CALDWELL, Idaho – The College of Idaho opened Cascade Conference play with a 76-70 overtime win over Warner Pacific on Friday night in the J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
Down 65-63 after a Celeste Pantoja 3-pointer with nine seconds left, the Yotes (3-7, 1-0 CCC) drew up a play for leading scorer
Mackenzie Royce-Radford. Needing two points to tie it up, the senior drove towards the left side of the key for a left-handed floater which she would kiss off the glass with two seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.
In the extra period,
Emma Anthony tallied the first four points to give C of I a 69-65 advantage.
The Yotes lead remained two points or larger until a Kali Kruger basket with 50 seconds remaining brought Warner Pacific (3-6, 0-1 CCC) within one at 71-70.
That 71-70 tally was as close as the Knights would get thanks to a perimeter answer by Royce-Radford on the ensuing position and a pair of
Makenna Schritter free throws to ice the game with eight seconds left.
Royce-Radford finished with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor, while also adding three rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Kiersten Rasmussen battled through some early foul trouble to provide 14 quality minutes of action for the Yotes, highlighted by posting all nine of her points in the second half. Rasmussen also grabbed four rebounds, blocked a shot and registered two steals.
In addition to Rasmussen,
Kate Renfro finished with 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals off the bench to provide a spark. Renfro's triple with 3:46 left in regulation gave the Yotes a 61-56 lead right before the final media timeout.
Schritter and
Lexi Mitchell were once again leaders on the glass for C of I, with Schritter hauling in eight boards and Mitchell adding six rebounds. The Yotes won the battle on the glass 42-34.
Against a Warner Pacific team that loves to press, the Yotes played a similar style themselves and forced 27 turnovers on the night, with
Mackenzie Collins leading the charge defensively with four steals.
A 7-0 run to start the second half ignited C of I after trailing 37-33 at the half.
The Yotes shot 28-of-64 (44 percent) from the floor and the Knights went 25-of-58 (43 percent).
Pantoja led Warner Pacific in scoring with 11 points, with Kruger and Courtney Jackson contributing 10 each.
The conference opening home weekend continues on Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. against Multnomah, which lost 76-50 to Eastern Oregon on Friday.
