BILLINGS, Mont. - The No. 18 Lewis-Clark State women's basketball team turned things around after their loss on Thursday night with a 77-68 win over the No. 17 Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears. Jossilyn Blackman continued her dominant senior, tallying 20 points in the game. The Warriors set a program record for best free throw percentage with at least 20 attempts, hitting 26 of their 27 (.962) attempts.
"This was a big win for our team, and doing it after a tough loss on Thursday makes it even bigger," coach Brian Orr said.
A minute and a half into the contest, Hailey Turner scored the first points of the game to put LC up 2-0. Blackman followed with a pair of free throws a minute later and the Warriors led 5-3 with 7:30 in the opening quarter.
Peyton Souvenir scored on a jumper at the close of the first quarter with Rocky leading 16-12.
Hannah Burland opened the second frame with a pair of free throws to bring the Warriors within two. She later found Turner for a 3 at 5:54 to keep LC in the game, trailing 20-17. Four-straight points from Burland, with two free throws and a layup, tied the game 21-21 with 4:14 in the half.
Blackman put the Warriors in front with two free throws just inside the three-minute mark at 23-21 before Souvenir hit her second 3 of the game to widen the lead. Jamie Nielson rattled off five-straight points with assists from Abby Farmer and Souvenir, and Emily Banks hit a 3-point buzzer beater to end the half with LC in front 36-27.
The Warriors continued to pour in the points in the second half. Blackman sparked a six-point run at the 8:05 mark with a basket, capped by free throws from Turner to bring the score to 46-32. Kiara Burlage drained a 3 in the final minute before Rocky added a free throw in the closing seconds with LC leading 59-45 heading into the final frame.
The Battlin' Bears mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter, but eight-straight free throws by the Warriors helped hold off Rocky and LC went on to win 77-68.
Blackman was near perfect at the line draining 14 of 15 free throws, tied for third-most made free throws in program history. She led the game with 20 points. Turner notched 15 points in the contest and Burland added 14. Burlage also scored in double-digits with 11, 5-for-5 from the field. Abbie Johnson led the Warriors in rebounds with seven.
The Warriors outshot the Battlin' Bears 45 percent to 37 percent. LC shot 96 percent (26-for-27) from the charity stripe, a new LC women's basketball record.
"Except for the breakdowns in our press, our defense the first half was as good as we have played all season," Orr said. "On the offensive end, we executed extremely well, got high percentage shots and got to the foul line. We had player after player step up at different times all game. It was definitely a total team effort."
LC returns home on Thursday to host Montana Tech at 5:30 p.m.
