Corban Builds First Half Lead, Defeats Evergreen Women
OLYMPIA – Corban held off an Evergreen second half comeback and come away from CRC Gymnasium with a 65-51 Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s basketball victory on Friday night.
The win was the second in two conference games for the visiting Warriors, who also improved their season record to 7-6. The Geoducks dropped to 0-3 in the conference and are now 6-4 for the season.
Jade Lowery finished one point short of her season scoring average with 13 points to lead the visiting Warriors. She added a game-high six assists and grabbed four rebounds. Sadie Pilgeram, the best three-point shooter in the conference, was perfect on four tries from beyond the arc and finished with 12 points. Tara Van Weerdhuizen was a force in the paint with 11 points, nine rebounds, one block and several altered shots, while Julia Young added 11 for the winners.
Sadee Jones tallied 13 points and nine rebounds to lead the Geoducks, followed by LaNiecia Weatherspoon with 12 points and six rebounds and Brittany Gray with 10 points and eight boards.
Using full court trapping pressure and shuttling fresh bodies off the bench at every opportunity, the Warriors opened up a 13-point first half lead before settling for a 32-21 advantage at the break.
The Warriors scored the first five points of the game before Evergreen pulled within a point, 12-11, on a basket by Karina Gee.
Corban continued their full court pressure and gradually pulled away, taking its first double-digit lead at 23-13 on a free throw by Van Weerdhuizen with about eight minutes remaining. The visitor’s largest lead of the opening period, 28-15, came on a Van Weerdhuizen layup with 6:07 left in the half.
After trailing by double digits for the opening part of the second half, the Geoducks rallied to within five points, 54-49, on a three-point basket by Natasha Trinidad with 5:00 showing on the clock. Corban scored the next six points, all on layups, to take an 11-point lead and put the contest away.
Evergreen returns to action at 3 p.m. Saturday when it hosts the Northwest Christian Beacons.