Geoducks Lead Throughout in Caging Lions
The Evergreen State College will play in the postseason after defeating the visiting Multnomah University Lions, 72-40, in a Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball game played Friday night inside Costantino Recreation Center.
Alexcis Higginbotham scored 11 points and Deidra Miller and Jahpera McEachin both had 10 as the Geoducks (10-13 overall, 8-11 CCC) led throughout to put an end to their seven-game losing streak. All 10 players on the roster scored and had at least one rebound.
The Geoducks will make their ninth appearance in the conference tournament that gets underway next Tuesday with four quarterfinal round games at the top four-seeded teams.
The Geoducks shot 59 percent from the field in the first 10 minutes and took their first double-digit lead just 2 1/2 minutes into a first quarter that saw them race out to a 28-12 advantage. Evergreen added on, leading 41-20 at the half and taking its largest advantage at 37 points late in the fourth stanza.
Evergreen ended the game at 39 percent shooting (24-for-62) and just 17 percent from beyond the arc (3-for-18), but did enjoy a 49-43 rebounding edge.
Paris Sanders had a big game for the Lions (1-28, 1-18) with 10 points and a Multnomah single-high record 18 rebounds. Sanders cleared seven of her rebounds on the offensive end of the floor, and she also shot 5-for-9 in reaching double-digits in the points column.
The Lions shot 25 percent overall (16-for-65) and just 14 percent from three-point range (3-for-21).
The Geoducks close out the regular season tomorrow night against Warner Pacific, which is one game back of Evergreen and still vying with Northwest University for the eighth-and-final playoff berth. Northwest hosts Multnomah in Kirkland.