Boardwork lifts Warrior women to easy triumph over Skylights
Copyright The Trib

Thanks to their height and tenaciouness, the Lewis-Clark State women can bank on this: The rebounding battle will almost always shake out in their favor.

But the Warriors' backboard domination Saturday night was practically obscene. They had 27 defensive boards and 27 offensive boards -- as compared to 24 total caroms for Frontier Conference foe Montana State-Northern.

"You can go right to that," LCSC coach Brian Orr said, "and that was the difference in the game."

Yes, but the Warriors put this 73-53 victory on ice by thawing out their perimeter shooting midway through the second half. An Activity Center crowd of approximately 1,000 watched No. 12 LCSC notch its 12th consecutive win and improve to 18-2 and 5-0.

But this scrambling, occasionally frantic contest wasn't the sort of victory the home crowd is used to. L-C led by just one point at halftime, was up by six with 11 minutes remaining and made only 1 of 14 tosses from 3-point territory.

"Sometimes it takes us a half to warm up, like tonight," sophomore Jade Fulbright said. "But once one person hits it, our team gets fired up, and they'll start hitting 'em."

Fulbright provided the spark midway through the second half. With her feet on the 3-point line, the 5-8 guard planted a jumper from the baseline. On the Warriors' next two possessions, Janeen Nelson and Kim Preston also canned outside tries.

And a few moments later, Nelson stuck LCSC's first (and only) 3-pointer. That swelled the lead to 51-39 with 7:48 left.

For a time, the Warriors made their living with putbacks. And even when they didn't convert their offensive rebounds, they were still keeping the ball out of the Lights' hands. (L-C ended up taking 25 more shots than MSUN.)

"When you get an offensive rebound, it's like gold," Orr said. "For us a couple times ... we brought the ball out and made them play defense again. I think as a coach, and certainly as a player, that can be a little demeaning."

L-C insiders Ashley Baker and Aundrea Morrison led the way, collaborating for 33 points and 19 rebounds. Fulbright added 13 points and four steals.

But the most interesting line was turned in by Cami Kalbfleisch. The Lewiston sharpshooter managed just four points on 1-for-8 shooting, but grabbed 10 rebounds and passed for nine assists.

Next week, the Warriors will travel to Western Montana and Montana Tech. It will be their second-to-last road trip of the regular season.

"It's going by fast," Fulbright said. "It goes by fast when you're winning all these games. Everyone is just playing so well."

MSU-NORTHERN (12-6, 2-4)

Johnston 1-5 5-6 17, Heggem 1-5 0-0 2, VanDyke 3-8 1-1 7, Gardner 2-9 0-0 5, Heny 7-16 9-10 26, Bravard 1-1 0-0 2, Carroll 0-0 0-0 0, Trulock 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 17-46 15-17 53.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (18-2, 5-0)

Hart 0-5 1-2 1, Fulbright 6-11 1-1 13, Kalbfleisch 1-8 2-4 4, Baker 7-13 3-6 17, Morrison 6-12 4-5 16, Wittmer 1-4 1-2 3, Preston 1-2 0-0 2, Yancheva 0-2 2-2 2, Nelson 2-6 0-0 5, West 4-8 2-2 10. Totals 28-71 16-24 73.

Halftime score -- LCSC 26, MSUN 25. Three-point goals -- MSUN 4-13 (Heggem 0-2, Gardner 1-3, Heny 3-8); LCSC 1-14 (Hart 0-2, Fulbright 0-1, Kalbfleisch 0-2, Wittmer 0-2, Preston 0-1, Yancheva 0-1, Nelson 1-5). Rebounds -- MSUN 24 (Johnston 8); LCSC 54 (Kalbfleisch, Morrison 10). Assists -- MSUN 11 (Gardner 4); LCSC 18 (Kalbfleisch 9). Total fouls -- MSUN 21; LCSC 19. Technical fouls -- none. Fouled out -- Fulbright.