Lady Penguins defend their home

In their pursuit of a return to the NWAACC Championship tournament, the women's basketball team successfully defended Clark's home turf against the Green River Gators on Jan. 11 by a final score of 75-57. The win helped the Penguins stand alone atop the West Division with a league record of 3-0 and dropped the Gators to 1-3.

Clark established a strong 37-21 halftime lead, behind Penguin's sophomore guard Deborah Simmers' 15 first-half points. During the first 15 minutes of the second half the 16-point lead remained fairly consistent with a barrage of shots made by both teams. On two occasions, the Gators chomped Clark's lead down to 10 points.

At that point, the Penguins burned two minutes off of the clock while scoring 11 straight points, giving Clark its largest least of the night at 21 points. In the final minute of the game, Green River outscored their hosts 5-2.

Head coach Nancy Boone felt that the team's performance last Wednesday still needed improvement. During halftime, she stressed to the ladies the importance of taking care of the basketball and restricting turnovers.

Wednesday, Clark will be on the road against the 2-2 Pierce Raiders. The next home game will be this Saturday at 3 p.m. against the 2-1 Tacoma Titans. Last year, Tacoma placed fourth in the West at 9-7, behind Clark's third-place standing of 11-5. The Penguins also topped the Titans during both meetings last season, 77-65 on Jan. 26 and 79-70 on Feb. 23.

Sophomore guard Chelsea Dyson, who was the second-leading scorer against the Gators with 19 points, believes that it will be a tough, but doable challenge. "We'll come out with the win, as long as we continue to play as a team."

The leading scorer for the Penguins was Simmers with 22 points. Simmers also led in offensive rebounds with three, defensive rebounds with six, assists with five and tied for steals with four. The steal tie was shared with sophomore guard Clara Russell. Green River's top scorer was sophomore guard Brittany Kennedy with 19.

"We need to bring up our intensity, especially on the defensive end," Coach Boone said, regarding how the team will remain successful during the rest of the season. Despite this, the team is optimistic about the rest of the season.

Clark made 29 of 73 field goals, 4 of 14 3-point attempts and 13 of 24 from the free-throw line. Green River made 17 of 53 in field goals, 8 of 19 3-point attempts and 15 of 22 from the free-throw line.

The NWAACC Championship tournament will be March 3-6 at the Toyota Center in Kennewick, Wash.