LEWISTON, Idaho – Despite having not played a game since Dec. 18, the Lewis-Clark State College women’s basketball team looked anything but rusty in its 94-44 rout of Trinity Western University on Friday night. The Warriors kickoff 2010 on a dominant note and are now 13-2 on the season.
“We had great balance in terms of scoring,” said LCSC head coach Brian Orr who has his team ranked No. 11 in the NAIA heading into the second half of the season. “I also like the fact that we got some baskets in transition.”
All 11 players on the Warriors’ roster got on the scoreboard with three points or more, and four Warriors reached double-digits. Nikki DePeel led the way with 19, Jasmine Stohr had 16, and Alyssa Fierro and Tasha Bishop had 10 apiece.
Shooting 50.9 percent from the field in the game, LCSC cruised to a 45-24 lead at halftime and reached their largest lead of 52 with around five minutes left in the second half.
The Warriors were especially effective from the outside as they made a season high nine 3-pointers in 15 attempts. DePeel was 3-of-4 from long range, Madison Mendezona was 2-of-2, and Stohr was 2-of-3.
Perhaps the main reason for the Warriors’ accuracy from 3-point range was their superb passing game that seemed to always find and create an open shooter. Stohr used multiple penetrate and kick moves to lead this effort with six assists, Kenna Rieter had four, and DePeel had three.
Size-wise, both teams matched-up fairly evenly which resulted in the Warriors only slightly out rebounding the Spartans 38-34. Trinity Western topped LCSC 15-12 in offensive rebounds, however, the Warriors did a better job of capitalizing on their rebounds as they outscored the Spartans 16-5 in second chance points.
LCSC’s Kirsi Voshell led the game with 11 rebounds, and Ashley Honeycutt came off the bench to add eight.
Trinity Western (Langley, B.C.) had trouble moving the ball against the Warriors’ high-pressure defense and ended up with 22 turnovers. The Warriors, who finished with 14 steals, scored 20 points off of the Spartans’ ball control miscues.
“We missed a couple assignments and they got a couple easy buckets, but for the most part I thought we defended really well,” said Orr.
Shooting 31.6 percent in the game, the Spartans, who are now 3-10, were lead by Amanda Knauff who finished with team highs of 11 points and seven rebounds.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday at 1 p.m. This will be the Warriors final game before beginning conference play against the University of Great Falls on Thursday. The Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team will also be in action at home on Saturday as it will square-off against Walla Walla University at 7 p.m.
