LEWISTON, Idaho – Hailey Turner made four free throws, Abby Farmer drilled a key 3-pointer and Peyton Souvenir added the icing-on-the-cake free throws – all in the final 1:13 of play, to propel the Lewis-Clark State women's basketball team to a key 61-56 victory over Montana State-Northern.
 
The Warriors took the early lead in Saturday's Frontier Conference game but yielded it midway through the first quarter and didn't regain it until the second of Turner's free throws with 20 seconds remaining in the game. Their struggles were due in part to their own inability to score and in another part to the Skylights' ability to dictate a methodical tempo.
 
"It didn't look good going into the fourth quarter," Warrior coach Brian Orr said after his team improved to 15-4 overall, 5-3 in league play. MSUN is 9-11, 1-7. "Whenever you're down to a team that plays so deliberate, a 10-point lead is actually almost like a 20-point lead. I was really fearful that we couldn't pick up the tempo and start making shots."
 
While they weren't able to crank the tempo, the Warriors were able to start hitting the shots that weren't falling early (they made just three of 17 first-quarter attempts). They trailed 52-40 to start the fourth quarter. By the midpoint of the quarter, they'd cut the lead to 52-44. Souvenir connected on a 3-pointer with 3:10 to play to narrow the gap to 52-47.
 
The Skylights responded to go back up by seven, 54-47, before Hannah Burland followed her own miss to make it 54-49 with 2:14 to play. Emily Banks made the second of two free throws with 1:58 to go to make it 54-50. MSUN's Hailey Nicholson added a pair of free throws to push the Skylights back up by six, 56-50, with 1:40 to play.
 
Jossilyn Blackman used a pass from Farmer to bring the Warriors back to within four, 56-52, with 1:20 to play and Farmer drilled her 3-pointer with 1:13 on the clock to cut the gap to one, 56-55. It was almost a minute later before Turner gave the Warriors the lead (57-56 with :20 to play) and the cushion (59-56 with :04 to go). Souvenir was fouled after her steal one second later. Her two free throws with :03 on the clock provided the final points.
 
"We had some people step up and make big plays for us," Orr said. "So many different times we had different people making shots when we needed it.
 
"It was really a tough game, a tough win. I like the way our team battled and never gave up and always felt like they had a chance to win."
 
Deleney Henery led the Warriors with 12 points and Turner finished with 11. Kiara Burlage had 10 rebounds to help LC to a 34-31 advantage on the boards.
 
The Skylights' Peyton Kehr led all scorers with 21 points. Nicholson finished with 12 and seven rebounds.
 
The Warriors are on the road next week for Frontier Conference action at Carroll College (Thursday) and Rocky Mountain College (Saturday). Both games are at 4:30 p.m. PT.