Geoducks Weather Foul Trouble to Beat Owls
OLYMPIA - The Evergreen State College weathered second half foul trouble and a limited bench to defeat the visiting Oregon Tech Owls, 74-63, in a Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball game played at CRC Gymnasium.
With the win the Geoducks improve to 13-7 overall and to 7-6 in the conference. They are all alone in fourth place and moved 1 1/2 games ahead of both Oregon Tech and Northwest Christian, who are tied for fifth place. Oregon Tech is 17-9 overall and 6-8 in the conference.
"We have committed to not being stuck on the outcome, and the process of the little things is why we are successful, period," Evergreen head coach Jennifer Schooler said following the victory. "Win or lose, scoreboard or no scoreboard, today six bodies setting and using screens, making great passes, making adjustments defensively, is why the scoreboard is right tonight."
It also helps to have talent on the floor. LaNiecia Weatherspoon scored 21 points and both Sadee Jones and Uriah Thomas recorded double-doubles in the victory.
Weatherspoon was the team's leading scorer for the second consecutive contest, this time pouring in 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the floor and 5-for-6 from the free throw line. She got plenty of help from Jones, who collected her seventh consecutive double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, and from Thomas, whose double-double consisted of 16 points and a game-best 13 rebounds.
There were plenty of plaudits – and passes – to go around, however, as the Geoducks finished the game with 16 assists on their 26 made baskets. Thomas and Karina Gee both finished with four assists to lead the team in that category. The Geoducks also had a 39-25 dominance on the boards. Evergreen was 26-for-55 from the field for 47 percent, and they were outstanding at the foul line, going 18-for-21 for 86 percent.
Carrie Thibault led Oregon Tech with 19 points, including an impressive 5-for-7 from beyond the three-point line. Megan Whetstone scored all 14 of her points in the second half and she led her team with seven rebounds, while Karly LeVeque finished with 13 points.
The visiting Owls scored the game's first seven points before Gee got the Geoducks on the board with a three-point shot nearly four minutes into the game. Evergreen tied the game at 7-7, took its first lead at 10-9 on Weatherspoon's three-pointer at the 13:06 mark, and never again trailed. What looked to be a low-scoring first half quickly became an up-and-down affair and the Geoducks, after leading by as many as 12 points, setting for a 42-32 halftime edge.
The Geoducks took their largest lead of the game at 13 points, 48-35, on Weatherspoon's layup three minutes into the second half, and they were able to fight off several surges by Oregon Tech.
It did get a little dicey for the hosts in the second half, however, because of foul trouble.
Evergreen played the game with just six players as their seventh, Irene Moore, was lost for the season with a broken collar bone suffered in a non-practice accident. With just one reserve on the bench the Geoducks had little wiggle room in terms of fouls, so when three players picked up their fourth foul at various times in the second half it looked grim for the home team. Natasha Trinidad picked up her fourth foul with 13:24 to play, Jones got hers with 11:23 to play, and Randi Boseman picked up her fourth with 7:37 on the clock. None of the three fouled out and that played a huge part in the outcome.
"We just made adjustments and stayed home," Schooler said of how her team managed to get by with their foul issues. "(OIT) wanted to penetrate and kick. We made some silly decisions early (in the game) and with six bodies you have no freedom. We stayed home and (OIT) struggled."
In fact, the Owls shot just 33 percent in the second half and finished at 41 percent for the game.
Evergreen gets right back to conference action at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow when nationally ranked Southern Oregon comes to CRC Gymnasium.