LEWISTON, Idaho – The Warriors never trailed in Wednesday's Frontier Conference Quarterfinal between the third-seeded No. 21 Lewis-Clark State Women's Basketball team and the sixth-seeded Montana Tech Orediggers. LC State controlled the contest from the start and picked up a 63-52 victory behind Kiara Burlage's 10th double-double of the season. Hannah Burland had multiple clutch baskets in the game, adding 14 points to the mix.
"It comes down to being a team and knowing each other's strengths," Burland explained. "Coach is always saying to play to our strengths and play well together all 40 minutes."
Jamie Nielson got the momentum going for the Warriors with a basket 15 seconds in. Burlage and Peyton Souvenir went back-to-back to grow the lead to 10-4 by 5:48, and a pair of foul shots by Burlage had LC State leading 14-11 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started with a 3-pointer by Abby Farmer. Burland scored eight-straight Warrior points to give LC State a 25-18 advantage by the 4:21 mark. Baskets from Burland and Burlage closed out the first half with the Warriors in front 31-28.
Burlage tallied seven-straight on a basket and four free throws to open the second half, and a layup by Burlage sparked an eight-point rally to grow the advantage to 49-34, the largest lead of the game, at 2:37. Farmer found Burland in the final seconds to make it 51-38 heading into the final 10 minutes.
The Orediggers struck first in the fourth with back-to-back buckets, but Burland cut the run with an assist from Souvenir. With less than two minutes to play Nielson hit a 3 and drained a pair of free throws, before two more from Souvenir at the charity strip sealed the win. The Warriors took the contest 63-52.
Burlage led the Warriors with 21 points and 10 boards. Burland filled up the stat sheet with 14 points, six rebounds and a team-high five assists.
Tech's Tavia Rooney led the Diggers with 15 points, while Mesa Williams added 13. Kaylee Zard led Tech on the boards with 13 rebounds.
The Warriors were 10-for-11 from the free throw line and held Tech to 32.8 percent from the field and 15 percent from 3-point range.
LC State defeated Montana Tech in three of the season's four matchups.
"We just know our opponents so well – their strengths, their weaknesses," Souvenir explained. "It almost makes it harder because they have the same stuff – they know our strengths and our weaknesses. That is why the fourth time you play a team the score goes down because it's so much harder to score when a team knows what you're going to do before you even know sometimes.
"With these games, you're playing to win, but you're also playing to have more games," Souvenir added. "You're playing to have more time to play with each other because this a single-elimination tournament."
With the victory, LC State advances to the Frontier Conference Semifinal and will head to Dillon, Mont., to take on the second-seeded No. 17 Montana Western Bulldogs. Tip off for the contest is set for 6 p.m. PT.
