SEATTLE – Despite seniors Sadie Short and Kim Preston combining for 31 points and the Warrior defense wreaking havoc on the Redhawk offense, the Lewis-Clark State College women’s basketball just couldn’t come up with the big baskets in overtime and fell to Seattle University 67-63 in an exhibition game on Saturday.
In a game dominated by good defensive pressure from both teams, LCSC trailed Seattle 33-30 at halftime. The lead changed hands multiple times in the second half before a layup from LCSC’s Alyssa Fierro knotted the game at 56-56 with 16 seconds left to send the two teams into overtime. In OT, the Redhawks quickly hit a 3-pointer and a layup to gain a five point advantage, but Short responded by scoring the next five points to tie the game at 61-61 with just over two minutes remaining. A steal by Kenna Reiter and a layup by Kirsi Voshell gave the Warriors a 63-61 lead before the Redhawks rattled off six unanswered points to clinch the win.
The Warriors scheduled the contest as an exhibition game because Seattle is making the transition to NCAA Division I, while LCSC is an NAIA Division I program. For Seattle, the game will count as a regular season game and will improve its overall record to 7-6.
With both teams struggling to find open shots, Seattle outshot the Warriors 39.4 percent (23-of-64) to 35.9 percent (26-of-66) from the field, while the Warriors outshot the Redhawks 31.8 percent (7-of-22) to 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from 3-point territory. LCSC, holding a 10-3 record so far this season, also outshot Seattle at the free-throw line 76.9 percent (10-of-13) to 52.4 percent (11-of-21).
Both teams finished the game with 21 turnovers as LCSC recorded 12 steals and Seattle had seven.
Short led the Warriors with 19 points and seven rebounds going 3-for-6 from behind the 3-point line. Preston and Jasmine Stohr also scored in double-digits as Preston finished with 12 points and five rebounds and Stohr scored 10 points to go with her five rebounds. Reiter finished with five points, five rebounds, and five steals; and Fierro had six points, six rebounds, and two blocks.
For the Redhawks, Breanna Salley led the way with a game-high 25 points to go with her seven rebounds, while Mercedes Alexander led the team with 13 rebounds.
The Warriors’ next games will mark the beginning of Frontier Conference play as LCSC will travel to Montana to take on the University of Great Falls on Jan. 9 and Montana State University-Northern on Jan. 10.
