Riding a 29-game win streak, the Walla Walla Warriors shot a scorching hot 52.1 percent from the field to sink a much-larger Umpqua Riverhawks squad 90-74 and win their third Northwest Athletic Conference championship.
First-seeded Walla Walla's last loss came on Nov. 19 to Lady Elite. The East Region Warriors were runners-up in 2017, falling to Spokane in the title game.
Umpqua, the No. 1 seed in the South Region, had 6-foot-4 South Region MVP Jordan Stotler, and 6-foot-3 Dajanay Powell, who broke the tourney scoring record with her sixth point of the title game on a layup in the first quarter. Powell turned in 146 points in four games surpassing Mar'Shay Moore's 123 point record set in 2015.
Powell was a force inside, though, piling up 27 points on 13-for-20 shooting, getting all her points from within six-feet of the basket. The only other double-digit scorer for the Riverhawks was Stotler with 16.
The Riverhawks climbed back in within 13 at 67-54 on Stotler's baseline jumper, but McKeown drilled back-to-back 3s to end the third quarter, the last one at the buzzer to give the Warriors a 73-54 lead going into the final quarter.
The RiverHawks finished the year with a 31-2 record and a 60-5 record over the last two seasons, the most successful period in Umpqua Women's basketball history.
All-Tournament Team
MVP: Cierra Jo McKeown, Walla Walla
Most Inspirational: Taylor Turner, Walla Walla
First Team
Jordan Stotler, Umpqua
Dajanay Powell, Umpqua
Brenda Akota, Bellevue
Jade Skidmore, Walla Walla
Second Team
Taylor Stricklin, Umpqua
Theresa Acock, Walla Walla
Leah Dougherty, Big Bend
Callie Gronning, Big Bend
Hailey Garrity, Big Bend