PORTLAND, Ore. – Vanessa Stavish scored a career-high 23 points and completed her third-career double-double on Saturday evening at LCEF Court, but host Concordia University pulled away with a 75-61 Great Northwest Athletic Conference win over the Montana State University Billings women's basketball team.
 
The senior from Frenchtown made 7 of 12 field goals including four threes, but it wasn't enough to combat a Cavalier team that made 8 of 14 threes and shot 48.3 percent (29-for-60) overall on the night. "Our first quarter was very poor again tonight," Woodin commented on his team's six-point opening period. "Offensively we missed several easy scoring opportunities in the first half, and that led to our deficit. Give Concordia credit, as they executed better than us and deserved to win. We needed to win the third quarter, but didn't and that put us too far behind."
 
Freshman forward Taryn Shelley had a big night with 21 points and nine rebounds, just missing her seventh double-double of the year. The Yellowjackets dropped to 11-13 overall with the loss, and are now 7-11 in conference play.
 
Keesha Sarman had 20 points, five rebounds, five assists, and three steals in 34 minutes running the Cavaliers' offense. Erin Higbie added 17 points and seven boards, and the Cavaliers held a narrow 35-31 edge in rebounding. Concordia moved one step closer to locking up a GNAC Championships berth, moving to 14-12 overall and 9-9 in league play.
 
The Cavaliers are now tied for fifth place with Western Washington University, which lost 85-71 against first-place Northwest Nazarene on Saturday. MSUB meanwhile is two games back and tied with Seattle Pacific University for seventh place.
 
Persistent and smothering defense by junior guard Jeanann Lemelin limited GNAC-leading scorer Olivia Vezaldenos to just two points in the opening 20 minutes of play. The sophomore and likely conference newcomer of the year put together a nine-point second half, and finished four points off her season average of 15.6. "Jeanann and Taylor Edwards were very good defensively tonight," Woodin said. "We just didn't play well enough to win for four quarters."
 
Erin Higbie knocked down the first three of the game in the Cavaliers' final possession of the first quarter, making it an 18-6 lead after 10 minutes of play.
 
Shelley scored nine straight points over the course of 90 seconds late in the second quarter, dominating the paint to pull her team within five points down 29-24. It was the Yellowjackets' best chance to get back into the game, but the Cavaliers came out of the halftime break with a quick 7-0 run that made it a 42-28 score. "During the second quarter, Taryn established herself on the interior and was effective on offense," Woodin said. "Her teammates did a nice job of finding her. I felt like we had a chance at halftime, as we battled hard to get the lead to single digits."
 
Stavish's fourth trey of the game cut the deficit to 65-54 with 4:35 to go, and Lemelin picked Vezaldenos' pocket on the next possession which led to a fast-break layup by Collins. Georgia Williams drained a high, arcing trey coming out of a timeout however, and the Cavaliers pulled away down the stretch.
 
MSUB shot 41.5 percent (22-for-53) overall, but no player other than Stavish hit a three on a cold 4-for-14 night (28.6 percent). The 'Jackets also struggled from the foul line at 13-for-19 (68.4 percent), and committed an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers to go against 14 assists.
 
Hannah Collins, who is second in scoring behind Vezaldenos, was held to just six points on Saturday on 1-for-6 shooting.
 
"Next week is very important," remarked Woodin. "We play two teams at home who are above us in the standings, and I expect us to find a way to win those games."
 
THE BUZZ: Stavish was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…her previous personal best was 21 points, which she achieved on November 29, 2018 at Simon Fraser…MSUB is now 6-3 all-time and 2-2 in road games against the Cavaliers…Shelley was four points away from her season high of 21, which she reached on February 7 against the University of Alaska.
 
NEXT WEEK: The Yellowjackets finish the regular season at home, playing Western Washington University next Thursday and Simon Fraser University next Saturday. Both games tip off at 7 p.m., and live video with play-by-play commentary and live statistics will be available through the MSUB Stretch Internet portal online here.