HELENA, Mont. – Kim Preston continued her hot streak as she scored 21 points, with five 3-pointers, to help the Lewis-Clark State College women’s basketball team to an 81-74 win over Rocky Mountain College on Friday.
Named the Frontier Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday, Preston has averaged 18.8 points in her last four games and is starting to standout out as one of the main components of a Warrior offense that seems to be finding a rhythm lately.
Lewis-Clark State, now riding a five game winning streak, went 3-3 while averaging 66.5 points during its first six games, but has averaged 84.3 points over its last four.
Battling in a non-conference game against a conference foe, the Warriors jumped out to a great start, saw the lead slip away in the second half, but then made key shots down the stretch to keep a tall and athletic Rocky Mountain roster playing catch-up.
Kirsi Voshell, a 6-foot-2 freshman in her first start as a Warrior, established LCSC’s inside game immediately as she went 3-for-3 from the field in the first few minutes to give the Warriors a 15-8 lead about six minutes into the game, however the Bears answered with the post play of 6-foot-4 senior Janie Rayback who shot 6-for-8 from the field in the first half to knot the game at 35-35 by halftime.
Strong efforts from Rayback and Tana Stewart gave Rocky a six point advantage early in the second half, but LCSC responded with fireworks from the outside.
LCSC hit 7-of-14 shots from 3-point territory to outscore the Bears 46-39 in the second half. Nikki DePeel scored 14 points in the second half to finish with a Warrior career high of 19 points in the game, Sadie Short had 13, and Voshell had a career high 10 points. Lacie Titmus nailed a timely 3-pointer in the second half and finished the game with seven points.
For Rocky Mountain, Rayback finished with 22 points, while Stewart added 17.
Although outrebounded 42-30, LCSC committed only 14 turnovers and forced a fatigued Rocky Mountain roster to turn the ball over 25 times.
The win improves LCSC to 7-3 on the year, while Rocky, which lost to Carroll College 77-73 in overtime on Thursday, drops to 6-8. Lewis-Clark State and Rocky are scheduled to face each other in two conference games later this season.
On Saturday, Dec. 6, the Warriors, currently ranked No. 17 in the NAIA, will remain in Helena to take on No. 22 Carroll College at 5 p.m.
