Story Photos
 The Lady Devils’ Kelsey Forrest, right, and Heidi Jackson vie for a rebound against Bellevue on Saturday. Bill Wagner / The Daily News.
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LCC clamps down on Bower, Bellevue
Sunday, December 9, 2007 2:05 PM PST
By Rick McCorkle
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Bellevue’s Marissa Bower came into Saturday’s nonleague basketball game with Lower Columbia College averaging 21 points and 11 rebounds during the preseason.
The 6-foot-1 sophomore from Anacortes previously terrorized Highline and Tacoma for huge double-doubles and was poised to add the Lady Devils to her list of victims.
But LCC’s defense held Bower to four points and nine rebounds as the Lady Devils rolled to a 56-38 victory at Truman Myklebust Gym on Saturday.
"She’s a good player, and we wanted to work early on denying her a spot on the post," LCC coach Chad Meadors said. "We were going to three-quarter or front her, and get some backside help. We did a fantastic job of getting that help and realizing where it was going to come from."
In her previous preseason games, Bower made most of her points through offensive rebounds and putback layups. On Saturday, she was held to one offensive carom.
"We really denied her that part of her game, and that frustrated her the most," Meadors said.
LCC, which received votes in the latest NWAACC Coaches Poll, evened its preseason record at 2-2. Bellevue, which returned one player from last year’s runner-up team at the NWAACC Championships, fell to 1-4.
The Lady Devils got a huge performance from sophomore wing Nadra Evans, who hit 4-of-5 shots from outside the arc and finished with a game-high 21 points.
"It felt really good because that’s the best I’ve shot the ball in awhile," said Evans, who was a perfect 3-for-3 on her 3-ball attempts in the first half. "My team got me open a lot and that was good. We’re playing more aggressive and executing better in practice. It’s all because we’re doing what we’re asked to do."
A huge reason for Evans’ success was LCC’s ball movement. A player driving to the basket would draw a double-team, which allowed either Evans or another player wide-open on the wing for a jump shot.
"We’re getting this from penetration baseline or penetration middle and kicking the ball across to the shooters who don’t have a hand in their face," Meadors said. "Whenever you practice, you have a rebounder who kicks the ball out to someone who catches and shoots. We’re trying to make it as much of a shooting drill as possible."
Evans hit two of her 3-balls and Kelsey Forrest added one as LCC bolted to a 20-8 lead in the first six minutes. Bellevue followed with six uncontested points to cut the Devils’ lead to 20-14 with 12:15 left, but the Bulldogs’ offense went ice-cold with one bucket for the remainder of the half as LCC led 33-16 at halftime.
Bellevue started the second half on fire and outscored LCC 14-5 in the first five minutes to trail 38-30. But as quickly as the Bulldogs’ offense got going, it went dormant for more than six minutes as the Lady Devils built a 46-30 lead midway through the period.
"We played about 30 minutes of good basketball," Meadors said. "When we made mistakes they (the Bulldogs) scored, and we didn’t make that many mistakes throughout the game. The girls are starting to understand what we’re trying to do, and they’re paying attention to the gameplan and showing discipline."
Holly Weston added nine points to the Devils’ attack, with Heidi Jackson and Kasey Craft adding six points apiece. Jessi Hanna had six of LCC’s 19 steals and grabbed five rebounds, with Jackson chipping four steals.
LCC visits Linn-Benton in Albany, Ore., on Wednesday.
Lady Devils 56, Bulldogs 38
BELLEVUE (38) – Danielle Bue 12, Alicia Tennyson 9, Ashanii Jenkins 8, Marissa Bower 4, Whitney Beyerlin 0, Kaneshia Brooks 5, CeCe McMullen 0, Andrea Gansz 0.
LOWER COLUMBIA (56) – Nadra Evans 21, Holly Weston 9, Heidi Jackson 6, Katie Garcin 5, Kourtney Craft 0, Kasey Craft 6, Kelsey Forrest 5, Jessi Hanna 2, Jordan Budd 2, Kristina Craft 0, Megan Holmes 0, Shelby Junkman 0.
Halftime: Lower Columbia 33, Bellevue 16.
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