Corban's Bale Earns No. 100 in Win Over Geoducks

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SALEM - Fifth-year head coach Dave Bale earned career win No. 100 at Corban on Saturday night when his women's basketball team picked up a 66-52 victory over the Geoducks of The Evergreen State College thanks to a game-high 17 points by junior Jessica Steigleman.

The game was back-and-forth for the first eleven minutes before the host Warriors took a five-point lead (25-20) following a jumper by Steigleman with 8:30 remaining on the first half clock.

Corban took its second five-point lead of the opening half (27-22) thanks to another jumper by Steigleman with 6:52 left.

Over the next 4:47, the visiting Geoducks of Evergreen used a 6-0 run to get within a mere point (27-26) only to watch as senior Kendall Dionne knocked down a 3-point basket with 1:53 on the clock to increase the Warriors' lead.

Corban senior Tosha Wilson swiped the ball from Evergreen's Katie Floyd with 18 seconds left and converted on a lay-up to give Corban its largest lead of the opening half (32-36).

Evergreen's Jennifer Solberg hit a desperation 3-point shot at the buzzer to cut Corban's lead to three points (32-29), as both teams headed into the locker room.

Corban came out of the locker room and put the game out of reach thanks to a 13-0 run over the first 3:40 of the final stanza.

During the run, senior Brianne Carras, who was held scoreless over the first twenty minutes, notched five points via a field goal and three free throws.

The host Warriors pushed their lead to as much as 19 (50-31) with 14:58 remaining in the game thanks to a lay-up by Carras.

Evergreen got as close as 16 points (51-35) following a lay-up by Jenny Olson with 12:59 left before Corban grabbed its largest lead of the game (62-40) with 5:36 to go thanks to a fast-break lay-up by Steigleman.

With the game in the bag, Bale went to his bench for the final five minutes and nearly allowed Evergreen back into the game, as the Geoducks got within 16 (65-49) with 1:30 remaining.

Fortunately for the Warriors, the clock was on their side and the final margin remained in double figures (66-52) en route to their third straight victory.

Along with Steigleman's game-high in points, Wilson, Dionne, and Carras added 14, 12, and 11 points respectively.

Steigleman led the Warriors with a team-best 5 rebounds, while Dionne and Carras pulled down 4 boards each.

Wilson turned in the best all-around game with 14 points, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds in 32 minutes of action.

As a team, Corban shot 26-for-53 (49.1%) from the field, including 11-for-16 (68.8%) from the free throw line.

The Warriors also knocked home 3-out-of-10 (30.0%) three-point attempts with Dionne burying a pair of trifocals.

Meanwhile, Evergreen shot 22-for-55 (40.0%) from the field, including 4-for-9 from the charity stripe.

The Geoducks also concluded the night with a 4-for-15 (26.7%) performance from beyond the arc, as Solberg nailed a pair from long distance.

Evergreen was led by Solberg's team-high 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting from field, while Joy White and Danielle Keenan added 10 and 9 points respectively.

Keenan led all players with a game-high 10 rebounds, while Olson and Molly Clark pulled down 8 and 6 boards respectively.

With the win, Corban improves to 20-6 overall, 11-3 in Cascade Collegiate Conference action.

This is the third straight season that the Warriors have notched 20-or-more wins and thanks to a loss by Oregon Tech, the Warriors vault into 3rd place in the conference standings -- a mere 2.5 games behind Albertson -- with four games left in the season.

Meanwhile, Evergreen drops its fifth straight game to fall to 4-21 overall, 2-13 in CCC play.

The Warriors hit the road for the final time during the regular season next Friday, when Corban heads north to Portland for a match up with the Lady Thunderbirds of Cascade beginning at 5:30 PM.

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