Lady Vikings win one, lose one

MOSES LAKE - Big Bend Community College women's basketball took one-of-two games to remain in a two-way tie for second place in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) East Division standings.

The Lady Vikings pulled out a last-second upset thriller over division leader Walla Walla at home Saturday, but dropped a road game to the Columbia Basin Hawks in Pasco Jan. 23.

BBCC 50

WWCC 48

The game against the Warriors was as exciting as it gets as the winner wasn't decided until the last two seconds of the game. After getting blown out in the game against Columbia Basin College a few nights prior, the Lady Vikings were determined to not relive the experience at home against Walla Walla.

And with that in mind, BBCC jumped out to a 24-19 lead at the half.

The Warriors hit the first bucket of the second half to close the gap to 24-21, but back-to-back baskets by Alli Winters and Sierra Zollinger pushed the score to 28-21 in favor of the Lady Vikings. Walla Walla answered back with a bucket by Hailey Felgenhauer to get the Warriors within 5 points. But Winters knocked down a trey to give BBCC it's biggest lead, 31-23 with 16 minutes left in the game.

The teams traded buckets over the next four minutes to bring the score to 36-32 Vikings. But a 5-0 run by Walla Walla gave the Warriors their first lead since early in the first half, 37-36. Walla Walla pushed its lead to 44-38 with a little less than 6 minutes to go.

Things started to look a bit bleak for BBCC until Winters reeled of 7-straight points to put the Lady Vikings back on top, 45-44 with 4 minutes remaining.

"We started strong and led for most of the game," coach Preston Wilks said. "When we fell behind, the girls came to the bench and one of the captains told them all, 'We are not losing this game.' We went out after that time out and changed up our defense to a half-court trap and it got us the two stops we needed to get back even with them.'"

The Warriors refusing to lie down, regained the lead, 48-45. But Hannah Smith hit a trey with 30 ticks left on the clock to tie the game 48 all.

"That was as big as they come," Wilks said. "Hannah is fairly quiet in group settings, but now we're going to have to call her the "Silent Assassin" after that shot."

Walla Walla had a chance to retake the lead but missed a shot. It looked as though the game would go to overtime as Smith pulled down the miss and pushed the ball to the mid-court line with 2.8 seconds to go. But she was fouled by the Warriors Brooke Hawkins and was awarded two free throws. With the balance of the game at hand, Smith calmly stepped up to the charity strip and sank both attempts to give BBCC the win.

"I was pleased to see the ladies so excited after the game," Wilks said. "It was great to knock off the No. 2 ranked team in the NWAACC."

Winters led the charge for the Lady Vikings with 22 points. Smith finished with 13.

CBCC 81

BBCC 58

A poor shooting night all round for the Lady Vikings contributed to a lopsided loss on the road to the Hawks Jan. 23. BBCC managed to have three players score in double figure, but couldn't muster up enough firepower to compete.

Winters led the way for the Lady Vikings with 11 points, Zollinger and Shaylyn Brown added 10 each, Desirae Hall had 8 and Smith finished with 7 points in the loss.

"We ran into a buzzsaw against Columbia Basin," Wilks said. "They really shot the lights out and we struggled shooting the ball tonight."

The Hawks shot 60 percent from the field and 67 percent from the 3-point line. BBCC was 21-for-76 from the floor, and hit only 17 percent from the arc. 

"That was the biggest factor in such a lopsided score," Wilks said. "We hustled and played well at times, but it just was one of those nights."

The split puts the No. 5 ranked Lady Vikings at 4-3 in the East Conference standings, and 14-7 overall. BBCC is back on the hardwood Wednesday when the Lady Vikings host the Sasquatch from Community Colleges of Spokane at 6 p.m.