Sluggish start dooms L-C
Copyright of The Tribune
GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- An icy start doomed the Lewis-Clark State women's
basketball team to a 74-64 loss to Great Falls on Friday night.
In their first Frontier Conference road game, the 20th-ranked Warriors
slipped into a 13-0 deficit to begin the game. LCSC didn't score its first
field goal until seven minutes had gone by.
The Warriors did rally, getting as close as one point behind, but still
saw their record tumble to 14-6 and 3-1.
"The weather got cold this morning," Warriors coach Brian Orr said, "and
we brought that right out onto the floor."
When LCSC did threaten the lead, Great Falls got to the foul line. The
Argos hit 37 of 47 tries at the stripe, which included Kim Freeman's
15-for-20 showing.
"They usually don't have a player taller than 6-foot on the floor, and
they were bound and determined to take it right at us," Orr said. "And if
there was any contact, there was a foul called. ... They made 37 free
throws; that's hard to overcome."
Ashley Baker led L-C with 19 points and 10 boards, but was limited to 26
minutes by foul trouble. Backup guard Katie Hart, a freshman, scored 11
points and dished off seven assists. "It's always nice to see your freshman
point guard play like that on the road," Orr said.
Orr said that his team is still dealing with the flu, which struck the
club at the beginning of the month. That probably slowed the Warriors, he
said.
But that is "no excuse," Orr added. "We just didn't play well."
LCSC will face Montana State-Northern at Havre tonight.
LCSC (14-6, 3-1)
Kalbfleisch 2-9 1-2 6, Baker 7-12 5-8 19, Haerling 1-9 6-8 8, Fulbright
0-3 0-0 0, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Hart 5-10 0-0 11, Wittmer 3-8 0-0 8, Yancheva
1-5 0-0 2, Boggs 0-1 0-0 0, V. West 2-7 0-0 4, K. West 1-6 0-0 2, McCauley
2-7 0-0 4. Totals 24-78 12-18 64.
GREAT FALLS (8-11, 2-3)
Freeman 1-6 15-20 17, Ball 7-15 5-7 19, Neill 2-12 4-4 10, Green 2-9 4-4
8, McPherson 1-2 5-8 7, Muth 0-0 4-4 4, Forster 1-1 0-0 3, Ott 1-1 0-0 3,
Killeagle-Stiffarm 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 16-48 37-47 74.
Halftime score -- UGF 32, LCSC 28. Three-point goals -- LCSC 4-22 (Kalbfleisch
1-4, Haerling 0-3, Hart 1-2, Wittmer 2-6, Yancheva 0-1, Boggs 0-1, V. West
0-3, K. West 0-2); UGF 5-16 (Freeman 0-1, Ball 0-2, Neill 2-9, Green 0-1,
Forster 1-1, Ott 1-1, Killeagle-Stiffarm 1-1). Rebounds -- LCSC 37 (Baker
10); UGF 50 (Freeman, McPherson 12). Assists -- LCSC 11 (Hart 7); UGF 10
(Freeman 5). Total fouls -- LCSC 32; UGF 20. Fouled out -- Haerling, Hart,
Green. Technical fouls -- UGF bench.
