Clason’s Record Tying Night Carries Warriors to Tough Road Win

Sterling, Kan. – The Lady Warriors started three freshman against York University on Wednesday night, but it was the most veteran player on the court that Sterling went to for a second half surge, Korynn Clason. It was tied coming out of the halftime intermission before Clason and the Warriors gained some separation on their way to a 91-88 win.

With a young lineup to start the game Sterling found themselves trailing 9-2 early on. By the 5 minute mark left in the first quarter, Sterling had fought all the way back to a 13-13 tie. The last five minutes of the opening quarter went back and forth. Initially as time expired, Sterling showed a 26-23 lead. The officials used replay to go back and look at an earlier possession that was credited as a three for the Warriors, but was taken off the board as they showed the shot clock to be expired before the shot got off. So after ten minutes of play, there was a high scoring battle going on with the score notched at 23. Kali Briar and Korynn Clason were pacing the way with 8 and 6 points, respectively.

The second quarter was once again evenly matched as there were six ties in the second quarter alone. Clason began to find her sweet spot on the court scoring another 8 points in the second quarter. Sterling's biggest lead was 5, but they were held scoreless for the final three minutes of the frame allowing the Panthers to claw back in that time, and went into halftime tied at 40. The Warriors continued to lean on their two starters from last season as Clason had 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists, and Briar had 13 points and 3 assists.

Sterling finally opened up a lead in the third quarter outscoring the Panthers 29-20 giving them a nine point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Clason was the big story in the third quarter as she was nearly unstoppable going off for 16 points in that quarter alone. She was 6-8 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the charity stripe. Briar continued her consistent production going for 6 points in the quarter on a perfect 2-2 from three point range. Sterling was up 69-60 heading into the final frame.

The fourth quarter was controlled by Clason once again as she scored an additional 11 points in the fourth quarter. Sterling was ultimately outscored by six in the quarter but were able to hang on down the stretch to get a three point win. York had the ball for one final possession, down three points, but were unable to get a shot off to give them a chance at the tie. Sterling fought hard for the 91-88 victory on the road over York University.

Clason scored a record tying 41 points on the evening. She ties Emmiley Hendrixson atop the Sterling College, and KCAC, single game scoring record. Hendrixson's night happened just 2 season ago in the KCAC tournament against Kansas Wesleyan University. For Clason, she found her comfort zone near the free throw line. She did not hit anything beyond so arc so her entire performance came on two point field goals and free throws. She was 15-21 overall on the night and a perfect 11-11 from the free throw line. She just missed a double-double adding 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 blocks. Briar was the only other double digit scorer for Sterling, coming away with 19 points and 4 assists. Kayla Morris had a big night off the bench scoring 8 points and gathering in 8 rebounds.

Sterling shot nearly 55% from the field and just shy of 44% from three point range in the win. The Warriors were effective once again from the free throw line going  16-21. Sterling dominated the glass, outrebounding the Panthers 45-26, and there were 14 ties in the contest.

Sterling improves to 4-5 overall and 3-2 in conference play. They will play one more conference game on Saturday afternoon before heading to Florida next week to play a pair of non-conference games late in the week.

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