LEWISTON, Idaho –
Callie Stevens and the No. 22 LC State Women's Basketball team played their best game of the season when it was needed most.
Brian Orr earned the 500
th victory of his career and LC avenged its only on-court loss this season with a thrilling 71-67 victory over the Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers. Stevens dropped a career-high 30 points on 11 field goals to help put the Warriors in a tie atop the Cascade Conference leaderboard.
Saturday's win is the eighth straight for the women, and 20
th on the season (20-3, 14-3).
"You have to give EOU a lot of credit," Orr said. "They found some weaknesses in our matchup zone in the first half, and they shot a great 3-point percentage. We adjusted our defense in the second half and were able to do a better job of getting to their shooters. We had several players make some big plays on the offensive end and we were able to gain some ground in the third. Like last night, we really executed well in the fourth quarter to close it out."
Stevens' 30 points are the most by a Warrior this season, and her 11 field goals are a career-best.
Sara Muehlhausen posted a career-best 18 points with nine rebounds, and
Hannah Broyles drained a personal-best five 3-pointers to account for all 15 of her points.
"Callie had another great game," Orr added. "We ended up playing a two-player game with her and Sara down the stretch and they both made some big plays. This was definitely another team win."
The Warriors answered four points by EOU to eight of their own to take the lead two minutes into the contest. Muehlhausen got things started before back-to-back 3s by Stevens and Broyles made it 8-4. The Mounties evened the contest with 3:25 left in the quarter before finishing the first 10 minutes with a 21-18 advantage.
EOU stretched its lead to nine, 36-27, by 2:30 in the second frame before heading into halftime ahead 41-31.
LC State kicked things into gear in the second half. Broyles drained a 3 in the first 30 seconds, and a three-point play by Stevens sparked a run of 10 to bring the Warriors within on, 47-46, at 2:29. Eight of the 10 tallies came from Stevens.
Adyson Clabby kept the momentum up with a jumper to end the third quarter and keep LC within four.
Back-to-back triples by Broyles gave LC a 55-53 lead in the fourth. EOU battled to tie things up 64-64 with three minutes to play, but baskets from Muehlhausen and
Maddie Holm put the Warriors back in front a minute later. A jumper from Muehlhausen and a free throw by Stevens capped the scoring in the contest with LC on top 71-67.
Stevens led all scorers with 30 points in the contest to go with six assists and two steals. She was 11-for-17 from the field, 5-for-6 from the free throw line, drained three 3s, and had two steals. Muehlhausen chipped in18 points, nine boards, a block and a steal, and Broyles added 15 points, all on 3-pointers. Holm led the defense with 10 rebounds.
The Warriors shot 44.3 percent from the floor and made eight 3s. The LC defense tightened up in the second half to hold EOU to just 25 percent of its 3-point shots between the final two quarters.
Sailor Liefke led the Mounties with 27 points and five assists. Haley Robinett added 17 points, and Taylor Stricklin led the defense with nine points.
LC State hosts Walla Walla in the P1FCU Activity Center on Tuesday night. The contest is slated for 5:30 p.m.
Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
