Guards stand tall in second half,
spearhead 84-49 rout
Copyright The Trib
By
MATT BANEY
OF THE TRIBUNE
The Lewis-Clark State women spent 25
minutes leading, but not dominating, a
team that is the traditional owner of
the Frontier Conference cellar. The
Warriors needed a knockout blow.
And it came from LCSC's two shortest
players.
With nosy defense and transition
artistry, Terri Wittmer and Katie Hart
initiated a 15-0 Warrior rampage midway
through the second half. That cleared
the way for L-C's 84-49 demolition of
Great Falls on Thursday night.
It was the Warriors' first FC contest
at the Activity Center, and 1,253
spectators were on hand. They watched
LCSC, ranked 12th in the NAIA, improve
to 17-2 overall and 4-0 in league.
(Those fans were also there for the
official opening of Activity
Center-West, the second phase of L-C's
new arena.)
With less than 14 minutes remaining,
Hart made a perimeter steal, then looped
a pass downcourt to a streaking Wittmer.
Her deposit made it 51-37.
The 5-foot-4 Hart again swiped the
ball from the Argos on the following
possession, and that led to another
Wittmer basket. The 5-6 Wittmer then
added her third consecutive bucket, a
testy fast-break layup that she
converted on a dead sprint.
By the time the Warriors' blitz was
complete, they led by 26 with 9:30 left.
LCSC used a fullcourt defense to
squeeze 14 turnovers from Great Falls in
the first half. But that didn't result
in a ton of easy scores, and the
Warriors had a modest 10-point halftime
edge.
In the second half, Wittmer and Hart
made things simpler. When the Argos'
ballhandlers started to run their
offense, the L-C guards descended upon
them.
"I think it was just our initial
on-ball defense. We improved on that,"
Warriors coach Brian Orr said. "I
thought the first half, (the Argos) went
by us a couple times. I really thought
our defense sparked us in the second
half."
Great Falls (5-15, 1-4) focused its
defense on LCSC's two insiders, Ashley
Baker and Aundrea Morrison. The Argos'
sagging defense forced Baker and
Morrison to scavenge for points on the
offensive glass, and they had a total of
nine in the first half.
Meanwhile, the perimeter players'
touch was chilly. They hit 4 of 16
3-point tries in the first half.
"I wasn't angry, I was just
frustrated," said Orr, whose club
nevertheless led by double digits much
of the opening half. "College basketball
players, you get an open shot --
especially at home -- you've got to
knock it down. And we were able to do
that in the second half."
Also, Baker came to life after the
break. The 6-foot-3 junior mustered four
low-post buckets early in the second
half, and ended up with a game-high 18
points.
But the heavy lifting was done by the
LCSC guards. Wittmer, Hart and Jade
Fulbright combined for 31 points and 13
steals.
GREAT FALLS (5-15, 1-4)
Smith 5-7 2-3 13, Schwantes 4-9 3-5
11, Keaster 5-12 2-2 15, Clift 1-6 2-2
4, Green 1-3 2-2 4, Eisen 0-0 0-0 0,
Houx 0-2 0-0 0, Thackeray 0-0 0-0 0,
Simonds 1-2 0-0 2, Donnelly 0-2 0-0 0,
Galloway 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-43 11-14
49.
LEWIS-CLARK STATE (17-2, 4-0)
Hart 4-11 1-1 11, Fulbright 6-11 2-2
14, Kalbfleisch 4-10 0-0 10, Baker 8-15
2-4 18, Morrison 3-7 3-4 9, Wittmer 3-6
0-0 6, Preston 0-2 0-0 0, Yancheva 3-7
2-3 9, Nelson 2-9 0-0 5, West 1-5 0-0 2.
Totals 34-83 10-14 84.
Halftime score -- LCSC 36, UGF 26.
Three-point goals -- UGF 4-14 (Smith
1-1, Schwantes 0-2, Keaster 3-6, Clift
0-3, Simonds 0-1, Donnelly 0-1); LCSC
6-27 (Hart 2-4, Fulbright 0-2,
Kalbfleisch 2-6, Preston 0-2, Yancheva
1-5, Nelson 1-8). Rebounds -- UGF 32
(Smith 7); LCSC 44 (Baker 11). Assists
-- UGF 9 (Clift 3); LCSC 18 (Hart 5).
Total fouls -- UGF 16; LCSC 16.
Technical fouls -- none. Fouled out --
Morrison. Attendance -- 1,253. |
