LA GRANDE, Ore. – Ellie Sander dominated every aspect of Friday’s Cascade Conference contest to help lead the No. 7 LC State Women’s Basketball team to an 86-73 victory over rival Eastern Oregon. The junior scored a career-high 28 points on a 12-for-14 performance from the field to push the Warriors to 10-2 overall and 6-1 in CCC play.
“I was so proud of the way we stayed poised this afternoon,” Head Coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “Eastern Oregon is a good team with a great coach and kept making runs on us the whole game. I thought we took care of the basketball and played controlled on offense very well. We had so many players step up tonight and it was another total team effort.
“Ellie Sander was absolutely remarkable,” Orlandi added. “She came back from break completely locked in and I am so excited she got to showcase that today. She attacked the basket with tremendous relentlessness and shot the ball with confidence. She rebounded, shared the basketball, and recorded zero turnovers. She deserves this career night. I am so proud of her.”
Freshman Darian Herring also notched a career-high with 16 points in the contest to match the output of Callie Stevens as LC State shot nearly 60% as a team.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Lindsey Wilson scored the first three points of the contest to give LC an early edge before EOU evened the contest with a triple. A jumper by Maddie Holm and 3-pointer by Sander put the Warriors back in front 8-3. Wilson, Holm and Sander continued to fight their way to the basket in the back-and-forth first quarter to have the score tied 14-14 midway through.
Herring pushed through tough Mountie defense to increase the Warrior advantage to 18-14 before Sander and Sitara Byrd increased the run to eight points. LC State led by 10, 24-14, after the first 10 minutes.
Ella Nelson scored the first LC State basket of the second frame at 7:23 to keep the difference at 10. EOU rallied to pull within three with five minutes to play in the half, but a triple by Sander and layup by Herring pushed the margin back out to 31-23 with just under four minutes to go.
A block by Herring led to a layup by the freshman on an assist from Tatum Brager. Stevens drained a pair of 3 in the final two minutes and Herring added a basket to send the Warriors into the break with a 43-32 advantage.
Similar to the first half, Wilson scored the first three points of the period, and Sander hit a triple to make it 49-36 at 8:17. Wilson added another layup as EOU inched closer again to make it a two-point game, 51-49, at the 3:37 mark.
Sander continued her sharp-shooting game with a jumper at 3:20 to increase the LC lead back to 53-49 before Herring added a layup after an offense board. Sander pushed the run to six points with another basket to make it an eight-point advantage by 2:13. The Mounties refused to go away quietly as EOU hit a pair of 3s to send the game into the fourth quarter with LC in front 59-57.
Sander kept the Warriors in front by a slim margin with a basket in the opening two minutes, but Eastern Oregon continued to pressure the LC defense. Stevens added a basket before draining a 3-pointer in transition to make it 66-59 LC State with 7:53 to play. Holm assisted on a career-high tying layup by Sander for a 70-61 Warrior lead at 5:59.
The junior etched a career-best with a 3-pointer 30 seconds later to make it a 10-point game once again, 73-63. Herring pulled down her fifth rebound before adding to the LC State lead, and Stevens dropped in another 3 for a 78-65 advantage with three minutes remaining in the game.
Sander and Stevens went back-to-back, aided by a steal by Holm, to make it 82-68 and force an EOU timeout with 1:44 on the clock. Herring snagged a steal and sent Sander to the basket out of the pause. The Warriors rolled through the final quarter for the 86-73 victory.
Sander led all scorers with her career-best 28 points on a 12-for-14 shooting performance. She went 4-for-5 from 3-point range and added four rebounds and five assists to her stat line.
Herring also tallied a career-high with 16 points with eight field goals (8-for-15) to go with five rebounds. Stevens scored 16 points with 10 coming in the fourth quarter and Wilson added 10. Both Stevens and Holm had three steals, and Green led the Warriors with six boards.
“Darian showed great confidence and recorded her own career night,” Orlandi said. “She attacked the basket with speed and I love how she continues to improve. Callie Stevens was great at the point and scored when she needed to. Maddie Holm was tough; Lindsey battled all afternoon and Mataya came in with great impactful minutes. Another great afternoon for everyone and we are looking forward to College of Idaho tomorrow.”
LC State shot 55.9% as a team and 57.1% from 3-point range. The Warrior bench, led by Herring, accounted for 24 points.
UP NEXT
The Warriors travel to Caldwell to take on in-state rival College of Idaho on Saturday at 2 p.m. PT.
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