by HAVRE, Mont. – Showing again why it has one of the NAIA’s top defenses, the Lewis-Clark State College women’s basketball team took over sole possession of first place in the Frontier Conference with a 71-51 win over Montana State-Northern in a battle of NAIA Top 25 teams on Saturday night.
LCSC (15-3 overall, 6-1 in league play) is the only FC team with one loss after Rocky Mountain fell to Carroll on Saturday night. The 20th-ranked Warriors stretched their win streak to seven and also completed a strong weekend. LCSC defeated Great Falls 77-68 on Friday night.
LCSC entered the week with the NAIA’s top field goal percentage defense as it allowed opponents to shoot only 30.7 percent from the field. LCSC also was ranked sixth in points allowed per game at 52.5.
The Warriors nearly matched those numbers as their defense held the No. 8-ranked Skylights (14-3, 3-3) to just nine points in the 10-minute second quarter, which enabled LCSC to grab a 34-24 halftime advantage. MSU-Northern hit only 17-of-51 shots from the field for 33.3 percent.
“Our zone defense did the job tonight,” LCSC coach Brian Orr said. “And this is about the first time in three years we outboarded people in back to back league games. One of our weaknesses is getting better.”
In only one of its six league victories have the Warriors allowed an opponent to shoot better than 38.4 percent from the field.
“Some of this is because of our leadership,” Orr explained. “Our junior class and senior class are really into it. Their communication skills on the defensive end have improved so much that they are making adjustments on their own. From day 1, we want them to think like coaches on the floor and they are really communicating, which is really exciting to see. Our defensive efforts have been tremendous.”
Even though LCSC opened up a 7-0 lead in the opening quarter, MSU-Northern did have some offensive success and outscored the Warriors 15-2 over a seven-minute stretch to take a 15-11 lead, its largest of the night.
“We came out in the first quarter and got going right off the bat and then we kind of sputtered offensively,” Orr said. “We were having trouble guarding them off the dribble and it was foul after foul, so from the second quarter on, we went with our zone.”
The switch to the zone helped LCSC outscore MSU-Northern 60-36 the rest of the way. The Warriors’ depth played a big role as LCSC’s bench outscored the Skylights’ bench 39-3. LCSC also had 40 points in the paint, compared to 28 for Northern.
After it trailed by 10 at halftime, MSU-Northern cut the margin to seven twice in the third quarter, but LCSC upped it to as much as at 52-35 entering the final 10 minutes.
The Skylights put up another run as they scored the first seven points in the fourth quarter to cut it to 52-44 with 8:16 remaining, but LCSC senior Hannah Byerly (SR/Caldwell, Idaho) and junior Natahnee Spencer (Nez Perce Tribe) scored the next five points to push the lead back to double digits where it stayed. The Skylights scored only four points in the final eight minutes of the game as LCSC led by as much as 23.
“We were really good offensively in the second half,” Orr said. “This was really a team effort. I know we had four players in double figures but everybody scored and everybody contributed in a positive way. And we had so many people make big plays. It was just one after another.”
LCSC had a strong night from the field as it hit an even 50 percent of its shots (27-of-54) and was 6-of-11 from the 3-point line. The Warriors also held a 34-27 rebounding edge and forced 11 turnovers in the contest.
Sophomore Brittany Tackett (SO/Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) led a balanced Warrior attack with 13 points, while junior guard Brooke Litalien (JR/Post Falls, Idaho) added 11. Spencer and Caelyn Orlandi (JR/Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) each had 10, while freshman Hailey Turner(FR/Richland, Wash.) added eight. Turner, Orlandi and Megan Risinger (JR/Tigard, Ore.) had five rebounds apiece to pace the Warriors in that category, while Orlandi added three assists.
MSU-Northern’s Natalee Faupel led all players with 18 points and six rebounds, but her teammates combined to go 11-of-39 from the field for 28.2 percent.
LCSC will resume league play next Saturday night at home in a key contest against second-place and No. 5-ranked Carroll (15-2, 5-2). Earlier this season in Helena, Mont., the Warriors defeated the Saints 64-54. The 18-game conference schedule features each team playing the remaining six three times during the season.
