News

Facing the end of their season, the freshman-laden Columbia Basin women dug up enough defensive grit to extend their tournament stay another day.

Sierra Higheagle rolled up 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Alicia Jones dominated the boards with 17 rebounds to accompany 14 points as the Hawks held off Tacoma 59-48 on Sunday in the consolation bracket of the NWAACC Championships at the Toyota Center.

The win sends CBC (16-13) into another must-win game at 10 a.m. today against East Regional rival Yakima Valley (17-12). The winner of that will play for seventh place on Tuesday.

The early start should be no problem for the Hawks, who played back-to-back 8 a.m. games in the first two rounds.

On Sunday, their defense was rise-and-shine, and put Tacoma’s offense to bed.

The Titans (15-11) shot just 31 percent from the floor and 18 percent (3-for-17) on 3s. While CBC’s shooting wasn’t much better (37 percent), the Hawks domainted the boards 49-31 thanks to Jones and Higheagle.

Hannah Depew added 10 points and four assists for CBC. Angie Sanchez led Tacoma with 18 points, and Alexus Grant added 12 points and 10 boards.

TACOMA — Strickland 1-8 2-5 4, Jacinto 3-8 0-0 6, Grant 4-10 4-7 12, Sanchez 6-20 3-3 18, Sauders 1-7 2-4 4, Ramirez 1-1 0-0 2, Amundson 0-0 0-0 0, Lofton 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 1-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-55 11-19 48.
COLUMBIA BASIN — Jones 5-13 4-6 14, Ross 1-6 0-0 3, Yenney 4-12 0-0 8, Higheagle 6-14 3-3 18, Depew 4-9 1-6 10, Cardenas 0-0 0-0 0, Wenstrom 1-2 0-0 3, Williams 1-3 0-0 2, Avery-Winchester 0-1 0-0 0, Cuevas 0-0 0-0 0, Bingham 0-0 1-2 1, Harrod 0-0 0-0 0. Totlas 22-60 9-18 59.
Halftime—CBC 38, TCC 27. 3-point goals—TCC 3-17 (Sanchez 3-6, Strickland 0-2, Jacinto 0-3, Grant 0-2, Sauders 0-4), CBC 6-19 (Higheagle 3-6, Ross 1-4, Wenstrom 1-2, Depew 1-2, Yenney 0-4, Williams 0-1). Rebounds—TCC 31 (Grant 10), CBC 49 (Jones 17). Assists—TCC 7 (Strickland 3), CBC 20 (Hannah Depew). Turnovers—TCC 13, CBC 20. Total fouls—TCC 16, CBC 16.

Published with permission of the Tri-City Herald. Additional news stories can be accessed online at the Tri-City Herald