Carras Carries Warriors to Victory Over Evergreen

With the win, Corban improves to 12-5 overall.

Senior Brianne Carras scored a team-high 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field, as Corban's women's basketball team earned a slim one-point victory, 63-62, over the Geoducks of The Evergreen State College on Friday.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Senior Brianne Carras scored a team-high 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field, as Corban's women's basketball team earned a slim one-point victory, 63-62, over the Geoducks of The Evergreen State College on Friday.

Making her final trip back home of her career, Carras paced a balanced Corban attack despite being in foul trouble for a majority of the game.

The 5-foot-11 Olympia-native grabbed 8 rebounds and recorded 2 steals in 22 minutes of action.

Coming off four straight home games, the Warriors rung in the New Year on the road for the first time since the 15th of December.

A two-hour bus ride from Oregon's Capitol city to Washington's Capitol city did not seem to hurt Corban, as the Warriors jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead after the first 2:22.

Maybe the Warriors' weary legs caught up with them over the next 5:32, as Evergreen used a 12-2 run to take a slim one-point lead (12-11) with 11:06 remaining in the opening half.

Neither team could grab much more than a field goal lead until the final two minutes, as the host Geoducks scored the final five points en route to securing a 30-26 lead at halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, Evergreen pushed its lead to eight points (42-34) thanks to a 12-8 run over the first five-plus minutes.

Over the next 2:02, Corban used a 9-0 run to secure its fourth lead of the game (45-42) with 11:18 following a field goal by Carras.

The score was tied for the ninth and final time (47-47) following a 3-point bucket by Evergreen's Jenny Olson before the Warriors pushed their lead to as much as six points (57-51) thanks to another field goal from Carras with 5:19 to go in the game.

Evergreen began to chip away at Corban's lead and eventually took its final lead of the game (62-61) with 1:59 remaining.

Senior Tosha Wilson hit the game-winning shot on an unassisted field goal with 53 seconds remaining before the host Geoducks missed two shots, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Olson, and had a pair of costly turnovers as Corban grabbed its seventh win in its last eight games to move within a game of Oregon Tech for second place in the conference standings.

Junior Jessica Steigleman aided Carras with 12 points and a game-high 16 rebounds (8 offensive, 8 defensive).

Meanwhile, Wilson and fellow senior Jessi Norton poured in 10 and 14 points respectively, while Norton handed out a game-high 6 assists.

As a team, Corban shot 25-for-63 (39.7%) from the field, including 10-for-13 (76.9%) from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, Evergreen shot 24-for-60 (40.0%) from the field, including 8-for-10 (80.0%) from the charity stripe.

Evergreen was led by Olson's game-high 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting from field, while Jennifer Solbert added 14 and a team-best 14 rebounds.

With the win, Corban improves to 12-5 overall, 4-2 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play.

Meanwhile, Evergreen falls to 2-13 overall, 1-6 in CCC action.

The Warriors will return to the court on Saturday, when they continue their play in the state of Washington with a match-up with the Eagles of Northwest beginning at 5:30 PM in Kirkland.

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