EVERETT — A late-game run by Umpqua Community College put an end to Grays Harbor College’s conference title hopes in a 86-68 loss to the Riverhawks on Sunday in the Elite Eight round of the NWAC Tournament.

Grays Harbor trailed 45-35 at halftime and did well to cut into Umpqua’s lead in the the third quarter. The Chokers forced the Riverhawks to call a timeout when Grays Harbor cut the lead to 50-48 with 4:37 to go in the third.

Umpqua picked up the pace again in the latter half of the third quarter and kept the offense rolling into the fourth quarter, outscoring Grays Harbor 36-20 after the Chokers got within two points.

Sandin Kidder was a big part of the comeback push, scoring 13 of her 25 points in the third quarter.

The Riverhawks got scoring up and down the lineup, with the biggest contributions coming from Taylor Stricklin, who scored a game-high 29 points.

The Chokers also had a hard time slowing down Darian Mitchell, who put up 26 points including eight in the fourth quarter.

After a strong third quarter, Kidder couldn’t find the shooting touch and was held off the score sheet in the fourth.

Charleea Armstrong tried to pick up the slack and accounted for nine of the Choker’s 11 points in the game’s final frame, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap.

The Chokers will lose sophomores Kidder and Isabel Hernandez to graduation and figure to bring the other six players from this tournament run back again next season.

Grays Harbor head coach Chad Allan gave credit to Umpqua’s program following the game.

“It is never a failure getting beat by a better team. (Umpqua head coach) Dave Stricklin and his Umpqua women were just better than us today and we give them respect for that,” he said via Twitter.” We made the most of what we had this season while taking second in the (NWAC) West and winning the first tournament game in school history.”

Grays Harbor 18 17 22 11 – 68

Umpqua – 22 23 20 21 – 86

Top Players: Grays Harbor – Kidder (25 pts., 5 ast.) Armstrong (25 pts., 7 reb.); Umpqua – Stricklin (29 pts., 5 ast., 7 reb., Mitchell (26 pt., 15 reb.), Cielo Gonzalez (20 pts.)