Corban Women Share CCC Crown

Corban senior Kendall Dionne scored a career-high 27 points Saturday. Photo: Corban Athletics

SALEM - Senior Kendall Dionne scored a career-high 27 points on 9-for-19 shooting from the field, including 7-for-14 from behind the 3-point line, as Corban's women's basketball team captured a share of the conference regular season title thanks to a 94-84 win over Southern Oregon on Saturday.

Dionne's hot-hand from long distance warmed up early as she nailed her second attempt from beyond the arc with 14:50 left in the first half that gave the Warriors their first lead (7-6) after junior Jessica Steigleman spotted her open.

Nearly eight minutes later, at the first half's seven-minute mark, Dionne received a pass from senior Tosha Wilson and knocked down her third three-pointer that rested Corban's lead at 25-16.

Corban then grasped their largest lead of the first stanza (10) twice in the last two-and-a-half minutes (2:08 & 1:42) with a lay-up by Steigleman and a jump shot by Wilson that put the scores at 37-27 and 39-29 on the scoreboard.

The visiting Raiders' forward Jackie Speer grabbed three of her nine first half offensive rebounds (16 total in the first half) with the first coming with 1:30 remained before teams headed into the locker rooms with Corban on top, 39-30.

Coming off the break, the Warriors pushed their lead to 50-35 as 15:59 remained in the game when a pass by senior Jessi Norton turned into a Brianne Carras lay-in.

Just 13 seconds later (15:46), Southern Oregon's Chelsey Zimmerman recorded one of her 11 assists on the night by feeding Speer who tallied the following lay-up that cut Corban's lead to 13 (50-37).

Dionne and Steigleman maximized the home team's lead (26) on two separate occasions when the latter dished the ball off to the former, who easily converted a lay-in with 7:44 left in the game and again, with 7:09 remaining when Steigleman found the bottom of the net on one of her nine field goals.

Despite having the game sealed on Senior Recognition Night, the Warriors relinquished a minor portion of their lead when the Raider's Whitney Scott tossed the ball to teammate Andi Peterson who finished a lay-in that brought Corban's lead to 84-68 with 3:28 left.

As the closing minutes ran off the clock, junior Katie Dennis, who ended with a game-high 1 block and 4 rebounds in just 14 minutes of play, Carras, Dionne, Norton, and Wilson were rewarded with overwhelming applause by a good-sized crowd as fifth-year head coach Dave Bale subbed each out separately.

Freshman Beth McLam, junior Mandy Peterson, and sophomore Rachel Steigleman concluded the game with a free throw apiece as the Corban Warriors' women's basketball team knocked off the visiting Red Raiders and clinched the co-championship crown from the Cascade Collegiate Conference 2007 regular season.

Dionne led all players in points, while both Steigleman and Wilson, who also went a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line, recorded 20 points each.

Norton finished with 12 points, a game-high 4 steals, and matched Wilson for the team lead in assists with six.

Carras landed a double-double performance with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Raiders were led by Peterson's 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the field, while Zimmerman added 22 points, a game-high 11 assists, and a team-high 3 steals with Speer helping the effort by chipping in 19 points and a game-high 22 rebounds.

As a team, Corban shot 34-for-74 (45.9%) from the field, including 8-for-26 (30.8%) from beyond the 3-point line.

The Warriors also tallied 18-for-25 (72.0%) from the free throw line.

On the other hand, Southern Oregon shot 26-for-62 (41.9%) from the field, including 4-for-19 (21.1%) from beyond the arc.

The Raiders also dropped in an impressive 28-for-37 (75.7%) from the charity stripe.

As the Warriors achieved their first conference co-championship in Corban's women's basketball history and fourteenth win in the last fifteen games, Corban improves to 24-6 overall, 15-3 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play.

Meanwhile, the Raiders of Southern Oregon fall to 18-10 overall, 11-7 in CCC action.

Due to a regular season tie with Eastern Oregon University thanks to an identical 15-3 conference records, a split between the two teams head-to-head, matching records versus conference opponents above .500, and even stem pert points, the Warriors earned the tournament's No. 2-seed as the result of the tie-breaking coin flip that went in favor of the Mountaineers.

Nonetheless, Corban returns to the court on Tuesday, February 20th, for a tournament-opening game against the tournament's No. 7-seeded Concordia beginning at 7:30 PM inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.

This will be the final post-season tournament for Coach Bale at the helm of the Warriors.

Story courtesy of James Young, Corban Sports Information Director Intern.

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