PORTLAND, Ore. – The Multnomah University women's basketball team turned around a slow start to earn their first win as an NAIA progrm, a 64-47 victory of Salish Kootenai College, on Saturday night in Jim Skagen Court.
With the win, the Lions improve to 1-3 on the year while Salish Kootenai falls to 0-5.
How it Happened: It took just under four minutes for the Lions to score their first points of the game while the Bisson jumped out to a six point lead, 12-6. MU finished out the first quarter scoring the last two buckets to trail 12-10 heading into the second.
SKC outrebounded the Lions 54-41 on the night while totaling 14 offensive rebounds, which led to 21 second chance points.
MU's
Miranda Schmillen hit the first shot of the second half to tie the game 12-12. Moments later, guard
Sadie Jenks knocked down a three to give her team a 15-14 advantage and the lead for the remainder of the game The Lions closed out the first half on a 12-2 run to take a 31-19 lead heading into the locker room.
MU totaled 30 points off the bench in their largest margin of victory, 17-points, in program history.
Their largest lead of the night came just after the start of the fourth quarter after a three-pointer by
Nicole Verrett made it 52-31 with 9:17 left on the clock.
By the Numbers: Senior guard Lexi Govert added to her team leading total in points, scoring 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting while adding five rebounds. Following her was Jenks with nine points and Schmillen with eight. A total of 13 players scored at least two points for the Lions.
For Salish Kootenai, LaTydia tallied 16 points with 15 rebounds to complete the double-double while Violet Pablo added 11 points.
From the Coach: "It's great to be able to make history with our first win as an NAIA school," said head coach
Tim Bieri. "I am very pleased with our defensive effort and the overall urgency of our team. This is a special team and we are just getting started."
Coming Up Next: The Lions will stay at home as they prepare to host the MU Women's Basketball Invite starting on Nov. 19. Their first opponent will be Northwest Indian College.
