BBCC women beat CCS

MOSES LAKE - Alli Nielsen had 12 points and six rebounds, and Tiffany Martinez added 12 points and four boards to lead Big Bend Community College (BBCC) to a 49-40 win over Community Colleges of Spokane (CCS) Friday.

The victory on the Lady Vikings home court runs the teams record to 1-0 in league play and 11-3 overall.

"We knew coming into this game that it would be a good test for us as Spokane has always been a powerhouse in the East Conference," coach Preston Wilks said. "However, our defense set the tone for the game from the tip."

The scrappy defensive play from BBCC allowed the team to jumped out to an early lead, while holding CCS to just 13 points in the first half of action.

"Our rotations were superb and everyone had good energy," Wilks said. "I was really pleased with the great defense played by Shelby Scott on Spokane's top scorer Amanda Buttrey, holding her to just six points."

Down 29-13 at intermission, CCS determined to get back in the ball game, did just that out scoring BBCC 27-20 to get within nine points.

Martinez came off the bench in the second half and made a big contribution to the Vikings winning effort.

"She scored some big buckets at key moments when we were able to stifle their comeback bid," Wilks said. "We didn't shoot well in the second half ... perhaps the lowest for a half all year (27 percent from the floor). However, the ladies were determined to not be denied and played great defense until the buzzer sounded."

The Lady Vikings are back in action Wednesday when the team travels to Yakima Valley College to take on the Lady Yaks.

"They are the No. 4 ranked team in the NWAACC," Wilks said. "We had success last year at their place, coming from behind by 20 points to pull off a win. We are excited to return and see if we can continue to play solid defense.