by LEWISTON, Idaho – The No. 13-ranked Lewis-Clark State College women’s basketball team opened the new year with a 75-37 win over Vancouver Island University at the Activity Center on Friday night. The Warriors held the Mariners to just eight points in the first half, and sophomore Natahnee Spencerled with a career-high 23 points.
“One of the things I was worried about was a little rust,” said LCSC head coach Brian Orr, whose team hadn’t played a game in two weeks. “It seemed like we turned down a couple of really easy shots, and I thought our interior game kind of rushed shots tonight, but beyond that, for as long as we had off, I was pretty happy with how we played.”
LC State, now 13-2, outscored the Mariners of Nanaimo, B.C., 36-8 in the opening half, and continued to add on in the second, extending its lead to 40 a couple times late in the second half.
Overall, the Warriors outshot VIU 46 to 30 percent after holding the Mariners to a 14 percent clip in the opening half (4-of-27). LCSC forced 27 turnovers, led 38-28 in rebounds, and also had a solid night from the outside, hitting 7-of-15 attempts.
Spencer, who picked up extra minutes off the bench because starting guard Brooke Litalien was out with a sprained ankle, was 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. The product of Lapwai, Idaho, also had three steals and was a perfect 8-for-8 at the foul line.
“Tahnee has put in some time in the gym the last couple weeks,” said Orr, “and whenever someone is in the gym with extra shots we always love it when they come out and get rewarded for it in a game and that certainly happened tonight.”
Other Warriors scoring in double digits included Tanis Fuller (15) and Caelyn Orlandi (13).Megan Risinger led with six rebounds, Kelli Rice led with four assists, and Shelby Barnes led with four steals. The Warriors totaled six blocks with two apiece coming from Risinger, McKenzie Heaslet, and Laurenna Plourd.
LCSC had a 37-0 advantage in points from the bench.
Vancouver Island (6-4), which is counting its two games against LC State as exhibitions, was paced by Amanda Tapia and Sienna Pollard who had 13 and 11 points, respectively.
“They shot a pretty good percentage in the second half and we surely don’t want that to happen tomorrow,” said Orr, “so we have to make some adjustments.
