Box Score PORTLAND, Ore. – For a player known best for her defense, Natasha Trinidad has been putting on an offensive show as of late for the Evergreen women's basketball team.

Trinidad, a senior guard from Tacoma, led the Geoducks in scoring for the third straight game, tallying 18 points Saturday night in a 62-55 Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball victory over the host Concordia Cavaliers.

The victory improves Evergreen's overall record to 15-8 and their conference mark to 9-7, two games ahead of fifth-place Oregon Tech and The College of Idaho.

That puts the Geoducks in the driver's seat in their attempt to finish fourth in the conference standings, which would give them a home game in the first round of the CCC postseason tournament. The eight-team tournament is slated to begin on Tuesday, Feb. 24. The Evergreen State College has appeared in seven conference postseason tournament games, all on the road, and all ended in first-round defeats.

But that discussion is for next weekend after Evergreen hosts The College of Idaho on Friday and first-place Eastern Oregon on Saturday.

This story is about Trinidad and her five teammates, who finished off the weekend road sweep of Warner Pacific and Concordia with tonight's victory.

Over the past three games Trinidad has scored 18 points twice and 17 the other, including last night's win at Warner Pacific. This evening, Trinidad was 6-for-10 from the field, 5-for-7 at the foul line and also contributed five rebounds and three assists to the team's victory. Prior to the past three games she had averaged 5.6 points per game and scored in double figures four times, with a season-high of 13 points.

But as well as Trinidad is playing at the moment, this was a total team effort by all six of the Geoducks.

Junior center Uriah Thomas scored 16 points and led the team with nine rebounds, LaNiecia Weatherspoon added 13 points and eight rebounds, and Sadee Jones contributed nine points and 10 rebounds. Randi Boseman picked up seven rebounds and three assists and Karina Gee hit a three-pointer early in the game that got the Geoducks off and running.

For Concordia, Janae Klarich scored 12 points, all on three-point baskets, and Sierra Dean added 11.

Evergreen led for the final 36 minutes of the game after falling behind 2-0 and 5-4 in the opening minutes. Trinidad hit a layup a little more than four minutes into the game to give the Geoducks a 6-5 advantage, and they eventually built a 10-point bulge at 27-17 before settling for a 39-32 halftime lead.

Trailing 43-34 a couple of minutes into the second half, Concordia ran off seven unanswered points to pull within two, but Evergreen responded with a 9-0 run, capped by a Jones jumper, to take a 52-41 lead with 7:42 to play. After that, the Geoducks were able to hold off the Cavaliers.

The fast-paced, high-scoring first half belied a second period that featured tougher defense and poorer shooting by both teams. After shooting .452 in the first half (14-for-31), the Geoducks hit a paltry .276 percent (8-for-29) in the final period for an overall .367 percentage. Things were worse for Concordia. After shooting .361 (13-for-36) in the opening half, the Cavaliers dropped to .185 accuracy (5-for-27) in the closing period. They shot just .286 overall, including a .273 mark (6-for-22) from beyond the three-point line.

Both teams were effective at the foul line, Evergreen going 16-for-22 for .727 percent, compared to 13-for-16 and .813 percent for Concordia. The rebound battle was also close, Evergreen finishing with 46 and Concordia with 45, including an impressive 17 by guard Briannah Smith.