Kylie Hardison had 16 points in Lady Yotes win over Walla Walla
CALDWELL, Idaho - Scoring the first 35 points of the contest, The College of Idaho routed short-handed Walla Walla University, 96-27, in the final game of the 12th Annual Best Western Caldwell Inn and Suites Lady Yote Classic in the J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
The Lady Yotes (5-3) shared the tourney title with Eastern Oregon, who used a second half run to sprint past Fresno Pacific, 71-47.
The C of I held the Wolves (0-9) off the scoreboard for the first 12 minutes of the game, going 0-for-17 from the floor – as back-to-back Laura Geis and Felicity Jones treys gave the Yotes a 9-0 lead. Three straight fastbreak buckets, the last by Dayna Drager, pushed the margin to 21-0, while Drager canned a trey 11 minutes into the game to make it 35-0.
Leading 44-10 at the break, the Coyotes opened the second half on a 19-2 run, getting three-straight Meghan Hughes jumpers and seven Geis points, to take a 63-12 lead. The margin would balloon to 92-22 in the final minutes – as The C of I scored their fourth-highest output at home in program history, just three points shy of the previous best (99 points vs. Oregon Tech in 2009-10).
Geis led all scorers with 18 points and eight rebounds – one of five Coyotes in double figures. Kylie Hardison had 16 points – including four three-pointers, with Aleah Lowber recording 16 points and 11 rebounds. Drager scored 14 and Hughes 10 for The C of I – which held a commanding 61-19 edge on the glass and hit 56-percent of their field goal attempts.
WWU was led by Johanna Uribe with 11 points, as the Wolves connected on just 9-of-53 shots.
For the fourth time in the tournament history, the Yotes will share the crown with Eastern (7-1) – which got 18 points from guard Brooke Randall in the victory.
After trailing by as many as 15 in the first half, the Sunbirds (5-3) scored the first six points of the second half, closing with 35-28, but a technical foul on the FPU bench breathed new life the Mountaineers – fueling an 18-2 run, keyed by three’s from Dominique Johnson and Kelsea Hurliman, to break the game wide open.
Korrie Bourn scored 12 points and added 10 rebounds in the win, with Kyle Mille scoring 11 – all coming on a perfect day at the foul line. Brandi Blackwell scored 12 points and had nine rebounds in the loss for FPU.
The C of I and Eastern both open Cascade Conference play next weekend – traveling to Warner Pacific and Concordia.