by EL CAJON, Calif. —Shayleen Toehe (Navajo) scored the last 12 points for the Hawks including 6-of-6 from the charity stripe to seal the win for the SDC women’s basketball team Saturday night.
The Hawks defeated La Sierra 68-61 to move to 2-0 on the season.
Toehe scored a game-high 23 points from 6-of-10 shooting. She was 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, all within the last three minutes of the game.
Hannah Myers added 11 points and Colleen Murphywas next with 10.
The start of the game was not what the Hawks wanted as the Golden Eagles scored the first six points in the first two minutes. SDC missed four shots and turned the ball over twice in that span.
Eric McCarter broke the run for the Hawks and Henriette Gahmig knocked down a triple to cut the deficit down to one. The Hawks grabbed their first lead of the game when Kaitlyn McKinney converted her layup off a pass from McCarter for the 15-14 lead. They were able to hold that lead into the second quarter.
But to start off the second, the Golden Eagles went on another big run, 11-1, to take a 28-19 advantage. SDC trimmed the deficit down to one with a McKinney triple with 1:08 in the half.
The Hawks held serve in the third quarter keeping their lead to set up a dramatic fourth-quarter win.
Myers’ layup to start the fourth gave SDC a 52-46 lead but back-to-back triples from LSU quickly tied the game at 52-52. The Golden Eagles later regained the lead at 56-54 with 5:50 remaining in the game. LSU led by as much as four in the fourth. Colleen Murphy’s layup with 4:37 remaining trimmed their deficit to two points.
With 3:35 left in the game, one of Toehe’s treys tied the score at 59-59. The 3-pointer started her scoring barrage in the fourth as she helped the Hawks close the game down late with four free throws in the last 18 seconds.
SDC shot 40 percent from the floor and beyond the arc. They out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 38-35 but turned the ball over 17 times.
The Hawks will travel to play Walla Walla College on Nov. 9 and 10 before finishing their Pacific Northwest trip with a game against Multnomah on Nov. 12.
