LEWISTON, Idaho – The Lewis-Clark State Women's Basketball team had a tall hill to climb at the beginning of the 2021-22 campaign. All five starters from the previous season had graduated, and no returners averaged more than 14 minutes per game last season. The Warrior women, picked to finish third in the Cascade Conference preseason poll, wrapped up their first full season in the CCC as the regular-season conference champions.
The Warriors battled with Oregon Tech on Saturday to earn a 72-65 come-from-behind victory in the regular-season finale and cap a perfect regular season at home. Prior to the start of the contest, LC State celebrated its lone senior,
Heidi Sellmann, who went on to put together one of her best games of the season. At the other end of the spectrum, freshman
Ellie Sander also filled the stat sheet and scored a career-best. Both ended the contest with 13 points, behind
Callie Stevens' 22.
"I thought we beat a really good team tonight," Head Coach
Brian Orr said. "OIT has some talented players and they had a good plan to attack our matchup up zone. We made a small adjustment in the third quarter and got a few big stops. Eventually, we forced a couple of big turnovers and our transition game got going in the fourth and I thought that was difference. Every team leaves a legacy, and this team just added a championship to theirs."
Oregon Tech won the first quarter after jumping out to 6-0 lead. Sellmann scored the first bucket for LC State at 7:32, but the Lady Owls continued to outshoot the Warriors and took a 17-15 lead into the second frame.
A 3 by
Callie Stevens put the Warriors in front in the opening minutes of the new quarter, and back-to-back baskets by
Ellie Sander and
Sara Muehlhausen made it a 25-19 LC State lead by 5:16, but OIT rallied to regain the lead at 34-31.
Maddie Holm drained a 3 in the final seconds to beat the buzzer and send the game into the half tied 34-34.
OIT pushed its lead out to 46-38 in the first five minutes of the third quarter. Stevens and
Adyson Clabby each took advantage of a pair of foul shots to cut the deficit to four, and a steal by
Mataya Green gave Sander the ball for a 3 to make it 46-45 with three minutes on the clock.
Sander started the fourth quarter with two free throws to make it a one-point game (50-49), before giving the Warriors a 51-50 lead a minute later on an assist from Holm. The Lady Owls responded to regain the lead as a back-and-forth ensued. Back-to-back baskets by Stevens and Holm gave LC a 55-52 edge.
Clabby drained a floater at 5:57 before a steal kept the ball with the Warriors. Sellmann added four points in the span of a minute to keep LC ahead as the clock ran down under 3:00, and Clabby fought her way to the basket to make it a 62-57 advantage. Sander answered an OIT bucket before four free throws by Stevens ended things.
Stevens led all scorers with 22 points, while Sellmann and Sander each dropped 13. Sander's point total was a career-best. Holm grabbed nine rebounds, Sellmann had eight and Sander grabbed six.
LC State will play host every game of the Cascade Conference Championship Tournament, presented by U.S. Bank, that it plays in. The Warriors will play in the CCC quarterfinal on Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. in the P1CU Activity Center. Pairings will be announced by the conference on Saturday night.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
