Owls Fall Short to No. 23 College of Idaho

12/5/2008 9:17:14 PM

Klamath Falls, Ore. – Despite hitting on 11-24 from long range, the Lady Owls dropped a nail biter on opening night of Cascade Collegiate Conference play to College of Idaho 75-74.

Tech’s Amanda Johnston finished with a career-high 27 points to lead all scorers, while Kellie Morey knocked down 16 points and Lisa Busch 13.

The Yotes had four players in double-figures led by Nicole Bruce with 13. Christon Vander Esch netted12 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Katie Strunk finished with 12 points and Meghan Hughes 11.

The Owls jumped out to a 15-9 lead behind five treys to start the game. Tech eventually pushed the lead to nine points on two occasions, the last at 31-22 with 6:40 remaining in the first half. A 10-0 Yote run gave the lead back to C of I with 4:08 remaining, as the Owls found themselves down two at the half 37-35.

Tech again came out hot, jumping to a five point lead of 42-37, to start the second period. A C of I five point run would then tie the contest at 42-42. The Yotes then gained and eight point edge at 64-56 with 7:18 on the clock. The Owls kept it close, finding themselves down just two points at 73-71 with under a minute remaining. After an Owl timeout and under twenty seconds to play, Meagan Miyasaka found a wide-open Nicole Morgan for a 3-pointer to take the lead, but Morgan’s shot would miss the target wide-right. The loose ball was grabbed by Alexandria Allen, who calmly sank both free throws to ice the game with 5.6 seconds remaining. Tech’s Amanda Johnston hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it was not enough, as the Yotes pulled out the squeaker 75-74.

The Lady Owls drop to 7-3 on the season and 0-1 in CCC play and will meet Eastern Oregon, losers tonight to Southern Oregon 91-66, Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

C of I, winners of nine-straight, improve to 9-1 and 1-0 in CCC action and will travel to Ashland to play Southern Oregon University.