LEWISTON, Idaho – Jamie Nielson picked up where she left off on Thursday, dropping 21 points in Saturday's 69-47 victory over Montana-State Northern. Kiara Burlage also scored 21 points, and Abbie Johnson pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds.
Nielson and Johnson got the first half off to a hot start, with Nielson dropping 12 points and Johnson grabbing 10 boards.
Burlage hit the first basket of the game to put the Warriors up 2-0 a minute into play. Jansen Edmiston nailed a 3 a minute later to make it 5-0. Nielson strung five-straight together to push the advantage to 12-2 by 3:39. LC State outscored the Skylights 18-4 in the first 10 minutes.
LC State stretched the lead out to 16 points within the first two minutes of the second frame when a 3-pointer by Rachel Schroeder made it 24-8. A bucket by Burlage at 3:32 made it 26-15, and the Warriors held a double-digit lead for the rest of the half. A basket by Peyton Souvenir made it 34-22 heading into the break.
The double-digit lead remained for most of the third quarter, with the largest lead of the frame coming at 2:52 with a 3-pointer from Edmiston to make it 43-30. The Skylights began to chip away in the final minute to cut the lead to 43-37 at the end of the third.
"We always say to each other that basketball is a team of runs," Johnson said. "It's inevitable. We're going to go on runs, they're going to go on runs, so those fluctuations in scores are going to happen. Down the stretch we had girls making big plays on both ends of the floor."
The LC State offense picked back up in the fourth, stretching the lead back to 10 points. A six-point rally with a three-point play by Johnson and a 3-pointer by Nielson put the Warriors in front 49-39. Burlage sparked an eight-point run at 7:04 to grow the advantage to 57-43 by 5:09. A basket by Burlage closed the game out at 69-47.
Burlage and Nielson led the game with 21 points each. Burlage notched a double-double with 10 rebounds. In the last two games, Nielson has scored 52 points.
"My teammates are getting me the ball," Nielson explained. "Our backdoors, they're just feeding me. It's a lot more fun when your team is vibbing. When we're on, we're all on."
Johnson's 18 boards is the most by a Warrior woman this season, and 11th all-time in a single game.
"Rebounding is a team thing," Johnson said. "All five girls on the floor were making the right box-outs and keeping their girls off the glass. I couldn't have gotten 18 without my teammates doing their job."
Souvenir did a little bit of everything with six assists, four points, three rebounds and two steals.
As a team, LC State shot 43.5 percent from the field. The Warriors went 7-for-10 from the free throw line. They held MSUN to just 27.9 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from 3-point range.
Mckenzie Gunter led the Skylights with 15 points, while Sydney Hovde notched a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Peyton Kehr also dropped double-digits with 10 points.
The Warriors hit the road to take on Montana Tech in Butte, Mont. on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. PT.
