Montana-Western distances itself from Warrior women

Copyright of the Lewiston Morning Tribune

DILLON, Mont. -- Within four points with 15:43 remaining, the Lewis-Clark State women's basketball team couldn't keep pace with its old rival, Montana-Western, and sustained a 76-61 loss Saturday night.

The Warriors could have overtaken the Bulldogs for second in the Frontier Conference with a win. Instead, LCSC (21-9, 10-4) will be the third seed in the conference tournament at Butte.

The Warriors will open against Great Falls, the sixth seed, on Thursday at 11 a.m. PST.

UMW clinched the victory with a slow second-half push. The Bulldogs climbed to a 65-52 lead with seven minutes remaining.

After hitting 12 of 31 shots (38.7 percent) in the first half, L-C cooled to a 10-for-39 mark after the break.

During the back-and-forth first half, the Warriors led 26-24 at one point. UMW was up 40-36 at halftime.

Kendra West (19 points), Ashley Baker (15) and Nikki Haerling (13) led the Warriors offensively. The rest of the team added just 14 points.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (21-9, 10-4)

Kalbfleisch 0-5 0-0 0, K. West 7-17 4-7 19, Baker 6-15 3-6 15, Haerling 4-9 2-2 13, Fulbright 1-5 0-0 2, Hart 1-3 2-2 4, Wittmer 0-4 0-0 0, Yancheva 1-5 0-0 3, Boggs 0-0 0-0 0, V. West 2-4 0-0 5, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, McCauley 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 22-70 11-17 61.

MONTANA-WESTERN (23-6, 11-3)

Taylor 8-13 4-4 20, Sunwall 2-5 4-8 8, Sunwall 2-5 4-8 8, Feller 3-4 3-4 9, Matter 2-7 3-4 9, Schmitz 4-7 7-8 18, Scott 4-5 0-2 12, Shea 0-2 0-0 0, Sullivan 0-0 0-0 0, Suhr 0-3 0-0 0, Kennedy 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 21-30 76.

Halftime score -- UMW 40, LCSC 34. Total fouls -- LCSC 19, UMW 16. Fouled out -- Haerling. Technical fouls -- Orr. Three-point goals -- LCSC 6-19 (Haerling 3-4, V. West 1-1, Yancheva 1-3, K. West 1-4, Kalbfleisch 0-4, Wittmer 0-2), UMW 9-21 (Scott 4-5, Schmitz 3-5, Matter 2-4, Taylor 0-1, Kennedy 0-1, Shea 0-2, Suhr 0-3). Rebounds -- LCSC 40 (Baker 7), UMW 41 (Taylor 8). Assists -- LCSC 13 (Hart 4), UMW 15 (Schmitz 4).