LA MIRADA, Calif. – A big scoring spurt to end the first half and start the second half helped the Lewis-Clark State College women’s basketball team overcome a sluggish start and defeat Biola University 66-55 in a non-league contest on Friday night.
LCSC, ranked No. 5 in the NAIA, improved to 2-0 with the win, while Biola of the Golden State Athletic Conference, falls to 2-1. The Eagles were picked to finish sixth in the 10-team preseason GSAC coaches’ poll.
“It was a hard-fought win and something we can definitely learn from,” LCSC coach Brian Orr said. “It’s a process and games like this make you better, especially when you come away with a win on the road.”
The Warriors found themselves in the hole early when Biola captured a 10-3 lead less than five minutes into the contest. The Eagles built the margin to 22-12 for its largest lead of the night.
“We came out and we couldn’t take care of the basketball, and we couldn’t guard or defense,” Orr said. “And they came out and played well. Their transition defense was tremendous.”
Trailing 26-17 after a bucket by Biola’s Charrise Reece with 7:08 left in the first half, the Warriors put together an impressive run. LCSC outscore Biola 13-2 over the next six minutes, capped by two free throws by Loree Hill, which put the Warriors ahead 30-28. Biola did get a bucket before the half to knot the score at 30 at halftime.
The second half, however, was a continuation of the way the first half ended. The Warriors had four different players score during a 9-0 run in the first four minutes for a 39-30 lead. Combining the halves, the Warriors outscored Biola 22-4 during an 11 minute stretch.
Although the Warrior got the lead up to as much as 11 over the next five minutes, Biola tried to turn the tables. Trailing LCSC 48-37 after scoring only 11 points over a 17-minute span, the Eagles went on a 7-0 run at cut LCSC’s lead to 48-44 with 9:03 left.
LCSC senior Jasmine Stohr countered with a lay-up and a 3-pointer to give LCSC some breathing room and Biola couldn’t get closer than seven the rest of the way.
“We were down by 10 in the first half and battled back to tie it at halftime, and obviously that’s a good sign,” Orr said. “It was just a hard fought win.”
Stohr, a first-team WBCA All-American last year, had another big night. The 6-foot guard/forward scored a game-high 23 points and also had four rebounds and three assists. Senior post Kirsi Voshell added 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. She also added four rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. Freshman point guard Brittaney Niebergall had 10 points, six boards and three steals. Alyssa Fierro led LCSC with eight rebounds.
The Warriors needed their defense because Biola pulled down 24 offensive rebounds, which led to 25 more shots from the field. Despite the disparity, LCSC still made more field goals than Biola.
“In the second half our defense was the key in shutting them down,” Orr said. “Now we had to do it numerous times because they dominated the offensive boards. Their point guard had eight offensive rebounds. The good thing is that this is something we can fix. We made an attempt to fix it during practice, but it’s obviously something we will continue to work on.”
For the game, LCSC was 22-of-44 from the field for 50 percent, including 5-of-10 at the 3-point line, also 50 percent. Biola was just 19-of-69 from the field for 27.5 percent and 6-of-22 from the 3-point line for 27.3 percent.
Biola did have a 42-37 rebounding advantage and also forced LCSC into 20 turnovers. Biola committed 16 turnovers.
Lauren Gustafson, Emily Drews and Chelsea Hill had 13 points apiece for Biola, while Reece had a game-high 11 boards. Biola, however, was outscored 28-12 in the paint and had its bench outscored by LCSC’s bench 17-4.
Orr gave the Warrior bench credit, but did say that sophomore post Loree Hill suffered a knee injury and won’t play in Saturday’s contest. He said that will hurt LCSC’s depth because a number of players are battling colds and the flu.
The Warriors are back in action on Saturday when they take on Hope International at 5:30 p.m. in Fullerton, Calif. Hope is 1-1 on the season and was picked to finish eighth in the GSAC preseason poll.
A box on Friday’s game can be found at
