LEWISTON, Idaho – With its offense never quite settling in, the Lewis-Clark State College women’s basketball team used defense to seal a win over Montana State University-Northern on Thursday night at the Activity Center. The Warriors forced the Skylights to shoot just 26.8 percent from the field and won by a final score of 59-43 in front of a season-high crowd of 1,135.
The win comes on the heels of an upsetting loss on the road to Westminster College and improves the Warriors to 18-3 overall and 4-2 in Frontier Conference play. Westminster narrowly defeated Great Falls in overtime 93-88 on Thursday to remain atop the conference standings at 5-1.
Despite ending up with their second lowest point total of the season, the Warriors never trailed against the Skylights and held a double-digit lead most of the way with their largest lead of 17 coming twice late in the second half.
Juniors Jasmine Stohr and Kirsi Voshell were two of the biggest reasons for the Warriors’ success on Thursday. Stohr had 18 points and a season-high10 rebounds to finish with her second double-double of the year, while Voshell ended up with 13 points, nine rebounds, and a season-high six blocks. Thanks to Voshell and Alyssa Fierro, who leads the team in swats, the Warriors have 119 blocks on the year which is second in the NAIA.
Lewis-Clark State shot 43.9 percent in the game, but was slowed by 15 turnovers and a 4-for-14 night at the foul line.
MSU-Northern, which is now 11-11 overall and 3-3 in the conference, trailed by just seven, 29-22, at halftime, but saw the deficit slowly grow larger and larger mostly as a result of the Warriors’ inside game.
LCSC outscored the Skylights 32-14 in the paint and had a 47-35 advantage in rebounds.
Fierro had nine points and eight rebounds overall, while Loree Hill came off the bench for the Warriors to add six rebounds. Madison Mendezona led with five assists.
For MSUN, Sam Schermele headed the charge with 14 points and three rebounds. Jordan Bruursema added nine points and four boards, and Courtney Blume had eight points, seven rebounds, and four steals.
The Warriors will return to the Activity Center to face the University of Great Falls on Saturday. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.
