COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. – The No. 9 LC State Women’s Basketball team returned to its winning ways with a 77-50 victory over Walla Walla University on Tuesday. The Warrior bench gained valuable experience with Lindsey Wilson tying a career-high with 11 points. 34 of LC State’s 77 points came off the bench.
The win is the Warriors’ 20th of the season and moves the overall record to 20-2. LC State is 15-1 in Cascade Conference play.
Walla Walla struck for the first basket, but it was all LC State from after that. The Warriors went on a nine-point run, sparked by a jumper by Ellie Sander. Callie Stevens and Sara Muehlhausen aided the stretch to give LC a seven-point lead less than three minutes in.
Hannah Broyles and Stevens struck for back-to-back buckets, and tallies from Payton Hymas and Adyson Clabby had the advantage at 19-8 by 3:32. Broyles added four free throws and a triple in the final two minutes before Sander beat the buzzer with a layup to put the Warriors up 28-13 after the first 10 minutes.
A basket by Sander carried the scoring stretch into the second quarter with Stevens capping it at 11 straight LC State points. The layup pushed the advantage to 34-13 at 8:05.
Hymas drained a pair of baskets, with Wilson and Muehlhausen fueling the offense as well, and Sitara Byrd grabbed a rebound and took the ball all the way back to give LC State a 44-22 lead with 1:18 to play in the half. WWU hit one more basket to send the Warriors to the locker room with a 44-24 cushion.
Maddie Holm netted back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second half and keep the LC State offense rolling. Sander added two straight layups to grow the lead to 54-26 at 6:10, and a basket by Stevens started a run of six to make it 60-28 by 4:08. Ella Nelson and Wilson each found the basket to give the Warriors a 65-34 lead at the end of the third.
Free throws by Wilson and jumpers by Mataya Green kept the momentum going in the fourth and baskets by Nelson and Byrd had the advantage at 75-38 with 3:44 to play. The Warriors closed out the victory by a final of 77-50.
Broyles and Sander led LC State with 12 points each, and Wilson added 11. Green led the defense with six rebounds, and Sander and Muehlhausen each blocked two shots. Sander, Stevens, Green and Clabby each dished three assists and Stevens had four steals.
The Warriors shot .533 as a team and forced 25 turnovers. LC scored 36 points off those turnovers.
