Late Surge Sends No. 6 Warrior Women to CCC Semifinal

C of I controlled the momentum early, but a strong second half by Callie Stevens and Ellie Sander brought the Warriors back into the win column. Head Coach Caelyn Orlandi earned the first postseason victory of her career and will look to add on at Oregon Tech on Friday.

“Our team found a way to win tonight and I loved the offensive explosion in the fourth,” Orlandi said. “Our energy was great the fourth quarter and we returned to our ways of playing Warrior Basketball. Warrior Basketball is fast paced, involves sharing the basketball, and turning our defense into offense. We started the game off slow, but rebounded and played well when winning the game was required.”

The win moves LC State to 24-4 on the season. The Warriors head to Klamath Falls for a rematch with No. 25 Oregon Tech on Friday in the CCC semifinal.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The first half was a back and forth battled throughout. Triples by Stevens and Tatum Brager had the score knotted 9-9 and 16-16. A layup by Darian Herring in the final two seconds of the opening quarter tied the game 18-18.

Lindsey Wilson put the Warriors up to start the second frame before back-to-back baskets by freshmen Herring and Brager had LC State up five, 25-20, midway through. The Yotes closed out the half with a seven-point run to take a 32-30 lead at the break.

The Warriors came out hot in the third quarter with six straight points on baskets by Wilson and Stevens. C of I kept things close before taking a 49-42 lead, its largest of the game, with 2:32 on the clock.

An and-one play by Wilson at 2:16 set the LC State offense into a 36-8 run to secure the win.

LC State closed the third frame with a seven-point run to tie the score 49-49 with 10 minutes to play. A 3-pointer by the Yotes’ Brooke Beresford gave C of I its final lead before the Warriors took over. A free throw by Stevens jumpstarted a 16-point rally to put LC State in front 67-54 with 2:02 left in the contest. Stevens score half of the points in the stretch, and Sander hit three 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds en route to the 78-57 win.

Sander scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and Stevens added eight.

Stevens led all scorers with 22 points to go with seven assists and four steals. Sander added 19 points with four assists and two steals. Each guard grabbed seven rebounds to lead the contest.

“Callie Stevens had a great second half and my favorite stat of hers was the seven assists,” Orlandi said. “She made the one-more pass, and drove and dished the ball when help-defense came. Ellie Sander went back to her Ellie Sander ways and I am glad to see her confidence soaring again.”

Herring added 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting with four assists and Byrd grabbed three steals. The Warriors shot 51.5% from the field and held C of I to 38.3%. LC had 20 assists on 34 made baskets and forced 20 turnovers while only committing nine.

“A great night of sharing the basketball and taking care of it as well,” Orlandi added. “Postseason basketball is tough and it will only get tougher from here. We look forward to going back down to Oregon and playing our game of Warrior Basketball and doing it together.”

Kylie Waltermeyer led College of Idaho with 14 points on four 3-pointers and Brooke Beresford grabbed a team-best seven rebounds to go with her 12 points.

UP NEXT

Tipoff against the Owls is set for 5:30 p.m. in Klamath Falls. A full preview of the matchup will be available on Thursday.

Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.