Warriors Buck the Pirates, 81-65

LEWISTON, ID--The 22nd-ranked Lewis-Clark State College Warriors turned 28 Whitworth College turnovers into 32 points to cruise to an 81-65 victory in a women’s college basketball game Saturday night, at Warrior Gymnasium.

The Warriors (10-5) were led by Katarina Gabaniova’s game-high 21 points and seven rebounds. Shanta Coleman added 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds while Jessica Foot chipped in with 12 points coming off of the bench. Brianne Kottwitz tallied eight assists, and also set the career record for assists just 57 seconds into the game. She now has 541 career assists. Debbie Roueche (1990-93), currently the assistant women’s basketball coach at the University of Idaho, had the all-time mark of 534 going into tonight’s game.

Kara Marusa led Whitworth (6-4), and all scorers, with 22 points. Tiffany Speer added 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Former Lewis-Clark State player Erica Ewart added ten points and seven assists.

LCSC used a pair of 14-4 runs in the first half to break open a close game. The second run made the spread 20 points (44-24) with 4:28 to go in the half. L-C took a 15-point lead into the break.

In the second half, Whitworth came out on a 15-3 tear to get the lead down to eight on a 3-pointer by Marusa. That was as close as the Pirates would come in the second half as LCSC pulled ahead by 11 points with 12:04 remaining.

Lewis-Clark State College will open Frontier Conference play on January 3rd at the University of Great Falls. Whitworth will return to Northwest Conference play on January 4th at Lewis & Clark College.

Box score vs. Whitworth