The Clipper

Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: Sports

Media Credit: TJ Cotterill 2010 NWAACC Tournament bracket

With the NWAACC tournament over, the women's basketball team placed seventh after a heartbreaking loss to Centralia College as they fell 54-52. Here is each games recap:


Everett vs. Lower Columbia: 73-60
With Anna Work supposedly out of the tournament with appendicitis, doctors cleared her to play and she provided a scoring spark that propelled EvCC over Lower Columbia. Work shot 8/12 from the field and 3/4 from the free-throw line, although she was by no means perfect as she committed 10 turnovers.

Sophomore Forward Ashley Housden also had a monster game with a near triple-double: 10 points 15 rebounds and six assists. She also contributed three steals and two blocked shots. Mary Ochiltree had a game-high 23 points and eight rebounds.

EvCC took a commanding first half lead as they finished the first half 37-21. They held their opponents to a 25 percent first half field goal percentage. EvCC held Lower Columbia's leading scorer Mollee Schwegler to 15 points on 5/20 shooting.


Yakima Valley vs. Everett: 71-87
Yakima Valley (24-5) proved why they deserved their number four NWAACC ranking, overpowering Everett (18-11) for a 15-point victory.

Yakima proved their dominance early taking a 20-point first half lead as they led 45-25. They shot 55 percent and held the Trojans to a 38 percent first half field goal percentage.

Yakima forced Everett to careless turnovers as the Trojans turned the ball over 31 times. Sophomore guard Morgan Thomas turned the ball over nine times followed by freshman guard Anna Work with eight turnovers.

The Trojans did however get to the free throw line 25 times which was more than the nine times Yakima got to the line. The Trojans were only able to convert on 14 free throws and finished the game 56 percent from the line.

Yakima leading scorer Anna Marchbanks exploded on the Trojans for 29 points on 11/15 shooting in only 21 minutes of action. She was perfect from the line at 4/4 and she finished with six rebounds.
Karissa Tri led the Trojans with 18 points on 6/8 shooting and all of which, came from the three-point line.


Everett vs. Clark: 72-62
The Trojans were able to rebound well against Clark College as they won 72- 62.

The Trojans stifling defense forced Clark to dismal shooting as they held Clark to 35 percent shooting for the game including, 23 percent from the three-point line with 4/17 shooting.

The Trojan's began the game with a sluggish start shooting 32 percent from the field goal with 12/37 shooting 0/9 from the 3pt.

The second half saw an improvement from the Trojans as they shot better at 51 percent on 15/27 shooting. They also shot well from the three-point with 6/13, a 46 percent clip.

Sophomore forward Karissa Tri once again provided a spark for the Trojans as she had a game high 20 points along six three point field goals made.

Although, the Trojans had a short bench as a total of six players saw minutes all in which, played over 25 minutes. Five out of the six players scored in double-digits.

Freshman forward Brittany Pierce provided a spark off the bench with 11 points and nine rebounds.


Everett vs. Centralia: 52-54
Everett's final game saw the Trojans suffer a heartbreaking defeat facing off against the Horizon poll's fifth ranked Centralia CC.

Centralia began the game with a 12-1 lead in what appeared to be a blowout in the making until an Anna Work's steal led to a layup along with a foul that capped off a 11-0 Trojan run, taking a 21-20 lead in the process.

The Trojans lead would be short lived as Centralia went into halftime with a 27-23 lead.

Both team's zone defenses kept each other in check in the first half with the Trojans and Centralia shooting just over 29 percent from the field in the low scoring affair.

The second half was sparked by several lead changes. The lead changed six times during the second half, including an eventful and emotional last minute turn of events.

With four minutes left to go in the game, Trojans leading scorer Mary Ochiltree recorded her fifth foul against Centralia player Elena Belcher, forcing her to sit the rest of the game. Three minutes later the Trojans second leading scorer of the game Brittany Pierce fouled out, with 1:05 left to go.

Head Coach Chet Hovde then turned to sophomore forward Stacey Jackman who had played approximately five minutes in the tournament prior to this game. Jackman caught the ball on the baseline and shot the ball with 13 seconds left to go. Jackman missed the shot, but it was called back anyway as the referee blew the whistle to signal a traveling violation with the game tied at 52-52.

On the final possession Centralia swung the ball to the wing and Jackman charged into the passing lane looking for a steal, in the process fouling Centralia's Molly Erven with three seconds go to. The Trojans were over the foul limit so Erven, a 56 percent free-throw shooter on the year, was sent to the line for a 1-1. Erven nailed both free throws giving the Centralia Trailblazers a 54-52 lead.

After time-outs from both Everett and Centralia, the last play of the game was drawn up. Work caught the ball with three seconds and heaved a desperation three-quarter court three-pointer that landed short of the basket, sealing the win for Centralia.

Three more points would have put the Trojans in fourth place for the tournament behind Walla Walla, Yakima Valley and Clackamas after coming in unranked by the Horizon poll. The loss still placed Everett in seventh out of the sixteen NWAACC Tournament teams.

Although, the Trojans faced defeat in their final game, that does not take away from the Trojans successful season as they found their way back into the NWAACC tournament and taking seventh place after a one-year absence. With Mary Ochiltree, Brittany Pierce, Laraea Edwards-Martin, Audrey Murphy, Ashley Hagood and Anna Work having another year of eligibility, the Trojans look to return the NWAACC again next season as well as contend for a championship.

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