LEWISTON, Idaho – Showing off one of the top transition offenses in the NAIA, the Lewis-Clark State College Women’s Basketball team used a few quick spurts to pull away and defeat Eastern Oregon University 79-61 in non-league play at the Activity Center on Thursday.
Although the two teams are both members of the Cascade Collegiate Conference, the contest was a nonleague game. LC improves to 8-4 overall while Eastern Oregon was making its season debut because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The Warriors, ranked No. 23 in the latest NAIA poll, used runs of 14-5 and 12-2 in the second quarter, and then started the second half with a 10-3 spurt to comfortably pull away. LC led by as much as 29 in the third quarter.
“If you look at Synergy (a statistical analytics program) and look at our points per possession, we are definitely on of the best fastbreak teams in the NAIA,” LC State coach Brian Orr said. “Our transition offense has really been the best and most consistent part of our offense all season. It is something we have really worked on and we accent it in practice every day.”
Eastern Oregon buried three 3-pointers in the see-saw opening quarter, which saw LC grab a 19-18 advantage. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Kiara Burlage and Peyton Souvenir ended a 14-5 run to start the second quarter and push the Warriors’ lead to 33-23. Five different Warriors scored during a 12-2 run to help LC score 29 points in the second quarter and take a 48-29 halftime advantage.
“I was really pleased with our second quarter performance,” Orr said. “We got up and down the floor. I thought it was our offense that was clicking, but it was really our transition game that got us going.”
Orr pointed out the play of junior guard Abby Farmer for getting the Warriors’ rolling. She had all three of her assists in the quarter and also had two of LC’s 11 steals. The Warriors forced 23 turnovers in the game.
Farmer had five of her 11 points during a 10-2 Warrior run to start the second half. LC eventually led 69-40 and the Mountaineers could get no closer than the final margin.
Burlage had another solid outing with a game-high 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting. She also added nine rebounds. Jansen Edmiston finished with 11 points, eight assists and three steals.
“I thought our players were as good as they have been all year today,” Orr said. “I’m proud of them.”
For the game, LC shot the ball well but cooled off considerably in the fourth quarter. It finished the game 32-of-77 for 41.6 percent and 7-of-19 from the 3-point line for 36.8 percent.
Eastern Oregon was 24-of-69 from the field, 34.8 percent, and 11-of-36 at the 3-point line, 30.6 percent.
“I thought our defense looked really solid the whole game,’’ Orr said. “There were a couple of little things in the first half, but the second half I thought we kept up the intensity.”
Orr said there was extra satisfaction for him with Thursday’s win.
“Eastern Oregon is one of the best coached teams in our league,” he said. “They are always a hard team to beat. I actually have a losing record against Eastern Oregon so I make sure I come out with a chip on my shoulder every single time we play them and I thought our girls responded today. I thought we really got after them.”
The Warriors are back in regular season action Saturday when they head to Caldwell to face College of Idaho at 6 p.m. LC and the College of Idaho are the only two Cascade teams that will play enough games to qualify for the NAIA national tournament. That means the two will play a best-of-three series later this month to determine the conference’s automatic qualifier to the national tournament.