EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University women's basketball team managed just 14 field goals on Saturday night, falling to Cascade College, 49-38. The Beacon defense allowed just 32% shooting and NCU out-rebounded the Thunderbirds 46-37, but poor shooting plagued the team as they dropped their third straight game.
After
Calie McVicker opened up the game for NCU with a steal and layup, Cascade took control with seven straight points, and the T-Birds would end up leading the rest of the way. Cascade held a 26-14 lead at the intermission, but still had to fight off a serious charge from the Beacons in the second half.
Trailing 28-18 with 16:55 to play in the second frame,
Elise Gray hit a layup to spark a 9-3 run for Northwest Christian and on a jumper from
Jenneca Crocker, the Beacons had climbed to within four points, 31-27 with 12:57 to play. However, over the next five minutes NCU turned the ball over four times with each miscue leading directly to T-Bird points as Cascade marched on an 11-0 run to put the game away.
After the game, Head Coach Liz Turner-Bolton was focusing on the strong defensive effort her team showed in holding an opponent under 50 points for the third time this season. “We went back and retooled our matchup this morning. We tried to keep them out of their three-man weave and pin them against the sidelines and I think we did a good job with that tonight.”
Most notably, NCU held the top two scorers in the Cascade Collegiate Conference to a combined 14 points tonight. Kristina Schumacher, who is averaging 21.9 points per game (5th in the NAIA) had just six points and Robin Swain (18.1 ppg) scored eight.
The Beacons (7-15, 2-12 CCC) were led tonight by Gray, coming off the bench to be the only Beacon in double-figures scoring with eleven points.
McKenzie Gambee added seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds and Crocker came off the bench to score seven with six boards.
Jacquie Lipp (pictured), who is regaining her form after missing most of the season with a knee injury, scored just two points but had a game-high five steals as part of the defensive dominance.
Cascade (10-11, 3-11) were led by Karli Thomas, scoring 12 points with four assists. Maya Gross finished with ten points. The Thunderbirds went just two-deep off the bench and their reserves were outscored by their NCU counterparts, 21-4.
Northwest Christian will be back in action next weekend as they welcome Northwest University and Evergreen State College down from Washington on Friday and Saturday. Game time is slated for 5:30 pm on both nights.
Tonight was the final contest between Cascade and Northwest Christian and they end their all-time series tied, 5-5. Cascade College will be closing its doors at the end of the 2008-2009 school year.