Though relegated to the role of emotional leader due to injury, Emily Hernandez was ready with just the right words for Tana Stickney as the Yakima Valley Yaks headed for their locker room Wednesday night.

"Nice shot, dude," she said.

"Yeah," Stickney responded, shaking her head. "But I missed so many."

Few noticed, though, because the shot to which Hernandez was referring — a top-of-the-key 3-pointer with a minute to play — was clearly the biggest of YVCC's crucial 76-68 conquest of Walla Walla.

Yakima Valley's men, meanwhile, got no such single-play heroics. Nor did they need them, crushing the Warriors 100-78 for their first Eastern Region win.

The women's showdown, matching two of the NWAACC's top three ranked teams, saw YVCC run its Sherar Gym winning streak to 28. More importantly, it improved the No. 3 Yaks to 3-1 in regional play and 15-3 overall.

Especially given Saturday's schedule, which finds the Yaks at No. 4 Columbia Basin (4-0, 13-3).

"This was an enjoyable win because we didn't win by beating them up and down the court, which is the way we usually play," coach Cody Butler said. "And we'll probably have to play the same way at CBC."

When reduced to a half-court game, it's a clear advantage to have players such as Stickney, a versatile 5-foot-11 sophomore. Though the former East Valley standout scored most of her 21 points on a variety of post moves inside, she's also capable of hitting from the perimeter.

"We ran a play where we set a double screen down low, and their players must have got through them," Stickney said. "I had the ball out front, and I guess the player guarding me didn't have her hands up as high as she should have. So I shot it."

Drained it, too, just after Walla Walla had scored four unanswered points to move to within 67-63.

"Not only did it get the lead back to seven," Butler said, "it gave us a sense of relief. We'd gone four possessions without scoring and the girls had missed some shots maybe by being a little tight, like you can get in a game like this. After Tana's shot it was like, OK, we can score."

From there, Andrea Blodgett, Stickney and Alex Moore-Porter made two free throws each to seal it.

Blodgett and Moore-Porter punctuated standout games with 13 points each, with Blodgett collecting five steals and Moore-Porter securing four offensive rebounds.

Katie Strunk scored 17 points for the No. 1 Warriors (2-2, 15-2), who led 36-34 at halftime but saw YVCC move permanently in front 51-48 on successive baskets by Chelsey Nill and Kaiti Harris with 10:40 to play.

Yakima Valley forced 22 turnovers while committing only 12.

The only downside was that Hernandez, hurt a week earlier against Big Bend, has been scheduled for season-ending knee surgery on Jan. 25.

Coach Ray Funk's men began the night with Ben Wilson injured (broken hand, out four-to-six weeks), Mario Allen sore (back spasms) and Tabid Mohammed, Jason Russo and Trent Spellman sick (strep throat, strep throat and flu, respectively).

But after Nico Sandoval and Jordan Sutton struck for early 3-pointers against Walla Walla's 2-3 zone, Anthony Johnson began drawing fouls by driving hard to the rim.

Johnson hit 17 of 18 free throws en route to his game-high 25 points, Jody Johnson worked inside for 22 points and 19 rebounds and Sandoval connected on 4 of 6 shots from long distance to finish with 16 points.

Justin Brown scored 20 points to lead Walla Walla (2-2, 6-11).

"We knew we were going to see a lot of zones," Funk said, "so we've been working on stuff to attack them with. Once we hit some threes, it opened things up for Anthony.

"The best thing is we finally got a (regional) win. Maybe we can get something going from here."

YVCC (1-3, 13-5) was also 0-3 during Funk's first season as coach, in 2005-06, but made the NWAACC Tournament.

New NWAACC polls are due to be released today.

YAKIMA VALLEY WOMEN 76, WALLA WALLA 68

WALLA WALLA — Dreadfulwater 3-7 0-0 7, Gossard 2-6 0-0 5, Katie Strunk 7-18 2-4 17, Brittanie Toone 5-9 2-2 12, Layne Tucker 2-7 7-8 11, Hawk 3-4 0-0 6, Becky Jones 1-2 2-2 4, Nicole Duncan 0-0 2-2 2, Tabor 2-4 0-1 4. Totals 25-57 15-19 68.

YAKIMA VALLEY — Baker 0-2 2-2 2, Weaver 0-2 0-0 0, Harris 3-8 1-1 7, Alex Moore-Porter 4-10 5-6 13, Woodke 1-3 0-0 2, Andrea Blodgett 5-17 2-4 13, Nill 3-8 0-0 7, Dixey 1-2 0-0 2, Shaw 3-7 0-2 9, Tana Stickney 8-19 4-6 21. Totals 28-78 14-21 76.

Halftime— Walla Walla 36, Yakima Valley 34. 3-Point Goals—Walla Walla 3-8 (Dreadfulwater 1-2, Gossard 1-1, Strunk 1-1, Toone 0-3, Tucker 0-1), Yakima Valley 6-22 (Weaver 0-1, Harris 0-3, Blodgett 1-8, Nill 1-3, Shaw 3-3, Stickney 1-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Walla Walla 45 (Strunk 13), Yakima Valley 44 (Stickney 7). Assists—Walla Walla 17 (Gossard 5), Yakima Valley 15 (Harris 6). Total Fouls—Walla Walla 15, Yakima Valley 19.