KIRKLAND, Wash. - Suffering its worst shooting night of the season, the Lewis-Clark State College women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season in falling to Northwest University 70-47 in a nonleague contest on Friday night.
The Warriors, who are ranked No. 3 in NAIA Division I, made only 15-of-60 field goal attempts for 25 percent accuracy to see their win streak to start the season come to an end at 11. The contest was the final one before Christmas for LCSC, now 11-1.
Northwest, a member of the NAIA Division II's Cascade Conference, improves to 9-4 overall.
Despite their offensive woes, the Warrior defense was up to the task early. LCSC led 17-13 with 5:44 left in the first half after a pair of free throws by Jasmine Stohr.
Northwest rallied and took a 21-18 lead before a bucket by Alyssa Fierro made it 21-20 with 2:37 left. That, however, was as close as LCSC could get the rest of the way.
Northwest scored the final 11 points of the first half as Emily Drivstuen started the rally with a conventional 3-point play and then hit a 3-pointer right before the halftime buzzer. In between, Northwest sank all six free throws it attempted for a 32-20 halftime edge.
The Warriors were just 6-of-30 from the field in the opening half (20 percent), including 0-of-9 from the 3-point line. The team also had 17 turnovers.
Northwest wasn't a whole lot better at 10-of-32 for 31.3 percent from the field and 13 turnovers.
The Warriors took better care of the basketball in the second half with only six turnovers, but still struggling shooting the basketball. LCSC went 9-of-30 in the second half from the field, including just 1-of-11 from the 3-point line. That left the Warriors just 1-of-19 from the 3-point line in the game.
Northwest shot 42 percent from the field in the second half to finish 21-of-58 from the field for 36.2 percent. It also made 7-of-16 3-pointers.
The Warriors did cut the margin to four points twice in the second half, the second time at 36-32 with 14:03 left. LCSC also only trailed 50-42 with 6:50 left, but was outscored 20-5 the rest of the way.
Fierro, a 6-foot-2 junior post, finished with a double-double, including a career-high 17 rebounds to go with 12 points. Stohr added a game-high 21 points along with four assists and four steals. Fierro and Stohr combined to go 9-of-20 from the field while the remainder of the team went 6-of-40.
A real telling area for the Warriors was the bench, which normally is very productive. On this night, however, LCSC's bench went just 1-of-20 from the field and finished with two points.
Drivstuen and Kia Gibson had 15 points apiece for Northwest, while Jessalyn Jackson had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The loss was LCSC's largest since the NAIA National Tournament last season when Oklahoma City topped the Warriors 87-59.
The Warriors will head to a California tournament on Dec. 28-30 where they will play Azusa Pacific, Hope International, and Masters on consecutive nights.
