LEWISTON, Idaho – A superb first half helped the Lewis-Clark State College women’s basketball team cruise past Montana Tech 79-61 at the Activity Center on Saturday night. The No. 3-ranked Warriors are now 16-1 overall and 2-0 in the Frontier Conference.
Determined to avoid being Tech’s second straight upset victim and also looking to get off to a sharper start than they did during Thursday’s win over Montana Western, LCSC look near unstoppable in the first half. The Warriors shot 60.6 percent from the field, including 3-for-5 from 3-point territory, forced 12 turnovers, and led 22-13 in rebounds.
Consequently, Lewis-Clark State held a 47-23 lead at the half—a lead too large for even the scrappy Orediggers to surmount.
Montana Tech, which took down 11th-ranked Westminster College 88-76 on Thursday, made up some ground late in the second half but seemed overmatched at times, especially on the inside.
The Warriors, who reached their largest lead of 27 with 10:33 left in the second half, outrebounded Tech 44-29 on the night, and had a 26-12 advantage in points scored in the paint.
Junior post Kirsi Voshell led the charge for LCSC and finished with a career-high 22 points to go with seven rebounds. Three other Warriors also scored in double-digits as Jasmine Stohr had 13, Kenna Reiter had 12, and Alyssa Fierro had 10 and a game-high eight rebounds.
Reiter, after coming up with a career-high seven steals on Thursday, had another great game on Saturday as she added five rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
The Warriors finished with 18 assists in the game as Stohr had four and Madison Mendezona came off the bench to collect four assists and five rebounds.
Brooke Pokorny led Tech with 18 points, including a 10-for-10 night at the foul line. Taesha Higbee added 15 points and five rebounds, and Meghan Eisenmann had 13 points and four boards. Kelsey DeWit led with six rebounds.
LCSC ended up shooting 50.8 percent from the field, while the Orediggers shot 30.2 percent. The home team also made 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) attempts from the outside to outdo Tech which made 5-of-19 (26.3 percent).
The loss brings Montana Tech to 12-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
The Warriors will be on the road for the next two weeks. They’ll face Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont., on Jan. 13, Carroll College in Helena, Mont., on Jan. 15, and then Westminster College in Salt Lake City on Jan. 22.
