Half-court defense, like a tasty lobster bisque, will spoil if left out too long.

In the case of the Columbia Basin women, it was the second-, third- and fourth-chance points rung up by Walla Walla that took some of the shine off the Hawks’ marvelous defensive effort in a 59-54 loss to the Warriors on Saturday afternoon at the CBC gym.

Something else that smelled a little was the early shooting by the CBC men in a 69-59 loss to Walla Walla in the second game of the NWAACC East doubleheader. The Hawks missed shot after shot in falling behind 10-0 and 16-2 before finally finding their offensive touch and making a serious game of it.

Coming out of rough preseason schedules, the CBC men (1-10) and women (4-9) could be grumbling after losing their East openers. But women’s coach Cheryl Holden noted that six of those preseason losses and now another to second-ranked Walla Walla came against some of the top two-year schools in the Northwest.

“Every game we’ve come out and played hard,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of things to get better.”

CBC women: The freshmen-laden Hawks certainly looked better against Walla Walla (12-1) as Kellie Ross knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Sierra Higheagle canned another, and the defense forced three turnovers and some tough shots to open a 14-3 edge 5 1⁄2 minutes in.

But the veteran Warriors spent the rest of the half chipping away. Sophomore guard Michelle Seitz used some physical drives and deft outside shooting to score 10 points down the stretch of the first half as Walla Walla took a 28-26 lead into the locker room.

“We were getting better stops,” Holden said, “but then we had a three-minute stretch in the first half when we kind of stopped doing that.”

CBC got a scoring jolt from Alicia Jones early in the second half, as the 5-foot-11 freshman forward from Idaho Falls proved a quickness mismatch for the Warriors’ bigger frontcourt players. She clicked for eight of the Hawks’ 11 points as the two teams traded the lead for 5-plus minutes.

But Seitz went back to work with three straight baskets, twice on second chances, and Walla Walla extended its lead to 52-41 lead with 6 minutes to play.

CBC twice pulled within four points down the stretch but couldn’t get within a single possession.

Jones collected 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks, and Hannah Depew added 12. Seitz scored 21 points and pulled down nine rebounds for Walla Walla, with Hailey Felgenhauer adding 12 and nine.

CBC had 15 assists against just nine turnovers — normally a winning combination, but not against Walla Walla’s 20 offensive boards and 22 second-chance points (compared to 12 and 11 for CBC).

“We just didn’t box out,” Holden said, “and Walla Walla always rebounds real well.”

“Overall,” she added, “we did a good job against a very good team.”

Walla Walla women 59, CBC 54
WALLA WALLA — Seitz 8-16 3-4 21, Hawkins 2-5 1-2 5, Duncan 3-10 1-2 7, Felgenhauer 4-8 4-4 12, Rad 2-4 1-2 5, Siler 0-0 0-0 0, Anderson 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 21-53 14-23 59.
COLUMBIA BASIN — Jones 6-8 2-3 14, Ross 3-5 0-0 9, Yenney 3-11 2-2 9, Higheagle 4-8 0-0 10, Depew 4-21 4-6 12, Cardenas 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 0-3 0-0 0, Avery-Winchester 0-0 0-0 0, Bingham 0-1 0-2 0, Harrod 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-57 8-13 54.
Halftime— WWCC 28-26. 3-point goals—WWCC 3-10 (Seitz 2-4, Kelsey 1-2, Hawkins 0-1, Duncan 0-2, Felgenhauer 0-1), CBC 6-16 (Ross 3-5, Higheagle 2-6, Yenney 1-2, Williams 0-3). Rebounds—WWCC 48 (Seitz 9, Felgenhauer 9), CBC 29 (Jones 10). Assists—WWCC 9 (Hawkins 3), CBC 15 (Yenney 3, Avery-Winchester 3, Depew 3). Turnovers—WWCC 13, CBC 9. Fouls—WWCC 13, CBC 17.

CBC men: The matchup was a homecoming for former Kamiakin standout guard Case Rada, who buried five 3-pointers in the first half and led Walla Walla (7-6) with 26 points.

But as bad a start as it was for the Hawks, they came alive in the final 10 minutes of the first half to claw back in the game.

Jerid Ronquillo popped a 3 and scored on a couple of layups — a sign of things to come — and former Liberty Christian big man Bryan Corrigan got aggressive down on the blocks for six more points as CBC pulled within seven, 32-25, heading into the half.

While the hosts were finding their rhythm, Walla Walla was losing its shooting eye, not uncommon for teams built to dial up from downtown.

“Just got to keep firing it up,” Rada said. “Coach (Jeff) Reinland wants us to keep shooting. That’s our identity. “We got a bunch of shooters. Our whole team is runners and shooters.”

A 3-pointer from Tyler Liek (Richland) and two more jumpers from Ronquillo had CBC yo-yoing within two and five points of the lead early in the second half. But a pair of 3s fueled a quick eight-point tear for Walla Walla, and the Hawks never got back to within arm’s length.

Ronquillo led CBC with 20 points, including a couple of layups off terrific feeds from first Shaughnessy Mahoney and then Kyler DeWitt on back-to-back possessions late in the game. Corrigan added 10 points, and DeWitt 11 rebounds and five assists. However, the Hawks were not helped by their shooting at the line — 4-for-12 (33 percent) on free throws and 3-for-17 (18 percent) on 3s.

Rada finished 6-for-15 on 3s and Walla Walla 11-for-39 (28 percent). Dallas Reich had 11 points and 14 boards for the Warriors.

Walla Walla 69, CBC 59 WALLA WALLA — Radliff 3-14 1-3 8, Rada 8-23 4-6 26, Hahn 2-7 2-4 6, Harr 4-12 3-4 14, Nooner 2-4 0-1 4, Shakile 0-0 0-0 0, Mills 0-0 0-0 0, Reich 4-9 2-2 11. Totals 26-69 4-12 59.
COLUMBIA BASIN — Ronquillo 9-18 0-0 20, Harrell 4-13 0-3 8, DeWitt 2-12, 2-2 6, Liek 3-8 1-2 8, Corrigan 5-13 0-1 10, Mahoney 0-0 1-4 1, Crandall 1-2 0-0 2, Contreras 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 26-69 4-12 59.
Halftime—WWCC 32-25. 3-point goals—WWCC 11-39 (Rada 6-15, Harr 3-9, Radliff 1-8, Reich 1-5, Hahn 0-2), CBC 3-17 (Ronquillo 2-3, Liek 1-5, Harrell 0-4, DeWitt 0-5). Rebounds—WWCC 55 (Reich 14), CBC 47 (DeWitt 11). Assists—WWCC 12 (Radliff 5), CBC 13 (DeWitt 5). Turnovers—WWCC 14, CBC 11. Fouls—WWCC 16, CBC 17. Fouled out—Ronquillo.