LEWISTON, Idaho – The Lewis-Clark State Warriors may have gotten off to a slow start against No. 7 Whitman (NCAA DIII WBCA), but they turned things around quickly to pick up their third straight win. The Blues from Walla Walla, Wash., opened their 2018-19 campaign in Lewiston after making it to the NCAA Tournament a year prior, but LCSC showed glimpses of what is to come this season in the 68-58 victory.

Jossilyn Blackman and Cali Moscrip had career-bests in the game, scoring 21 and 16 points, respectively. With the win, Head Coach Brian Orr is now 10-0 against the Blues.

"I thought our girls did a great job," Orr said. "A couple people stepped up for us the second half. Cali Moscrip came to play that second half, and Jossilyn Blackman was so good tonight. She was perfect from the floor and really had a career-night. She made big play after big play and most of them came at times when we really needed them."

The Blues opened the game with five straight before increasing their lead to 9-2. Jamie Nielson sparked a rally at the 5:37 mark to get the Warriors back in gear as they rattled off 10 points to take a 12-9 lead with two to play in the opening quarter. Whitman evened the contest at 12 apiece with less than a minute left, but Emily Banks put the Warriors up 14-12 to close out the first frame.

The second quarter saw the lead change with the Blues outscoring the Warriors 16-12. A basket from Hannah Burland at 7:38 had LC up by four, but Whitman came back with a seven-point run to take a 28-26 lead into halftime.

LC came out of the break on a 9-4 run to regain the lead at 35-32 halfway through the third quarter. A free throw by Moscrip broke a 39-39 tie at 1:55 and the Warriors held the lead for the remainder of the game. Burland drained a 3 with 30 seconds left in the quarter to send LCSC into the final frame with a 46-42 advantage.

The Warriors opened the fourth quarter with a 3 from Abbie Johnson, followed by a steal and basket by Moscrip to stretch the lead to seven. Moscrip continued to be an offensive force with a jumper to put LC up by nine with less than three minutes to go. With less than a minute to play, Nielson found the basket and Moscrip hit two from the charity stripe to close the game out at 68-58.

As mentioned, Blackman and Moscrip both hit new career highs in scoring. Blackman dropped her previous career high in her freshman season against Multnomah with 18. Nielson also scored in double-digits with 10 points. Blackman led the defense in rebounds with nine, and Moscrip had a team-high five assists.

"We started out a little but slow, but we brought our energy in the second half," Moscrip said. "I was able to hit shots because my teammates found me and got me open shots."

The Warriors travel to nearby Moscow, Idaho on Friday for an exhibition matchup with the Vandals of the University of Idaho.