LEWISTON, Idaho – A bunch of freshmen made sure their senior teammates went out on a high note Saturday evening at the Activity Center as the Lewis-Clark State women's basketball team raced past Montana Tech 87-71 in Frontier Conference action.
 
All told, five Warriors – with freshman Delaney Henry leading the way with 16 points, reached double figures as LC improved to 16-11 overall and 7-9 in league play. Tech dropped to 14-14, 4-12 with one week of regular-season play remaining to determine seeding into the post-season conference tournament.
 
"It was so much fun," coach Brian Orr said. "It felt good because it was a total team effort. I was really happy for our seniors. They both played extremely well. For those girls (Brittany Tackett and Lauren Johnson) I know they're feeling great about tonight's game."
 
Indeed, they should be. Tackett finished with 14 points and Johnson had 12. Adding to Delaney's team-leading total were 12 points from Hailey Turner and 12 from Abbie Johnson – Lauren's freshman sister. Jossilyn Blackman added nine. Freshman Peyton Souvenir, the league's assist leader (14^th nationally), had seven to go with her five points.
 
It appeared from the outset, the game would be a high-scoring affair with the Warriors scoring 29 first-quarter points en route to a 45-39 halftime lead. They added a hefty dose of defense in the third quarter to outscore the Orediggers 23-14 for a 69-53 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
"One of the things we wanted to focus on all year is our transition game," Orr said "It's been our best for points per possession. We wanted to get that going and keep it going all night long. I thought we did really well with that.
 
"I don't want to take anything from Tech's defense but I thought we really played well offensively tonight."
 
A 43-31 rebounding advantage helped fuel that offense with Abbie Johnson leading the way with eight and Kiara Burlage and Hailey Turner pulling down seven each. Tackett had six.
 
So did hot shooting hands. LC finished the game at 57.6 percent from the field, which includes a blistering 65 percent in the first quarter. There were eight 3-point goals among their 34 field goals made.
 
The Warriors wrap up the regular season next week with a Thursday evening game (4:30 p.m.) at Carroll College and a Saturday afternoon (1 p.m.) contest at Rocky Mountain.