By Katie Patton in Sports
Clark women’s basketball team (15-9) fell to Southwestern Oregon (16-11) 73-70 Sunday afternoon in the second round of the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament.
The Penguins held the lead for the majority of the first half, having a 10 point lead 10 minutes into the game. The Lakers came back within the final two minutes to take the lead to end the half 38-37. Clark shot 34 percent from the field in the first half, compared to Southwest Oregon’s 58 percent.
In the second half, the lead exchanged between the teams a total of 8 times. The Penguins had their final lead of the game with a minute and 50 seconds left on the clock.
“It just wasn’t meant to be I guess,” said Caylee Newsom, who had 17 points and 8 steals. “Things were not going our way.
Clark center Alexa Orcutt led the team with 20 points and nine rebounds. Taylor Howlett also added 17 points and six assists. “Late game, our shots weren’t falling,” Howlett said. “We’ve been dealing with adversity all season so we felt like the outcome could have been different.”
“(The Lakers) out defended us, shot better than us and we couldn’t catch a break,” said Head Coach Al Aldridge. “We could have done so much better.”
The Lakers out rebounded the Penguins 47-28.
Clark forward, Michaela Bitanga fell to the floor with a minute left on the clock. Aldridge said it was an ankle sprain and she will likely not play tomorrow’s game.
“We are very short handed for our game tomorrow,” Aldridge said. “It’s going to take us winning two games in-order to bring home a trophy.”
Clark will play Monday at 2 p.m. and face the loser of Lane verses Blue Mountain.
