Top ranked Riverhawks drop Lane to maintain first
UCC women continue winning ways with a 69-61 defeat of the Lane Titans
In a clash between Northwest Athletic Conference heavyweights, the No. 1 ranked Umpqua Community College women’s basketball team earned a crucial victory at home over No. 5 ranked Lane Community College, 69-61. The Riverhawks’ (15-2, 2-0) Jan. 14 win over the league rival Titans (14-4, 1-1) created a bit of breathing room atop the NWAC South standings.
“They (Lane) did exactly what we anticipated they would do tonight,” head coach Dave Stricklin said. “To their credit we weren’t very effective in stopping them.”
The meeting marked the second match-up of the season between the Riverhawks and Titans. UCC defeated Lane 69-63 in the finals of the Bellevue Classic on Dec. 7.
“We didn’t shoot tonight like it was a home game,” Stricklin said. “We were leading the NWAC in field goal percentage, and nobody would believe that if they saw us tonight.”
The Riverhawks shot 31 percent as a team from the field against Lane, significantly lower than the 46 percent they were shooting on the season entering tonight’s match-up.
“At least we didn’t give them (Lane) anything easy,” Stricklin said. “They still had to work for it tonight. It definitely wasn’t pretty basketball at times. It was more of a grind it out, half-court, jam it down each other’s throat kind of game. There weren’t a lot of easy baskets to be had.”
UCC freshman Sawyer Kluge turned in a solid all-around performance with a game-high 29 points and four steals.
“To Sawyer’s credit, she stepped up tonight,” Stricklin said. “In the past four games against Lane, Ashli (Payne) has averaged about 30 a game. I knew Greg (Lane head coach Greg Sheley) well enough to know that they weren’t going to let Ashli score 30 on them tonight. They did a good job of containing her. We needed somebody else to step up. Tonight it happened to be Sawyer.”
Kluge scored eight of the Riverhawks’ 12 points to start the game including a pair of 3-pointers that gave UCC a 12-6 lead with nearly 15 minutes to play in the first-half.
“I was looking for my shot and focusing on my shot tonight,” Kluge said. “It was a good game, but we could have played a lot better. I think we are better than they are, and we might have played down to their level a little bit.”
With 9:08 to play, the Titans would go up 20-17 on a lay-in by freshman Marikah Wright. Lane maintained its lead throughout the first half behind Wright’s 14 points and entered halftime with a 29-27 advantage over UCC.
Both teams exchanged leads until 11:07 in the second half when Romanalyn Inocencio converted on three-point play giving UCC a 43-40 advantage. Back-to-back buckets by Kluge and Inocencio stretched the Riverhawk lead to 47-40, with 10:15 to play. Lane made a push with five minutes left, but a 3-pointer by Kluge with 4:17 on the clock put UCC up 61-53, ultimately ending the Titans’ hope for a comeback.
“That three Sawyer hit for us was huge,” Stricklin said. “It wasn’t just that, she shot well from the line also.”
Kluge was nearly perfect from the free throw line, converting on 10 of 11 attempts.
“There are not many games that you are going to shoot better from the 3-point line than you do at shooting two’s,” Stricklin said. “Fortunately we stepped up and made some free-throws in crunch time.”
Freshman Anna Mumm contributed a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Ashli Payne added 11 points, nine rebounds and a game-high five assists. The Riverhawks’ next home game will be Feb. 7 at 2 p.m. versus Portland.
LANE (61) – Jordan Kimbrough 6-16 1-2 20, Marikah Wright 9-22 2-3 20, Munkres 4-8 0-0 10, Wright 2-3 1-2 5, Kiplinger 1-1 0-0 3, DuBois 1-6 0-1 3, Diouf 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-60 11-21 61.
UMPQUA (69) – Sawyer Kluge 8-22 10-11 29, Inocencio 3-12 6-9 12, Payne 3-11 4-7 11, Mumm 4-11 0-0 10, Bice 2-5 0-0 5, Jackson 0-2 2-2 2, Pape 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-64 22-29 69.
Halftime Score – Lane 29-27. 3-Point Shots – Lane 4-13 (Munkres 2-5, Kiplinger 1-1, DuBois 1-4), UCC 7-22 (Kluge 3-6, Mumm 2-5, Payne 1-3, Bice 1-3). Fouls – Lane 21, UCC 16. Rebounds – Lane 40 (Kimbrough 12), UCC 52 (Mumm 10). Assists – Lane 8 (Munkres,Kiplinger 2), UCC 12 (Payne 5). Turnovers – Lane 13, UCC 21.
