Lady Titans win Pierce Invitational

Team remains undefeated on the season

Alan K. Fox - THE TORCH

The top-ranked Lady Titans traveled to Lakeside, Wash. Dec. 10-12 to play in the Pierce Invitational tournament and came back to Eugene champions.

It took a match-up of the two top-ranked teams in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges to bring home the trophy, when they beat second-ranked Clackamas 67-65 in the championship game.

The Lady Titans (6-0) were led by tournament MVP, freshman forward Kristen Huff, who averaged 20 points and nine rebounds a game. She led the team in scoring (29) and rebounds (9) in the championship game.

Sophomore forward, Ashley Smith, was also named to the All-Tournament team. Smith averaged 23 points and seven rebounds a game.

In the championship game, it was a match-up of two high powered offenses with LCC averaging 101 points a game and Clackamas averaging 104, but both defenses game to play and kept the game low scoring.

The Lady Titans fell behind the Cougars (6-1) by six going into halftime, but where able to respond with a strong second half to capture the title.

"It was a very nice weekend for us beating two ranked teams in Skagit Valley and Clackamas," head coach Greg Sheley said. "I think we learned a lot about our team."

In the opening round, the LCC was matched-up with Peninsula (1-5) and the Lady Titans jumped out to a big first half lead and entered halftime up 59-27.

The second half of the game was more of the same and LCC moved on to the second round with a 121-59 vicory over the Pirates.

The Lady Titans had five players score in double figures and where led by Smith, who scored 35 points and added eight rebounds and five steals.

Freshman forward, Victoria Nnoli, scored 21 points and seven rebounds off of the bench for LCC.

In the second round, the Lady Titans played the NWAACC's seventh-ranked team, Skagit Valley (4-2) and went into halftime with a six point lead over the Cardinals.

In the second half of the game LCC's defense picked up the pace and the Lady Titans finished with a 81-64 win.

Smith had a double-double in the game with 19 points and 10 rebounds and Huff added 24 points and nine rebounds in the winning effort.

The Lady Titans return to action in Portland on Dec. 17-19 when they play in the Portland Community College Crossover. They will play Everett in the first round on Dec. 17 at 2 pm.