SPOKANE — Walla Walla was outscored 40-27 in the second half here Wednesday night as Spokane defeated the Warriors 68-56 in a Northwest Athletic Conference East Region women’s basketball game.
It was WWCC’s second straight defeat and it dropped the Warriors into a tie for fourth place in the East standings with the Sasquatch. Both teams are 2-2.
“We were ahead at halftime and we were up by four points in the second half,” Warriors coach Bobbi Hazeltine said. “And then Spokane went on a big run and got up by 10.”
The Warriors cut the Sasquatch’s lead to six points with about two minutes to play, Hazeltine said, but could draw no closer.
“We would get a stop and then we would take a bad shot,” the coach said. “It happened all night. And then it would look like we were going to get a stop and they would get an offensive rebound and run more time off the clock.
“There were some really key possessions that went in their favor. And then we had to foul and that made the score what it was.”
Brianna King scored 20 points to lead the Sasquatch. Gese Gruber and Kierstyn Russell added 10 points each, Cali Moscrip tallied nine and Khadija Neumeyer chipped in with eight.
“When we lost to Wenatchee (71-62 Saturday in the Dietrich Dome), I thought they were better,” Hazeltine said. “I can’t say that about last night. I don’t know that they are better, but they played better.”
Freshman Tabitha Wellsandt scored 19 points and freshman Cheyan James came off the bench to score 15 as WWCC did most of its scoring in the paint. Another first-year player, Marquel Greene, led WWCC’s backcourt scoring with six points on a pair of 3-pointers.
“We got as solid play from our posts as we have all year,” Hazeltine said. “Tabitha just played a great game and Cheyan gave us a lift off the bench. But we are not getting a lot of offense out of our guards. That part of the game has to get better.”
The Warriors, now 13-4 for the season, return home Saturday to host Big Bend in the Dietrich Dome.
