Turnovers Plague Geoducks in Loss to Coyotes

1/30/2016 10:17:38 PM

College of Idaho made the most of The Evergreen State College turnovers and a 25-12 third quarter scoring advantage Saturday night to earn a 75-66 Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s basketball win in CRC Gymnasium.

In picking up the victory, the Coyotes (6-15 overall, 5-10 CCC) swept the season series from the Geoducks (3-17, 3-12), which could factor in should a tiebreaker be needed to determine conference playoff spots.

Gabi Fenumiai scored a game-high 23 points for the Geoducks and added 15 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Victoria Elleby scored 20 points off of the bench and Uriah Thomas grabbed 11 rebounds for Evergreen.

Evergreen, which finished at exactly 50 percent shooting for the game, enjoyed a massive 46-22 rebounding edge, but College of Idaho scored 34 points off of 25 Geoducks turnovers for the big difference in the outcome.

There were a total of 13 lead changes and two ties in the first quarter alone, with the Geoducks taking a 19-18 edge on a pair of free throws by Fenumiai with 12 seconds on the clock. Evergreen eventually built a nine-point lead, its largest of the game, when Elleby’s layup made it a 32-23 game at the midway point of the second quarter.

Evergreen shot 52 percent and grabbed 29 rebounds while the ‘Yotes shot just 29 percent and got 12 rebounds in the opening half.

Coming out of the locker room, the Coyotes made an adjustment to their full-court trapping defense, and the defensive intensity translated to the offensive end of the floor as the team shot 58 percent - including a number of layups following steals - in the game’s final 20 minutes.

Petra Lumpert scored 12 of her team-high 16 points and Ryleigh Swagerty got all of her 14 points during the final 20 minutes for College of Idaho.

Trailing 38-30, College of Idaho turned the tide of the game by scoring 15 unanswered points over a 2 ½-minute period. Evergreen pulled to within two points, but the Coyotes pulled away for the nine-point win.

In addition to Lumpert’s 16 points and Swagerty’s 14, Jaycin Tini scored 13 points and Kiara Skinner added 11. Tiin led her team with seven rebounds and Lumpert contributed five assists for College of Idaho, which ended up shooting 40 percent from the field.

The Geoducks head to Oregon next weekend for games at Northwest Christian on Friday and Corban on Saturday.