Last Second Shot Gives Corban CCC Championship

With its school-record tying 11th straight victory, Corban improves to 27-6 overall.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

LA GRANDE - All-Cascade Collegiate Conference senior Jessi Norton hit the game-winning shot with 1.7 seconds left, as Corban's women's basketball team captured its third conference tournament championship via a 59-58 win over Eastern Oregon on Monday to extend its winning streak to a school-record tying 11 straight victories.

Heading into the game, both Corban and Eastern Oregon were riding double-digit win streaks with the host Mountaineers having won 13 straight contests and Corban was undefeated in 10 games.

Gunning for its third conference tournament championship banner in seven seasons, Corban had hit the road for the second time in school history for the tournament championship game to take on the tournament's top-seeded and fellow regular season co-champion Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon for the third time this season with national tournament seeding on the line.

In the opening minutes of the game, Norton tied the score at 2-all via a jumper with 18:47 left on the clock.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, Eastern Oregon went on a 5-0 run to take the lead (7-2) following a fast break jumper in the paint by Sheena Henderson.

Following Henderson's jumper, Corban used a 9-2 run to take a 2-point advantage (11-9) thanks to a 3-point bucket by all-conference junior Jessica Steigleman with 14:15 remaining.

The host Mountaineers then went on a 7-0 run capped by a 3-pointer by conference Player of the Year Christie Weaver, as Eastern Oregon grabbed a 16-11 lead with 12:08 left.

The Mountaineers pushed their lead to as much as 9 points (26-17) with just over five minutes remaining in the opening half via another jumper by Weaver.

Despite trailing by nine, Corban battled back and got six points from all-conference senior Brianne Carras and a bucket from fellow all-conference senior Tosha Wilson to pull within 3 points (30-27) at the half.

Coming out of the locker room, Eastern Oregon quickly extended its lead to 8 points (37-29) following a jumper by Weaver in the paint just under five minutes into the second half.

Over the next three minutes, Corban used a 9-2 run fueled by seven points from Carras (a 3-pointer and a pair of jumpers in the paint) to get within a mere point (39-38) with just under 13 minutes left in the game.

In a game of runs, Eastern was the beneficiary of another run (9-2) that gave them their second 8-point lead of the final stanza (48-40) with 9:03 on the clock.

Despite trailing by six points (56-50) with 3:49 to go thanks to a fast break 3-pointer by Eastern Oregon's Whitney Leman, Corban battled back to grab their first lead (57-56) since the opening six minutes of the game when Steigleman hit a jumper with 1:19 remaining to cap a 7-0 run by the visitors.

Following uncharacteristic back-to-back missed free throws by Wilson, Eastern Oregon's Henderson was fouled and connected on a jumper in the paint with 13 seconds left with a chance to the put the host Mountaineers up by two points.

Fortunately for Corban, Henderson missed the back end of the potential 3-point play and gave the Warriors a chance to take the lead.

Carras grabbed the errant free throw, handed it off the Wilson, who quickly dribbled the ball down the court and found Norton on the baseline.

With the clock ticking closer and closer to triple zeros, the 5-foot-8 guard dropped the final shot of the night through the bottom of the net to give Corban a slim 1-point advantage (59-58) with 1.7 seconds dangling on the clock.

After a pair of Eastern Oregon timeouts, the host Mountaineers needed to take the ball the entire length of the court and score before the horn sounded.

Unfortunately for the home school, Wilson got between the in-bounder and the Mountaineer offensive player and grabbed her game-high fifth steal of the night to secure the game and send the Warriors to the national tournament with a school-record tying win streak.

Carras ended the night with her second straight double-double thanks to a career and game-high 25 points on 10-for-18 shooting from the field, while grabbing a career and game-high 15 rebounds in the process.

Steigleman was the only other Warrior to score in double figures with 12 points on an abnormal shooting night (5-for-13 from the field), but came up clutch when Corban needed her the most.

Norton ended with 6 points and a game-high 6 assists, while Wilson notched 6 points on 3-for-4 shooting from the field to go along with her game-high in steals.

The Warriors made 24-of-59 (40.7%) field goals, including 4-for-15 (26.7%) from long range and 7-for-10 (70.0%) from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, Eastern Oregon, as a team, recorded 22-for-57 (38.6%) from the field, 5-for-13 (38.5%) from beyond the three-point arc, and 9-for-10 (90.0%) from the charity stripe.

Thanks to capturing its second tournament championship banner in three seasons, the Warriors are able to call themselves champions at both the end of the regular season and the tournament for the first time in history.

Conference Coach of the Year Dave Bale guided Corban to its second tournament championships in his five years at the helm, while qualifying for the national tournament for the third time.

With its school-record tying 11th straight victory, Corban improves to 27-6 overall and heads into the national tournament with the conference's longest winning streak.

Meanwhile, Eastern Oregon falls for the first time in thirteen contests to drop to 25-6.

Both teams are heading to the NAIA Division II women's

basketball national tournament and will have to wait and see who their opponent is when the brackets are released on Wednesday, February 28th, by 3:00 PM (PST).

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