Women squeak by SWOCC
Sophomore Romanalyn Inocencio hit four 3-pointers to go with a team high 21 points, as the UCC women’s basketball team won its sixth straight game, 89-82, on the road versus the SWOCC Lakers. After the ’Hawks (17-2, 4-0) took a 16 point lead into halftime, the Lakers (10-8, 1-2) cut the Riverhawk lead to single digits before Umpqua pulled away down the stretch. The ’Hawks shot 55.6 percent as a team on its way to avenging one of its only two loses that came at the hands of the Lakers. UCC sophomore Kayla Bice contributed a solid all-around performance with 16 points and eight rebounds, while freshman Anna Mumm added 16 points and six boards. Freshman Sawyer Kluge scored 19 points to go with three steals. Ashli Payne added a team high 11 rebounds. Umpqua’s next home game is February 7, at 2 p.m. versus Portland.
UMPQUA (89) – Romanalyn Inocencio 6-11 5-8 21, Bice 7-9 2-2 16, Kluge 9-13 0-1 19, Payne 3-11 1-3 7, Mumm 7-11 1-2 16, Robinson 2-3 1-4 5, Jackson 1-5 3-5 5, Pape 0-0 0-2 0. Totals - 35-63 13-27 89.
SWOCC (82) - Aminata Cole 11-18 6-9 28, Bembry 4-7 0-0 8, Lee 5-17 3-6 13, Daniels 4-16 2-2 13, Barfield 4-8 0-0 8, King 0-2 0-0 0, Sugui 3-5 0-0 8, Davison 1-2 0-0 2, Torres 1-4 0-0 2. Totals – 33-79 11-17 82.
Halftime Scores – UCC 50-34. 3-Point Shots – UCC 6-12 (Inocencio 4-5, Mumm 1-2, Kluge 1-5), SWOCC5-14 (Daniels 3-9, Sugui 2-3, King 0-2). Fouls – UCC 17, SWOCC 18. Rebounds – UCC 40 (Payne 11), SWOCC 46 (Cole 14). Assists – UCC 14 (Inocencio, Payne 5), SWOCC 18 (Bembry 6). Turnovers – UCC 16, SWOCC 15.
5th straight win
The Umpqua women’s team continued its winning ways with a blow-out victory over the visiting Chemeketa Storm (3-12, 1-1), 91-65. Six players scored in double figures for the top-ranked Riverhawks (16-2, 3-0) led by sophomore Ashli Payne’s team high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Madison Pape added 15 points, while sophomore Breannie Robinson contributed 14 points and six rebounds.
As a team, the Riverhawks held a tremendous statistical advantage over Chemeketa in a variety of categories. UCC dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Storm 47-30. The ’Hawks assisted on 22 of their 35 made field goals with freshman Jasmyne Davis and Payne chipping in five a piece. UCC’s next game will be Jan. 31 versus the Mt. Hood Saints.
CHEMEKETA (65) – Jessica Sexon 9-19 0-0 24, Parra 1-5 0-0 3, Coe 2-4 0-0 5, Darras 2-11 5-6 9, Mitchell 2-4 0-0 5, Hensley 3-8 2-2 10, Martinez 1-1 0-0 2, Roberts 1-4 0-0 2, Varney 2-6 1-2 5. Totals 23-63 8-10 65.
UMPQUA (91) – Ashli Payne 7-11 1-1 18, Inocencio 4-7 2-2 10, Bice 1-3 0-0 2, Kluge 4-8 1-1 13, Mumm 2-6 0-0 4, Pape 6-10 1-2 15, Jackson 3-8 5-7 11, Robinson 7-9 0-0 14, Ortiz 1-1 0-0 2, Davis 0-3 2-2 2, Kailiawa 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 35-69 12-15 91.
Halftime Score – UCC 91-65. 3-Point Shots – Chemeketa 11-22 (Sexson 6-9, Hensley 2-3, Parra 1-3, Mitchell 1-1, Coe 1-1), UCC 9-13 (Kluge 4-6, Payne 3-3, Pape 2-3). Fouls – Chemeketa 17, UCC 16. Rebounds – Chemeketa 30 (Sexson, Parra 4), UCC 47 (Payne 11). Assists – Chemeketa 6 (Roberts 3), UCC 22 (Payne, Davis 5). Turnovers – Chemeketa 23, UCC 17.