Union-Bulletin

WALLA WALLA - Walla Walla Community College grabbed an early seven-point lead against visiting Yakima Valley in NWAACC women's basketball action Wednesday night.

But with six minutes in the first half, the Yaks, led by Dequise Hammick, answered. The Yaks came back from a 27-20 hole to end the first half up, 36-33, and never trailed the Warriors again.

Hammick posted nine points in the six-minute run and scored 24 on the night.

But it was WWCC's own free-throw shooting that kept the Warriors down. They were just 6-for-18 on the night.

"I told the kids all week, we're going to go to the free throw line," said WWCC head coach Bobbi Hazeltine. "And for us to go 6-for-18 - that's mental mistakes. Not technical."

The Warriors were 4-for-13 at the charity stripe in the second half, when the Yaks made a charge.

The Yaks downs the Warriors, 46-37, with just under 14 minutes to play. A Sienna Edmunson trey sparked a five minutes, 10-point run for the Warriors, drawing them to 51-47 with seven minutes to play.

But when Leslie Stillar grabbed a steal and raced back to the Warrior net, she was fouled as she jumped and landed hard on her back and head.

"That changed the momentum of the game," Hazeltine said of the loss of the guard. "She was playing well and gave us a spark, and we were getting shots. She was the spark we needed, and she goes down… We had a good run going and that deflated us."

Stillar did not re-enter the game and her status is questionable, Hazeltine said.

The game stopped for more than five minutes while Stillar was helped.

"Yakima, to their credit, took the delay and worked it to their advantage," Hazeltine said.

The Warriors pulled it to 53-52 after Morgan Jo Wolff, shooting for Stillar, went 1-for-2 from the stripe and Shiann Dreadfulwater hit back-to-back hoops .

The Yaks responded. Brittney Newcomb hit a deep 3 and Hammick popped an assist to Mariah Roe, who got inside of WWCC's defense for a layin.

The Warriors never got closer and Yakima ran it up for the 66-58 win.

Stevie Humphries came off the bench with 15 points for WWCC, while starters Dreadfulwater and DeSales product Caitlin Duncan had 11 each.

"We felt prepared," Hazeltine said. "I had no idea we'd shoot the way we did. We got all the shots we wanted, but we couldn't knock down a shot. And if we can't, then we've got to play defense, and we didn't do that.

"But we'll regroup. And we'll probably shoot free throws until midnight."

The win moves Yakima to 2-2 in league and 10-5 overall.

The Warriors (2-2, 11-4) travel to Wenatchee (1-3, 8-8) Saturday.

Yakima Valley 66, WWCC 58

WWCC (58) - Dreadfulwater 5-13 1-5 11, Klarich 0-0 0-0 0, Wolff 0-0 0-0 0, Stillar 2-5 0-1 4, Pfefferle 0-3 0-0 0, Duncan 5-7 0-0 11, Humphries 7-18 1-2 15, Edmunson 1-4 0-0 3, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Jensen 2-4 1-2 5, Totals 25-65 6-18 58.

YAKIMA VALLEY (66) - Newcomb 2-11 2-2 8, Yarlott 1-3 0-0 2, Hicks 0-0 0-0 0, Roe 5-13 2-2 16, Pool 2-10 1-2 5, Green 1-5 0-0 3, Nguyen 1-1 0-0 2, Hammick 9-17 5-6 24, Brewster 1-3 0-0 2, Elliot 0-1 0-0 0, Zapien 1-4 2-2 4, Totals 23-68 12-14 66.

Halftime score - YVC 36, WWCC 33. 3-point goals - YVC 8 (Newcomb 2-7, Roe 4-9, Green 1-1, Hammick 1-4, Zapien 0-1), WWCC 2 (Duncan 1-3, Edmunson 1-2, Wolff 0-3, Stillar 0-1). Total fouls - YVC 19, WWCC 14. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - YVC 45 (Pool 9), WWCC 46 (Humphries 7). Turnovers - YVC 16, WWCC 19. Assists - YVC 8 (Hammick 4), WWCC 10 (Wolff 3).