BUTTE, Mont.  – Leading by just two points with a little more than five minutes left in the third quarter, the Lewis-Clark State College women's basketball team did what any good team would do.
 
Crank it up another notch, especially on the defensive end.
 
Going on a 12-4 run to end the third quarter and then a 16-2 run over nearly the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, the Warriors turned a close game into a 76-57 romp over Montana Tech in Frontier Conference play on Saturday night.
 
"Being able to bounce back after our first loss of the year was really important," LCSC coach Brian Orr said. "But I was disappointed in our inconsistent defensive effort and our lack of communication in the first half."
 
LCSC, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA, saw its 23-game win streak to start the season come to an end during a loss to Carroll on Friday night. Whether it was the thought of losing two games in a row or the fact they were in a tight game against a team they defeated by 22 and 39 points in their first two meetings, the Warriors finally caught fire on Saturday.
 
LCSC, 12-1 in league and 24-1 overall, led only 46-44 after Tech's Rachel Ferris scored with 5:16 left in the third quarter. Up to that point, LCSC's largest lead was eight points, but Ferris' bucket completed a 6-0 run for Tech to keep things close.
 
Senior guard Nathanee Spencer started LCSC's third-quarter run with a pair of free throws. All-American candidate Caelyn Orlandi hit three buckets and scored six points, while fellow senior guard Brooke Litalien hit one of her four 3-pointers on the night. Megan Risinger added a free throw to complete LCSC's 12-4 run to end the quarter for a 58-48 advantage.
 
"Our defense got a lot better the second half and when Hailey (Turner) and Jossilyn (Blackmon) came in, they did a great job defending the paint and controlling the boards," Orr said.
 
The Warriors kept their foot on the gas and held Tech to just two free throws for the first seven minutes of the final quarter. In the meantime, Blackman hit three field goals, including a 3-pointer, Brittany Tackett added a pair of buckets, and Lauren Johnson added a 3-pointer to spark the 16-2 fourth-quarter run, which gave LCSC a 74-50 advantage.
 
"At half, we talked about finishing each quarter like a championship team – going in the right direction," Orr said. "That run was a team effort. Lauren hit a 3 and Jossilyn's 3 both added fuel to the fire."
 
In all, LCSC went on a 28-6 run during a little more than 12 minutes in the third and fourth quarters.
 
"Offensively, I thought we played well the whole game," Orr said. "We didn't shoot a great percentage, but we got good shots, found the open player, and took care of the ball."
 
The Warriors put four players in double figures scoring. Orlandi finished with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, and also had six rebounds and four assists. Litalien added 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the 3-point line. She also had seven boards and two assists. Blackmon went 6-of-9 from the field for 13 points and five rebounds, while Tackett, the nation's leader in field goal percentage at nearly 70 percent, hit 5-of-10 shots for 10 points.
 
"Brooke's defense and rebounding effort was certainly noteworthy," Orr said.
 
For the game, LCSC hit 29-of-69 shots from the field for 42 percent accuracy. The Warriors also were 8-of-26 from the 3-point line for 30.8 percent. Montana Tech was 20-of-51 from the field, 39.2 percent, and 7-of-21 from the 3-point line, 33.3 percent.
 
Two key reasons why LCSC was able to take 18 more shots from the field were rebounding and turnovers. LCSC held a 40-33 rebounding edge and had 12 offensive boards. LCSC also forced 15 turnovers and only committed five.
 
LCSC had a 44-20 advantage in points in the paint and also had 13 points from offensive rebounds, while Tech had zero points from its three offensive boards.
 
The Warriors have five regular-season games remaining, including three at home. LCSC next plays Thursday night at the LCSC Activity Center against second-place Montana State-Northern at 5:30 p.m. MSU-Northern trails LCSC by three games in the standings and LCSC also holds the tiebreaking edge. That means an LCSC win on Thursday night would clinch no worse than a tie for the regular-season title and give the Warriors the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
 
Only the top six teams in the standings advance to the conference tournament. All conference tournament games are played at the team with the best seeding. If LCSC wins the regular season title, it would play every game at home in the conference tournament.