LEWISTON, Idaho – The No. 19 LC State Women's Basketball team is on to the Cascade Conference Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, after a 71-53 victory over fourth-seeded Bushnell on Friday.
Callie Stevens dropped 26 points, while
Maddie Holm and
Sara Muehlhausen each grabbed 13 rebounds.
With the victory, the Warriors will host the title game of the CCC postseason tournament on Monday. LC will take on second-seeded Southern Oregon University in the P1FCU Activity Center at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at lcwarriors.com/tickets.
"We got out to a quick start, but after the first quarter we struggled shooting the ball," Head Coach
Brian Orr said. "Bushnell's full-court press gave us some problems, but it also put us in the open court and we got a couple easy ones. Our defense was pretty solid all night and I thought we did a great job of controlling tempo and closing out the fourth quarter. This game helps prepare us for the next one because SOU is all about pressure defense."
Bushnell answered an opening bucket by
Maddie Holm with a 3 to jump in front early, but the Warriors gained momentum as the game got going. A triple by
Hannah Broyles at 8:01 put LC up 7-5 as part of a nine-point run.
Callie Stevens scored seven straight points on a pair of jumpers before hitting a 3 to make it 20-9 by 2:27, and the Warriors led 24-17 by the end of the first 10 minutes.
Rachel Schroeder opened the second frame with a 3-pointer, and
Ellie Sander and Schroeder went back-to-back to make it 31-21 at 4:22. The LC defense held Bushnell off the board for nearly five minutes before two free throws snapped the Beacons' drought.
Stevens scored before a Holm steal turned into a layup by Sander. A 3 by Holm capped the scoring before her defensive rebound sent LC into the locker room with a 37-26 advantage.
The Beacons and Warriors went basket-for-basket throughout the third quarter and Bushnell chipped away at the LC lead. The difference was cut to three (44-41) at 2:45, but a layup by Schroeder pushed the margin back to five to close the period.
Sander scored the first Warrior basket of the last quarter, and Schroeder,
Mataya Green and Stevens added foul shots to push the margin to 53-48 by 6:41. Schroeder grabbed an offensive rebound and quickly dished the ball to Stevens who promptly drained a 3.
Back-to-back buckets by Stevens and Holm finished off the seven-point run, and a layup by Stevens made it 69-53 in the final minute.
Stevens led the game with 26 points on a 10-for-22 night from the floor. Holm notched a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds to go with four steals, and Muehlhausen also grabbed 13 rebounds. Schroeder added 11 points.
The Warriors held Bushnell to 28.6 percent from 3-point range and had 12 steals. LC outrebounded the Beacons 54-38 and went 9-for-10 from the charity stripe.
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