Women's Basketball | 12.27.2016
Box Score MOSCOW, Idaho
– Despite a strong effort, the Lewis-Clark State College women's basketball team couldn't overcome a two-point second quarter and fell to the University of Idaho 85-49 in an exhibition game at UI's Memorial Gym on Tuesday night.
The Warriors, 14-0 and ranked No. 2 in the NAIA, had a solid first quarter and trailed the NCAA Division I Vandals by only one point, 18-17. The Warriors, however, only made 1-of-19 shots in the second quarter, which allowed Idaho to push its lead to 33-19 at halftime.
LCSC's offense came to life some in the second half, but so did UI's 3-point shooting. LCSC cut the lead to 11 on three occasions but Idaho made eight 3-pointers in the second half, including six in the final quarter, to pull away for the win.
"We made a nice run at the end of the first quarter and were right there with them but then we just couldn't make a basket in the second quarter," LCSC coach
Brian Orr said. "It just seemed we couldn't make a play tonight. And then when they (the Vandals) got it going, they really got it going."
LCSC hit 21-of-69 shots from the field, 30.4 percent accuracy, and had an off night from the 3-point line where it missed all 16 attempts.
"It just seemed we were a step behind all night," Orr said. "They (the Vandals) beat us to lose balls, on the boards…. We just seemed sluggish."
Caelyn Orlandi led the Warriors with 12 points and five rebounds. She also had four assists and two steals.
Brittany Tackett added nine points, while
Jossilyn Blackman had eight with five boards.
LCSC did force 17 turnovers in the contest, 13 of which were steals.
Brooke Litalien had five steals, while
Megan Risinger had three.
Although it was an exhibition game for LCSC, and its only game against an NCAA D-I opponent, it was a regular season game for Idaho, which improved to 5-6 on the season.
"I like playing these games because they show what you need to work on," Orr said. "This was a tough one because we didn't play well. We just have to pick ourselves up and get after it with Montana Tech coming up."
The Warriors return to action on New Year's Eve in a Frontier Conference women's and men's doubleheader. The LCSC women play Montana Tech at 3:30 p.m., while the men's game will start at 5:30 p.m.
