. Darian Herring and Wilson added to the Warrior advantage to close out the first 10 minutes with a 19-15 lead.
Ella Nelson drained a 3-pointer to open the second frame, but back-to-back 3s by the Geoducks cut the difference to one, 22-21. Wilson and Nelson scored two straight baskets before another triple by Evergreen made it a two-point game at 26-24 by 7:22.
TESC kept things close before tying things up 30-30 with 3:19 to play in the half before Stevens put LC back in the lead 20 seconds later. The Geoducks answered with a 3 to regain the advantage. The back-and-forth continued with a free throw and triple by Byrd, but Evergreen held a 37-36 lead at the break.
Stevens, Byrd, and Ellie Sander opened the second half with a six-point run for LC State to put the Warriors ahead 42-37 at 8:28. Byrd answered an Evergreen basket with one of her own and LC State kept its foot on the gas.
The Warriors exploded for a 20-4 run with eight points from Green, six from Byrd and tallies from Wilson, Stevens and Sander to push the lead to 62-43 at the end of the third quarter.
Byrd and Camden Barger scored to continue to the LC State offense in the final frame. Barger and Tatum Brager combined for three straight 3s to make it 77-51 with 3:41 to play en route to the 81-53 victory.
Byrd led the Warriors with her career-best 20 points while Wilson (14) and Green (11) each tied their career-highs. Sander and Byrd each had three steals and Sander had five assists. Herring grabbed a personal-best 10 rebounds.
“Sitara Byrd was absolutely tremendous all week at practice and she continued that over to the game,” Orlandi said. “A career night from her offensively, but her communication, rebounding and steals are so valuable to our team as a whole. Mataya was great today and continues to do so many great things for us, Darian was tough on the boards, Lindsey was dominant in the post holding seals, Camden did a great job with a 5 to 0 turnover ratio, and Tatum is gaining the confidence all great shooters have.”
LC State shot 56.5% as a team and forced 18 turnovers. The Warriors held TESC to 38.8% shooting from the field.
UP NEXT
Warrior Women’s Basketball wraps up the long road slate with a contest at Northwest University on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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