Big Bend teams drop NWAACC openers

by Alan Dale & Herald Sports Writer
| January 11, 2011 5:00 AM

College of Spokane 95

BIG BEND Men 72

SPOKANE - A team can be considered only as strong as its weakest link.

That means the better the back-ups for a squad can only improve its chances for victory.

In the case of the Big Bend Community College Vikings' trip to the College of Spokane on Saturday, that saying more than rings true.

Behind a 35-10 performance by the host Sasquatch's bench, the Vikings fell 95-72 in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) opener.

Big Bend (8-4, 0-1) trailed only 41-40 at halftime before Spokane (9-4, 1-0) pulled away behind a variety of options and stronger legs down the stretch.

The Sasquatch shot 55 percent from the field while hitting 10-of-23 three-pointers.

On the Vikings' side of the ball, Hayes Garrity led the charge with 21 points, Ben Olayinka added 18 points and nine rebounds, Blake Skidmore chipped in with 13 points, and Matt Stanger added 10 points.

Tomorrow the Vikings host Yakima Valley CC at 8 p.m. at the Pete DeVries Activity Center.

College of Spokane 83

BIG BEND Men 65

If the Lady Vikings of Big Bend could have just held on to the ball a little better.

But, against the College of Spokane, they indeed struggled to do so and the Lady Vikings fell 83-65 in the NWAACC opener for both teams.

The host Sasquatch (11-2, 1-0) scored 40 of their points off of Big Bend turnovers. Big Ben committed 27 turnovers compared to only 14 by Spokane.

"The freshmen were really excited for their first league win, and played with a ton of energy," Big Bend head coach Preston Wilks said. "Unfortunately, we were probably too wired as, we really struggled with turnovers in the first half.

Big Bend (7-6, 0-1) did outrebound Spokane 41-35 but were outshot 51 to 42 percent from the field and trailed 44-35 at halftime.

Ali Nielsen led Big Bend with 17 points and eight rebounds and Brin Neff added nine points and five rebounds.

On Wednesday, the Lady Vikings start the home portion of the league schedule with a 6 p.m. tip-off against Yakima Valley CC.

"The ladies are resilient and we believe we will get our defense and turnovers figured out," Wilks said. "We hope that fans from the Columbia Basin will come out and watch our first home league game on Wednesday as we'll need a great crowd to help cheer for us against a very good Yakima Valley basketball team."