Taking Control: LB Women’s basketball handle Saint’s at home
The Roadrunners pushed for the playoffs with a big win against the Mt. Hood Saints which has them currently in fourth place with two games left in seasonal play. If they win one they are in the playoffs either against Lane on the road or Clark at home. If they win both, the team can move up to third in the conference with a Clackamas loss. The site for this game was the Linn-Benton Activities Center on Saturday, Feb. 25.
Linn-Benton’s Roadrunners (7-6) played the Mt. Hood Saints (1-12) in a game that was out of control early, leading to a victory 68-43 for the Roadrunners and taking them one step closer to the playoffs. The score heavily favored Linn-Benton at the end of the first quarter, leading 26-3, but in the second quarter they got outscored 19-17 by the Saints, resulting in a 43-22 lead at halftime.
Starting the third quarter, the game slowed way down with both teams turning the ball over multiple times with both teams trying to execute their offense and only scoring 15 points for Linn-Benton, and 13 for Mt. Hood ending the third quarter with a score of 58-35 well in favor of Linn-Benton. LBCC got all-around great production from freshman Molly Aranda, which lead the team in scoring with 16 points, while also tallying 12 rebounds which is a double-double.
“As we push for the playoffs we have to execute our offense, and put good pressure with our defense,” said Aranda.
They also got a healthy amount of point-production from sophomore Hannah Creswick, who had 12 points, as well as sophomore Kyia Duvall who tallied up 9 points and six rebounds, and Freshman Courteney Landis who tallied up eight points and six assists.
As they entered the fourth quarter, the Roadrunners continued to play aggressively, while running their set offense. Even though they only scored ten points in the fourth quarter they were able to handily beat the Mt. Hood Saints through the blistering start of the first quarter, and through the impressive shooting of eight three pointers on 18 attempts.
With three minutes left in the game, LBCC was up 25, in the midst of a three game winning streak, and letting some of their starters rest. Due to the tough game coming up against Lane who is second in the conference sitting at (11-2). After a timeout, the Saints realized that this game couldn’t be won so they started to sit their starters and both teams were playing with the players that don’t get much playing time.
“Tonight we made this our preparation game for Lane and executing our offense,” said Baum.
The team is trending upward towards the playoff on a three game winning streak at (8-6) fourth place in the conference heading into a hard, but winnable game on the road against Lane on March 1, and wrapping up seasonal play against Clark at home on March 4.
Story and Photos by Josh Knight
