Umpqua Community College Crossover Tournament

Roseburg, OR - The Umpqua Community College women fell today in the title game of their own tournament, 77-83 to Walla Walla, of Washington state.

The host Riverhawks got off to a strong start, but the Warriors made a small run to take a five-point lead several minutes into the first half. They were able to capitalize on Umpqua's bad shooting day and missed free throws to keep the small lead.

Umpqua began the second half with a seven-point run to go ahead, but Walla Walla charged back with a run of their own. They kept the lead at 2-5 through most of the rest of the half, as whenever the Riverhawks surged, the Warriors clamped down. The largest lead was 77-69 with about two minutes to play.

Sophomore forward Nnamaka Anyanwu lead Umpqua and all scorers with 32 points. Sophomore guard Mykiea Russell added 11 points.

Sophomore guard Kati Isham put up 30 points for Walla Walla, while sophomore forward Nancy Johnson added 17.

Anyanwu, who transferred this year from Cal State Fullerton, has been putting up big points for Umpqua this season so far. Riverhawks Coach Dave Stricklin said she might go back to a Division I school next year.

Umpqua, which is loaded with Californians this season, saw its local paper feature my favorite one today. Yesterday's semifinal games were fun to watch.

I arrived too late to see Shoreline Community College (Seattle) play. But a glance at the program reveals that their coach is none other than former Houston Comets Assistant Alisa Scott, aka Sheryl Swoopes' partner. I didn't know Scott was back in coaching.

I had an interesting conversation with the assistant of another team that was there, but that will wait until next week when I can add some pictures with it.