Geoducks Stung Early in 72-59 Loss to Bees
Visiting St. Ambrose University spoiled The Evergreen State College's Thanksgiving on Wednesday afternoon with a 72-59 non-conference women's basketball victory at CRC Gymnasium.
The Bees (4-4) never trailed, taking a 13-2 lead in the opening minutes and maintaining that advantage throughout in handing the loss to the Geoducks (0-2).
Hannah Bindner hit a pair of free throws 25 seconds into the contest for the Bees and Victoria Elleby hit a layup at the other end of the floor seven seconds later to tie the score. St. Ambrose scored the next 11 points, including two straight three-pointers from Sydney Greiner, another three from Bindner and two free throws from Greiner. That made the score 13-2 in SAU's favor at 6:31 of the first quarter. St. Ambrose led by as many as 12 points on several occasions in the first quarter before settling for a 26-18 lead heading into the second period.
Gabi Fenumiai came off the bench and scored 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting to keep the Geoducks close through the first 10 minutes.
Evergreen pulled to within six points, 30-24, on a pair of Elleby free throws with 6:03 left in the second quarter, but Devan Griffin scored 10 of her team's 16 points in the quarter, including the first four and last six, to keep the Bees on top by a 42-35 score at the half.
Bindner hit a pair of threes - she was perfect on three long-range attempts during the game - and Emily Soy added another early in the third quarter to help SAU take a 53-38 lead, and they maintained a double-digit margin throughout the remainder of the contest. Lauren Brummell's layup with seven seconds left in the quarter gave the Bees a 63-55 advantage heading into the final period.
St. Ambrose took its largest lead of the game, 66-45 early in the period before Evergreen eventually whittled its deficit down to 13 points by the end of the game. Uriah Thomas scored five of her nine points down the stretch for the Geoducks.
Griffin led the Bees with 16 points and she tied Greiner for team honors with five rebounds. Greiner and Bindner both scored 12 points and Brette Logic came off the bench to contribute four of her team's 16 assists on 24 field goals.
Fenumiai scored 14 of her game-high 18 for Evergreen in the opening two quarters, and Elleby added 11 for the hosts. Fenumiai and Autumn Moorcroft led the Geoducks with seven rebounds apiece. Like St. Ambrose, Evergreen shared the ball well on offense with 18 assists on 25 field goals, led by Jada DeSautel-Ootsey with four.
While the Geoducks shot a better field goal percentage than than St. Ambrose, 46 percent compared to 41 percent - they committed 22 turnovers compared to just nine for the visitors. As a result, St. Ambrose scored 24 points off of turnovers compared to just five for Evergreen. The Bees aided their cause with 17-for-19 accuracy at the foul line and outscored the Geoducks by 11 points from that spot.
Evergreen returns to action at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, when it opens Cascade Collegiate Conference play at Northwest University.