Full Court Pressure Haunts the Lady Wolves in 70-105 Loss to College of Idaho
Charles Fletcher- Sports Writer
College Place, Wash -The College of Idaho Yotes (1-7, 1-1) earned their first win in Cascade Conference play on Sunday afternoon, defeating Walla Walla University by a score of 105-70, and leaving the Wolves to keep searching for a conference win of their own.
Both teams displayed high-octane offense in the opening minutes of the contest with the Yotes starting out 4-9 from the field and the Wolves going 4-7 in an early 9-9 tie. Midway through the first quarter, the Wolves held a slim 13-11 lead after jump shots by Emily Hathaway and Lexi Ehlers. The lead was short-lived, however, as the Yotes' full court press forced the Wolves into early turnovers leading to transition buckets to give College of Idaho a 21-18 lead. A triple by Jaycin Tini gave the Yotes the largest lead of the game so far at 7 points heading into the second quarter.
The two teams traded buckets in the early stages of the second, with the Yotes maintaining their lead at 34-26 with six minutes remaining. At the five minute mark the Yotes' full court pressure began to show it's teeth yet again, opening the door for College of Idaho to extend their lead. That's exactly what they did, as they built their advantage to 10 at 43-33 with three minutes left in the first half. It appeared that fatigue began to take a toll on the Wolves in the final minute of the half as they suffered multiple turnovers leading to transition buckets for the Yotes who held a 52-40 lead at the half.
College of Idaho kept the pressure on to start the third quarter and managed to open up a 58-43 lead, forcing Wolves head coach Paul Jessup to use a timeout. The Wolves struggled to find a way to stifle the Yotes' momentum, as Petra Lumpert sunk a midrange jumper to give her team their biggest lead of the night at 66-43 with six minutes remaining in the quarter. The College of Idaho press began to take the game out of reach in the final minutes of the third as the Wolves struggled to get the ball up and the Yotes continued to take advantage by converting transition opportunities into points. College of Idaho boasted an 89-53 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Although the Wolves defense sured up in the fourth quarter, the College of Idaho pressure defense provided too big of an obstacle for the Wolves to mount a significant comeback. The Yotes went on to get the win by a score of 105-70.
College of Idaho was led by Petra Lumpert who accumulated 24 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Madison Pilster and Jaycin Tini also had good games for the Yotes with 15 and 17 points, respectively.
Alyssa Blankenship had one of her best games of the season, racking up a game high 25 points and 5 rebounds for the Wolves.
The Lady Wolves will be back in action on the December 16 when they face Multnomah at 11:00a.m. in Portland, Oregon.
For the Gallery CLICK HERE