Warriors drop first-ever meeting with NCAA Division I team

November 17, 2006

BOX SCORE - EASTERN WASHINGTON 96, CORBAN 57

Senior Jessi Norton led the Warriors with 14 points on 3-for-17 shooting from the field tonight, but Corban dropped its lone meeting of the season against a NCAA Division I opponent. (Photo courtesy of William Scott Photography)

CHENEY, Wash. - Even though senior guard Jessi Norton (Redmond, Ore.) scored a team-high 14 points, Corban's women's basketball team dropped its lone meeting of the season against an NCAA Division I team, 96-57, to the Eagles of Eastern Washington on Friday.

Meeting for the first-time ever, Corban and Eastern Washington battled over the first eleven-and-a-half minutes with the visiting Warriors grabbing a slim 1-point lead (19-18) thanks to a 3-pointer by Norton.  Unfortunately that was Corban's third and final lead of the game, as Eastern Washington used a 7-0 run over the next three minutes and never looked back.

The host Eagles pushed their first half lead to as many as 20 (50-30) when EWU's Joanna Chadd hit a jumper with one second remaining.

Over the next nineteen minutes, Corban watched as Eastern Washington increased its lead to as much as 41 (96-55) before freshman guard/forward Hillary Sell (Aloha, Ore.) scored the game's final two points via a jumper with seventeen seconds left.

Despite a pour shooting night by Norton, who was 3-for-17 from the field, the 5-foot-8 senior was 7-for-8 from the free throw line.

Along with Norton, fellow seniors Kendall Dionne (Brownsville, Ore.) and Tosha Wilson (Madras, Ore.) chipped in with 11 and 10 points respectively, while Sell, senior Brianne Carras (Olympia, Wash.), and junior Mandy Peterson (Portland, Ore.) added 7, 6, and 6 points respectively.

Peterson grabbed a team-high 7 rebounds, while Wilson and Norton pulled down 6 and 5 boards respectively.

As a team, Corban shot 17-for-57 (29.8%) from the field, including 21-for-31 (67.7%) from the free throw line.  The Warriors were hampered by 23 turnovers, as Eastern Washington recorded 13 steals.

Eastern Washington was led by Chadd's game-high 24 points, while Leah Gonnella, Brittney Osborn, and Nicole Scott added 15, 13, and 12 points respectively.  Sydney Benson grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, while Katy Baker and a pair of Eagles pulled down 8 and 6 boards respectively.

Corban is now 2-2 on the young season, while Eastern Washington improves to 3-0 for the first time ever. The Warriors are back in action on Saturday, November 18th, when they square off against NCAA Division III member Whitman College beginning at 4:00 p.m. in Walla Walla, Washington.