Lower Columbia sprints past Centralia College in NWAC West opener
The Centralia College women's basketball team couldn't have asked for a much better start against the top team in the NWAC West in Lower Columbia Wednesday night.
The Trailblazers went blow for blow with the Red Devils in the first 10 minutes, shooting an efficient 10 of 16 from the field and knocking down a pair of 3-pointers. On defense, they matched LCC's speed and got back in transition when the Red Devils' guards pushed the ball down the court.
Centralia even crawled back from multiple three-possession holes and entered the second quarter down just two points 26-24.
"We were in a good rhythm offensively. There were points where we were setting things up and executing what we wanted them to," Centralia head coach Tiffany Twiddy said of the first quarter. "Our posts did a nice job of playing bully ball and scoring."
Unfortunately for Twiddy's team, the Trailblazers couldn't keep pace with LCC for much longer. Centralia's offensive firepower didn't just slow down; it stopped. The Trailblazers missed all 14 of their field goal attempts and turned the ball over seven times. Meanwhile, LCC opened up a 13-point halftime lead as Rainier High School graduate Angelica Askey torched Centralia for 18 first-half points.
Within the first 90 seconds of the second half, the lead ballooned to 20. Jaci Gonnie couldn't miss in the third quarter, scoring 15 of LCC's 27 points in the frame. The Trailblazers still struggled to shoot in the second half and couldn't close the gap.
"They're a really quick team in transition, and I think we got a little gassed and they just had a little bit more in the tank than we did tonight," Twiddy said.
One standout for the Trailblazers was Keiryn Mann, who continued her impressive season with a double-double of 20 points and a season-high 14 rebounds. Wednesday night marked her fourth game with at least 20 points, and she canned a season-best four triples. Mya Penswick also came off the bench and provided 12 points, and Khloe Glover scored 10.
Although the last three quarters weren't ideal to Twiddy's standards, she was proud of the effort from her young team, which features nine freshmen and only three sophomores.
"Any time you go through adversity as a team, the goal is to learn from it and use it to get better. I think we learned a lot tonight defensively about some of the things that we need to do a little bit better," Twiddy said.
LCC has several local athletes who played near home. Askey, a former Rainier Mountaineer from Yelm, scored 20 points, while her former Rainier teammate Brooklynn Swenson saw minutes and provided a boost on defense off the bench.
Tumwater graduate Regan Brewer made her biggest impact on defense and as a playmaker, nabbing seven steals and dishing out six assists to go with her four points. Grace Simpson, a W.F. West graduate, also earned minutes late in the contest.
Centralia College (5-11, 0-1 NWAC West) will visit Tacoma on Saturday.