Warriors Earn Trip to NAIA Division II National Tournament

Corban will be gunning for its first-ever combined conference regular season and tournament titles.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

SALEM - Corban's women's basketball team earned the second Cascade Collegiate Conference berth to the NAIA D-II national tournament thanks to Friday nights win over Albertson College of Idaho, 76-64, and extended its overall winning streak to ten games which is one shy of the school record.

With Eastern Oregon University's win tonight over Oregon Institute of Technology, 53-34, the Warriors will go head-to-head with the Mountaineers in the conference tournament championship game with each team heading to Sioux City, Iowa.

Corban will be gunning for its first-ever combined conference regular season and tournament titles, as the Warriors lost the tie-breaking coin flip to Eastern Oregon less than one week ago.

Fifth-year head coach Dave Bale will be guiding his third team to the national tournament, as six players -- senior Jessi Norton, senior Tosha Wilson, senior Brianne Carras, junior Jessica Steigleman, junior Mandy Peterson, and junior Katie Dennis (Damacus, Ore.) -- will each be making their second trip in four years to Sioux City.

In 2005, then-Western Baptist advanced to the national tournament after defeating Albertson, 60-57, in the conference tournament championship game.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, first-round opponent Concordia (Neb.) ended their journey and season with a 70-58 loss.

This season, Corban captured its school-record 26th victory in 32 games to surpass the old mark of twenty-five wins set during the 1996-97 and 2005-06 seasons.

This is the third straight season that the Warriors have won more than twenty games, including a school-record 15 wins in conference play.

Having finished as the bride's maid on three separate occasions (1997, 2002 & 2006) in the final conference standings, Bale guided Corban to its first-ever regular season title via a regular season ending eight-game winning streak.

Corban will have to wait to see which team they will have to match up against in the opening round of the NAIA Division II national tournament when the pairings are released on either Wednesday, February 28th, or Thursday, March 1st.

Senior Jessi Norton scored a game-high 23 points thanks to a 9-for-12 performance at the free throw line, as Corban's women's basketball team defeated Albertson, 76-64, to advance to the conference tournament finals on Friday and earn an automatic berth to the NAIA Division II national tournament.

The Coyotes of Albertson College of Idaho came out strong with a full-court press; however, it was not long until the Warriors were able to break it.

Senior Kendall Dionne made a Hail Mary pass that landed in the hands of Norton, who quickly tossed it to the awaiting junior Jessica Steigleman to give Corban an early 3-0 lead.

As Corban continued to tear holes through the full-court defense of the visitors, senior Tosha Wilson scored her first points off two consecutive lay-ins that made the Warriors’ early advantage 9-4 and 11-4 with the latter coming as 15:56 remained on the first half clock.

The ‘Yotes stole their first lead of the game (14-13) when Magen Dufurrena was fouled on a jump shot near the left side of the hoop and converted a three-point play with 12:47 remaining in the opening half.

Albertson appeared to start pulling away when Savannah Ames canned her lone three-pointer of the first half with 8:05 left that increased the Coyotes lead to 20-16.

It was not enough to put the Warriors away, though, as the conference co-champions retook the lead (23-22) at the 5:19 mark when junior Mandy Peterson received a pass from Norton and banked a lay-up high off of the backboard.

Steigleman followed by getting in on the action when she handled a pass from Dionne and finished a field goal from the left corner of the court that progressed Corban’s lead to 28-22.

The Coyotes began to narrow the Warrior lead after Whitney Owen assisted Whitney Clark who popped a three-pointer that made the score 32-28 with 1:29 left to fall off the first half clock.

However, as 22 seconds dangled on the same clock, Norton matched with a three-point field goal of her own that gave Corban a 35-28 lead at the break.

Entering the second stanza, the ‘Yotes once again put pressure on the hosts and got within a mere bucket from long distance in the opening minutes.

After two baskets cut Corban’s lead to 35-32 with 19:25 remaining in the game and a Denise Hill lay-in slimmed the margin to 39-38 with 16:38 left, the Warriors got their gears turning once again and went on a 9-0 run from 16:28 to 14:24 that featured two assists and a steal by Dionne.

At the end of the run, the scoreboard read 48-38 after Wilson out ran three Albertson players, drove through the paint, and converted a lay-in at the direct center of the hoop.

Whitney Martin, Katee Brewer, and Dufurrena helped the visiting squad back into the game as they marked back-to-back-to-back lay-ins that trimmed the Warrior lead to 48-46 with 12:54 left.

Dismayed by this, senior Brianne Carras took control of the game and recorded 5 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist between the 11:56 and 8:17 times on the clock to help Corban to maximize their lead at 12 (60-48).

Albertson fought valiantly once more to get within four points (64-60) with 5:05 left in the game, but it was as close as they would see the margin in points ever again.

Ten clutch free throw shots later by Norton, Wilson, and Dionne, as the Warriors won a school-record 26th game this season under fifth-year head coach Dave Bale.

Norton’s game-highs of 23 points and 4 assists, as well as Carras’ double-double of 13 points and game-high 13 rebounds, were closely trailed by Wilson’s 13 points, game-high 5 steals, and game-high 1 block.

The ‘Yotes were led by Hill’s double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Christon Vander Esch added 12 points and Katee Brewer had a game-high 4 assists respectively.

The Warriors made 21-of-53 (39.6%) field goals, including 4-for-15 (26.7%) from long range and a remarkable 30-for-39 (76.9%) from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, Albertson, as a team, recorded 25-for-65 (38.5%) from the field with a poor 3-for-21 (26.7%) from beyond the three-point arc and 11-for-18 (61.1%) from the charity stripe.

With their 10th straight victory (one shy of the school record), Corban improves to 26-6 overall as they head into the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament finals with a chance at being the first Corban women’s basketball team in history to win both the regular season and conference tournament championships.

The ‘Yotes, on the other hand, conclude their season at 19-10 overall.

The Warriors are back in action on Monday, February 26th, when they travel to La Grande for a match-up with the other conference co-champions, Eastern Oregon University, beginning at 7:00 PM.

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