DILLON, Mont. – The back-and-forth never seemed to end in Saturday's Frontier Conference matchup between the No. 17 Montana Western Bulldogs and the No. 21 Lewis-Clark State Warriors. After 10 minutes of overtime, the Warriors emerged victorious by a final of 82-79. Kiara Buralge notched her 10th-career double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
"Both teams really competed tonight," coach Brian Orr said. "It was one of those games where both teams played well enough to win. We had several players step up and make big plays all game long, and we finished against contact extremely well."
Montana Western struck first with a pair of free throws in the first minute of the contest. The Bulldogs pushed the lead to 5-0 before a basket by Peyton Souvenir put the Warriors on the board at 8:27. A 3-pointer by Kiara Burlage at 4:55 kicked off a seven-point run that saw LC State leading 12-7 by 3:40. The Warriors led 12-10 at the end of the first quarter.
UMW took the lead with the first basket of the second frame and put up nine-straight on three 3-pointers. The Warriors answered with back-to-back triples from Abbie Johnson and Jamie Nielson, giving the Warriors a 23-21 edge. A three-point play by Hannah Burland kept them in front 26-23, but a rally by Western had LC trialing 33-31 at the half.
Johnson evened the score to start the second half as the back-and-forth continued throughout the quarter. Abby Farmer was good on a pair of free throws to put LC State back in front 44-43, and the Warriors led 46-43 after a basket by Jansen Edmiston heading into the final 10 minutes.
Burlage drained another 3 at 8:43 in the fourth to grow the lead to 49-43, but UMW brought things back within one point. The Warrior advantage grew to 53-50 with a layup by Johnson at 3:38, but the Bulldogs tied things up 53-53 with under three to play. Edmiston put LC back in front with 2:40 on the clock, and at the end of regulation, the score sat tied 55-55.
The Bulldogs scored first in the overtime period, but Nielson quickly answered to even the game once again. Burlage made a free throw to give LC a 58-57 lead, and two by Nielson made it 60-59. A 3 by Western put the Bulldogs in front 60-62, but Burland answered with a lay-in on an assist from Burlage.
Souvenir put the Warriors up 64-62 with 50 seconds on the clock, but three points by UMW put LC down by one. After a free throw, the Bulldogs led 66-64 with 21 seconds to play, but Edmiston completed a three-point play to swing the score back in favor of LC State. With 14 second on the clock, the Warriors held a 67-66 advantage.
Western fouled Edmiston with six seconds left, and after a free throw the score sat at 68-66. The Bulldogs called timeout to advance the ball and scored with a second and a half to go to force double overtime.
Farmer scored and was fouled to begin the second overtime frame, and was good on a free throw to give LC a 71-68 lead. Burlage did the same, completing her three-point play to make it 74-70 with 3:21 to play. A 3 by Burlage gave LC some insurance at a five-point lead, and the Warriors hung on to win 82-79.
Burlage led the Warrior with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Burland and Nielson each scored 13 points, and Edmiston added 11.
"Kiara hit some big 3's tonight and came through with some key rebounds," Orr explained. "She had a tremendous weekend. This is an important win because we need to build some momentum going into the conference tournament."
As a team, the Warriors shot 50 percent (28-for-56) from the field and 41.2 percent from 3-point range (7-for-17). They made 19 free throws.
With the win, the Warrior women sit third in the Frontier Conference standings. Stay tuned to lcwarriors.com for information on the Frontier Conference tournament.
