Paris came up big for Multnomah with 13 rebounds and 3 assists as the Lions fell to visiting Evergreen State 67-48 Saturday evening.
EVERGREEN STATE 67, MULTNOMAH 48: Free Throw Follies Foil Lions in Fall to Geoducks
PORTLAND, Ore. – A big first-half difference in free-throw shooting put the Multnomah University Lions in a deep hole and they were never able to climb out of it, suffering a 67-48 setback to the visiting Evergreen State College Geoducks in a Cascade College Conference women's basketball game Saturday evening here at Lytle Gym.
The Lions spotted the Geoducks an early 5-0 lead on a layup by Imani Dunn and a three-pointer by Cherish Moss, but answered with seven straight of their own on a layup by Rachelle Tau and a trey and two free throws by Valerie Wakefield. A steal and layup by Wakefield gave the Lion another two-point lead at 9-7, but it was the last time the hosts were ahead. Alexcis Higgenbotham tied it with two free throws, Kaelin Williams-Kennedy broke the tie with a three at the 2:17 mark, and a jumper by Williams-Kennedy made it 14-9 at 1:30.
The Geoducks led 16-10 at the end of the opening period, then broke the game wide-open in the second, out-scoring the Lions 27-13 to go up 43-23 at the break. Evergreen took advantage of the free throw line to build its lead, hitting 11 of 15 from the stripe in the period to only two of four for the hosts, making five of six charity tosses at the 2:39 mark when two technicals were called on the Multnomah bench following a personal foul call against the Lions. That made the score 43-19, the Geoducks' largest lead of the half.
Evergreen remained comfortably in front the rest of the game, twice extending its lead to 25 points, the last at 63-38 on a Williams-Kennedy free throw with 5:03 left in the game. The Lions went on a 10-0 run at that point, Tiara Chinn hitting two threes and a layup, to cut the gap to 63-48 with 2:13 to go, but that was as close as they could get.
--- By the Numbers: Chinn had 15 points and Wakefield 11 to lead the Lions, while Paris Sanders grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and had three assists. Multnomah shot .288 (17-59) from the field and .476 (10-21) from the line.
Higgenbotham had a game-high 20 points for the Geoducks and Moss added 12, while Dunn's 11 rebounds helped them to a 42-37 edge on the boards. Jahpera McEachin handed out four assists. Evergreen shot .388 (19-49) from the floor and .724 (21-29) from the line.
Multnomah is now 0-10 on the season and 0-2 in the CCC, while Evergreen State is 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the conference.
--- Next: Multnomah goes to Warner Pacific College Tuesday for a CCC game at 5:30 p.m. … Evergreen State hosts the University of Puget Sound Wednesday in a non-conference contest at 7:00 p.m.