ONTARIO, Ore. — Cierra Jo McKeown and Jade Skidmore each registered a double-double for Walla Walla Community College, as the first-place Warriors had to fight for a 72-64 victory over Treasure Valley in NWAC East women’s basketball action here on Wednesday.
McKeown scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for WWCC (19-1 overall, 7-0 in the league), while Skidmore added 18 points and a game-high 15 boards, but their 17th straight win was in doubt all night.
“It’s always tough to keep a run like this going,” Warriors coach Bobbi Hazeltine said. “Along the way you’re going to had some rought stretches, and last night was the case. We just didn’t play well.
“(Treasure Valley) came out with a lot of fire, more energy than us,” Hazeltine continued. “If you must have some stretches where you struggle, I hope we just got our’s out of the way. It was not one of our better games.”
WWCC clung to a 45-42 lead near the end of the third quarter, when Tereasa Acock hit a 3-pointer to give the Warriors a little more breathing room.
The Warriors then held on with a strong fourth-quarter free-throw shooting. Skidmore ended up making all eight of her attempts, while McKeown converted 8 of 10.
Meanwhile, Adrianna Peralez came close to giving WWCC another double-double as she finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.
The Warriors also had to tap the Kortney Hutchison reserve for 15 points.
“Kortney was big of the bench again,” Hazeltine said. “She’s played well and given us lots of support. The whole night we kept having to make some big shots. It was good to get this kind of game out of the way.”
The Warriors will next host fellow East division frontrunner Columbia Basin (7-0 in the league) for a rematch on Saturday. WWCC won their first meeting, 63-52, at the Dietrich Dome in the Warrior Classic on Dec. 2.
“They were missing three players, and we were full strength so they are not at all the team they were then,” Hazeltine remarked. “It’ll be a good game. Right now, CBC is playing better than any other team out there. They’ve steamrolled everyone they’ve played against, so we need to play better than we did last night.”
Warriors 72, Chukars 64
WALLA WALLA (72) — McKeown 21, Skidmore 18, Hutchison 15, Peralez 9, Acock 7, Turner 2.
TREASURE VALLEY (64) — Wheatley 17, Berenguer 14, Raymond 10, Gilchrist 7, Whitney 6, Tucker 6, Saenz 2, Reynolds 2.
Walla Walla19111824—72
Treasure Valley16131322—64
3-point goals — Walla Walla 6, Treasure Valley 7. Total fouls — Walla Walla 15, Treasure Valley 21. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none. Rebounds — Walla Walla 44, Treasure Valley 22. Turnovers — Walla Walla 18, Treasure Valley 14. Assists — Walla Walla 8, Treasure Valley 16.
Union Bulletin
