Tana Stickney (dribbling) had 17 points for the Mountaineers in their victory Friday vs. Corban.
Flett, Stickney Lead EOU Over Corban
SALEM, Ore. – Freshman Tess Bennett (Sutherlin, Ore.) registered game highs of 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field and eight rebounds, but it was not enough as Corban's women's basketball team fell to Eastern Oregon, 80-71, Friday night inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
With tonight's result on the program's third annual Pink Zone Night, Corban falls to 11-17 overall and 6-10 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play. Meanwhile, Eastern Oregon improves to 16-9 overall and 10-5 in league play.
Bennett was aided scoring-wise by a trio of Warriors – sophomore Katie Steigleman (Eugene, Ore.), sophomore Becky Buhler (Clackamas, Ore.), and junior Jennesa Miller (Mica, Wash.) – that scored 15, 13, and 11 points respectively. On the boards, Miller and Buhler aided Bennett with four and three rebounds respectively to go along with freshman Emily Tsugawa's (Gladstone, Ore.) team-leading four assists.
Corban opened the game scoring the first six points with Bennett capping the run with a deep three-pointer as the shot clock expired with 18:18 remaining. The host Warriors would extend their lead to as much as eight points (21-13) following a Buhler three-pointer with just under 11 minutes left. Eastern Oregon would then use an 11-3 run over a span of four minutes en route to tying the score at 24-24 thanks to a pair of Salena Leavitt free throws with 5:59 remaining. Both teams would battle back and forth over the remainder of the first half, as the visiting Mountaineers took a three-point lead (37-34) into the locker room thanks to a half-closing 5-0 run in the final 98 seconds.
The second half would begin with Eastern Oregon extending its lead to nine points (54-45) after a Kyle Miller three-pointer with 12:28 on the clock. Corban would creep back to within four points (54-50) thanks to a 5-0 run that ended with a Steigleman three-pointer with 11:34 left. Unfortunately that would be as close as the Warriors would get, as Eastern Oregon used timely shooting and rebounding to increase its lead to a game-high 15 points (71-56) with 6:12 left thanks to a Leavitt jumper. Corban would cut the visiting Mountaineers' lead to nine points (80-71) at the final buzzer thanks to a closing 15-9 run, but the clock was not the Warriors' friend down the stretch.
Eastern Oregon was led in scoring by a pair of Mountaineers – Samantha Flett and Tana Stickney – who scored 17 points each, while Miller added 16 points. On the boards, Flett pulled down a team-leading five rebounds to go along with Miller's game-high five assists.
As a team, Corban shot 26-for-56 (46.4%) from the field to go along with an 8-for-18 (44.4%) showing from beyond the three-point line and an 11-for-16 (68.8%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Eastern Oregon was 27-for-47 (57.4%) from the field, 11-for-21 (52.4%) from long distance, and 15-for-17 (88.2%) at the charity stripe.
Corban will return the court tomorrow night – Saturday, February 13th – against the NAIA's No. 16-ranked College of Idaho beginning at 5:30 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center in Salem.