{"id":30951,"date":"2026-03-06T21:36:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T05:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/?p=30951"},"modified":"2026-03-06T21:36:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T05:36:26","slug":"womens-basketball-rally-comes-up-just-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/2026\/03\/06\/womens-basketball-rally-comes-up-just-short\/","title":{"rendered":"Women&#8217;s Basketball Rally Comes Up Just Short"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2024\/12\/BC-vS-SPSCC-22-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Bellevue women's basketball player\" class=\"wp-image-29768 img-fluid \" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2024\/12\/BC-vS-SPSCC-22-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2024\/12\/BC-vS-SPSCC-22-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2024\/12\/BC-vS-SPSCC-22-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2024\/12\/BC-vS-SPSCC-22.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">BC Athletics <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>(recap courtesy of NWAC Sports)<br>Big Bend (27-3, 12-2) held off a late Bellevue (15-14, 10-4) comeback attempt to win 54-46 in Game 1of the 2026 NWAC Women&#8217;s Basketball Championship, presented by ICCU, at Columbia Basin College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Vikings used a big second quarter to jump ahead 29-18, leading by as many as 21-points in the third quarter. Bellevue rallied late and cut the deficit to just six points with a minute left, but could not get any closer. BBCC was strong on the boards with a 55-36 rebounding advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game started with intense defense from both teams. The Vikings opened the scoring with a jumper by Kaliyah Evans at 8:19, followed by a jumper from Oaklie Jackman, assisted by Claire Cox, to extend the lead. Cox hit a three-pointer at 6:18, giving the Vikings a 7-0 lead. The Bulldogs rallied back with Aysha Peter scoring a jumper and a three-pointer, and Lily Auelua&#8217;s layup tied the game at 7-7. Shannel Kovalsky&#8217;s layup at 2:38 gave Bellevue a 9-7 lead, which it maintained to the end of the first quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BBCC surged ahead in the second quarter with a commanding performance, outscoring Bellevue 22-9. Evans was instrumental, contributing a layup at 8:34 and a three-pointer at 3:00, widening the gap. Jackman also made an impact with a three-pointer at 4:15, assisted by Evans. The quarter concluded with Emily Dana scoring a layup at the buzzer, assisted by Oakley Homer, establishing an 11-point lead for the Vikings at halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jackman led BBCC with a strong performance in the third quarter, contributing crucial points to extend the lead. She scored a layup at 8:59 and completed the three-point play with a free throw, bringing the score to 32-18. Jackman continued her impact with another layup at 7:46 and secured a defensive rebound at 8:04. Dana added to the advantage with a three-pointer at 3:08, assisted by Jackman, increasing the lead to 41-20. The Bulldogs struggled with shooting, managing only two field goals in the quarter, while BBCC capitalized on free throws, extending its lead to 43-26 by the end of the third quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Vikings maintained a significant lead throughout the fourth quarter, despite a scoring surge from Bellevue. Peter of the Bulldogs narrowed the gap with a three-pointer at 6:40, but Homer responded with a three-point play at 2:43, assisted by Evans. Bellevue&#8217;s final efforts included a jumper from Auelua at 0:35, but Homer secured the win for the Vikings with two free throws at 0:12, extending the lead to 54-46.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Evans stood out as a key player for BBCC, leading the team with 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Jackman also made a significant impact, scoring 14 points and securing 11 rebounds, while contributing defensively with four steals. Dana provided a balanced performance with nine points and seven rebounds, demonstrating efficiency with her shooting. Ashlynn Purcell was notable for her defensive play, recording two steals and a block. Homer added depth to the lineup, contributing 11 points and leading the team with two blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bellevue&#8217;s standout performers included Peter, who led the team with 17 points and nine rebounds, showcasing her scoring ability with six field goals, three of which were 3-pointers. Kovalsky also contributed significantly, adding 12 points and eight rebounds, while her defensive efforts were highlighted by two steals. Alexis Marcussen made her presence felt defensively with a team-high three steals, alongside contributing four points and three rebounds. Auelua added depth to the defense with two steals, while also scoring eight points. The &#8216;dogs finish the 2026 season with a 15-14 record and their fourth consecutive NWAC Championship appearance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BC Athletics (recap courtesy of NWAC Sports)Big Bend (27-3, 12-2) held off a late Bellevue (15-14, 10-4) comeback attempt to win 54-46 in Game 1of the 2026 NWAC Women's Basketball Championship, presented by ICCU, at Columbia Basin College. The Vikings used a big second quarter to jump ahead 29-18, leading by as many as 21-points <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/2026\/03\/06\/womens-basketball-rally-comes-up-just-short\/\">...more about Women&#8217;s Basketball Rally Comes Up Just Short<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3358,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-womens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3358"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30952,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30951\/revisions\/30952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}