LCSC Basketball; Women overshadowed by Lights
Copyright of The Tribune

HAVRE, Mont. -- For the second consecutive evening, the Lewis-Clark State women's basketball team couldn't find its shooting touch in the wilds of Montana.

Hitting just 24 of 75 floor tries, the Warriors suffered a 74-56 loss to Montana State-Northern on Saturday night. L-C's second consecutive Frontier Conference setback put its record at 14-7 and 3-2.

"Same woes, same woes," Warriors coach Brian Orr said. "We couldn't throw it in the ocean. ... They packed their defense in, almost like they were daring us to shoot."

LCSC slipped into a 10-point halftime deficit. In the second half, Nikki Haerling connected on back-to-back 3-pointers, which sliced the margin to six points. But the Lights never let L-C get closer.

Warrior post Ashley Baker collected 21 points and 15 rebounds -- both game highs. Haerling added 14 points while Jade Fulbright scored five points and collected six assists.

MSU-Northern (18-6, 4-2) got double-digit scoring from Michele VanDyke (19), Jaci Heny (18) and Megan Valgardson (17). The Lights also went 23-for-33 at the line.

To win the conference title, "you have to grind a couple wins out on the road," Orr said. "We're going to have four more chances in Montana. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (14-7, 3-2)

Kalbfleisch 0-5 0-0 0, K. West 3-10 1-2 8, Baker 9-18 3-5 21, Haerling 6-11 0-0 14, Fulbright 2-9 0-0 5, Hart 2-8 0-0 4, Wittmer 0-3 0-0 0, Yancheva 1-2 0-0 2, Boggs 0-1 0-0 0, V. West 0-5 0-0 0, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, McCauley 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 24-75 4-7 56.

MSU-NORTHERN (18-6, 4-2)

VanDyke 7-10 5-7 19, Valgardson 5-11 7-12 17, Heny 5-12 5-5 18, Reome 3-9 2-2 9, Gardner 1-7 2-2 5, Riener 0-0 0-0 0, Pullin 1-4 0-2 2, Johnston 1-2 2-3 4, Heggem 0-2 0-0 0, Trulock 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-58 19-23 74.