LEWISTON, Idaho – With the holiday season upon us, the Lewis-Clark State College women’s basketball team did its part to support the spirit giving on Friday night. The Warriors shared the ball well and accumulated 23 assists in a 72-57 win over Warner Pacific College in game one of the Warrior Invitational.
The win improves LCSC, which was ranked No. 5 in the latest NAIA poll, to 10-0 on the season, and marks the first time since the 1999-2000 season that the Warriors have reached double-digits in wins before suffering a loss.
With no-look fast-break flips, high-low lobs, one-armed outlet flings, and drive and kicks, the Warriors put on a passing show on Friday. The show resulted in quite a few buckets, but not nearly enough to keep Warner Pacific, a pesky NAIA Division II squad, from throwing in the towel.
“I thought our ball movement at times was tremendous,” LCSC head coach Brian Orr said. “The results weren’t always pretty, but we did pass the ball well.”
Lewis-Clark State had 13 assists in the first half which helped Jasmine Stohr collect 15 points and the Warriors hold a 36-26 lead at the break. Stohr finished with a game-high 20 points.
The Warriors were then able to push their lead to 43-29 during the first five minutes of the second half, but the Knights went on a 8-0 run thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from Cameryn Calhoun and were able to cut the lead to 43-37 with 12:23 remaining.
The lead stayed around 10 points for the next 10 minutes until Kirsi Voshell came up with an offensive rebound and put-back to extend the lead to 63-51 with two minutes left in regulation. From here, LCSC cruised and was able to build a game-high margin of 18 in the final minute.
Voshell’s offensive rebound, although it may not seem like a huge moment on paper, did appear to help break a pattern in the game that had Warner Pacific outrebounding the Warriors on both ends of the floor.
Despite the fact that the Knights have just one player taller than 5-foot-11, the Warriors had a season-low 35 rebounds and tied a season-low of seven offensive boards. Warner Pacific finished with 37 rebounds including 11 on offense.
LCSC’s answered by forcing turnovers, passing well, and making open shots.
Voshell had with 12 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks, and Alyssa Fierro had nine points, six rebounds, and four blocks.
For Warner Pacific, which is now 6-4 overall, was led by Calhoon who had 16 points, five rebounds, and six assists. Kelsey Mattsen added 12 points and nine rebounds, and Miranda Holenstein had 14 points.
Madison Mendezona, Kenna Reiter, and Stohr played the biggest part in the Warriors’ assist total on Friday. Mendezona had a career-high eight assists in her 18 minutes of play, and Reiter and Stohr had five apiece. Reiter also had nine points and four steals.
Lewis-Clark State outshot its opponent 43.1 percent to 35 percent overall, and had an 18-8 advantage in points scored off of turnovers.
The Warrior Invitational continues on Saturday with Warner Pacific playing the University of Great Falls at 5 p.m. Saturday is also alumni day for the Warrior basketball teams and will feature a women’s alumni game at 2:30 p.m., a men’s alumni game at 3:30, and then the LCSC men’s team will play Menlo College at 7 p.m. The Warrior women will return to action on Sunday with a 2 p.m. contest against Great Falls.
