LEWISTON, Idaho – A career-high 35 points from senior Jamie Nielson was not enough to push No. 21 LC State (16-7, 8-5) past the visiting Providence Argonauts (15-10, 6-7) on Thursday night. The Warriors erased a 10-point deficit in the second quarter with a big run, but ultimately fell to UP 73-65 in the Activity Center.
"They're as good as any team we're going to see all year," coach Brian Orr said. "Honestly, they have all the ingredients. It's always disappointing when a player like Jamie Nielson has such a big game, a game for the record books, but we couldn't celebrate in the locker room because we came out on the losing end. I'm really proud of her performance tonight. She really stepped up in a big way."
A 16-2 run in the last seven minutes of the first half brought the Warriors back into the game after falling behind 27-17. Nielson led the charge with 16 points in the half off seven field goals (two 3-pointers). She also dished four assists in the opening 20 minutes.
The first few minutes of the first quarter were a back-and-forth battle between the Frontier Conference opponents until back-to-back 3-pointers by Emilee Maldonado gave UP a 25-17 lead in the final minute.
At 7:23 in the second quarter the deficit grew to 10 at 27-17, but a bucket by Nielson sparked the 16-2 run that got the Warriors back in the game. Back-to-back 3s from Abbie Johnson and Nielson put LC State in front 33-29 at the break.
The Argos rallied to tie things up midway through the third, but baskets from Kiara Burlage and Nielson kept the Warriors in front by a slim 45-42 margin at 3:12. Nielson nailed a 3 to end the third quarter with LC in front 49-46.
Providence hit its stride at 3:27 in the fourth quarter. An eight-point run gave UP a five-point advantage (66-61) with two minutes to play, and the Argos widened the gap to eight (73-65) to end it.
Nielson scored the 11th-highest point total in LC women's basketball history, the most by a Warrior woman this season, with her career-high 35. She was 16-for-20 from the field, 3-for-5 from 3 and scored more than half of the team's points on the night. She also dished out five assists and had three steals and two blocks.
Burlage totaled 11 points and two steals, while Johnson tallied nine points and nine rebounds. Abby Farmer dished out a team-high six assists.
Bailey Cartwright led the Argos with 21 points, while Parker Esary tallied 20 with an impressive 16 rebounds. Maldonado hit four 3-pointers and was 4-for-4 from the line to total 16 points.
UP outrebounded LC 41-29 and went 15-for-17 from the charity stripe.
"It came down to a couple things," Orr explained. "When we were shooting free throws with about seven minutes to go, I thought we were in pretty good shape. Then we couldn't get to the foul line, and they did. It was one of the few times someone made more free throws than we attempted, and they dominated the offensive boards. They just made more plays down the stretch and were the stronger team."
LC State hosts MSU-Northern on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Activity Center.
