EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University women's basketball had their playoff hopes dashed this weekend after being swept at the hands of #12 Southern Oregon and Oregon Tech. This, despite playing two of their best games of the entire season.

“We played really well on Friday night and were working it down the stretch,” said Head Coach Liz Turner-Bolton. “And Saturday might have been the best game we played all year. We executed perfectly, and played amazing. I was really pleased with our efforts.”

Southern Oregon took the Friday night contest, 75-66, grabbing their school-record 12th straight win. NCU fell behind early and was down 11-8, when a myriad of field goals gave the Beacons a 7-0 run and a four-point lead, 15-11. A Jenneca Crocker jumper gave Northwest Christian a 17-13 advantage with 11:58 to play, but Southern Oregon jumped back into the game with a 10-0 run, taking the lead for good. The Raiders were ahead 36-29 at the intermission.

The Raiders continued to spread their lead in the second half, stretching the advantage to as many as 17, before claiming the nine-point win.

NCU was led by the efforts of Jacquie Lipp, who scored a season-high 20 points, shooting 6-for-11 from the field. Coach Bolton said, “Jacquie started and had a really gutsy performance all around.” Elise Gray (pictured) ended the night with a team-high 21 points and Crocker finished with nine. McKenzie Gambee scored six, along with a team-high nine rebounds.

The Raiders (23-4, 15-3 CCC) were led by Ashley Baker, scoring game-highs with 22 points and 16 rebounds. Jackie Speer came off the bench to score a double-double as well, garnering 12 points and 14 boards.

Saturday would turn into a heart-breaking loss for the Beacons, as they gave up a 16-point second half lead before falling in overtime, 88-82 to Oregon Tech. The Owls hit a pair of deep, well-defended three-pointers in the closing minutes that played a key-role in the comeback, and then doubled-up the Beacons in overtime, 12-6.

“I'm not one to make excuses,” said Bolton, “but if we hadn't played a tough game on Friday night, and if OIT wasn't so fresh, then the outcome probably would have been different.”

Gray once again led the Beacons (8-19, 3-15), scoring a game-high 27 points along with 8 rebounds. Gambee put together a double-double with 18 points and a game-high 14 rebounds and Calie McVicker flirted with a triple-double before finishing with 12 points, 9 rebounds and six assists. Lipp also scored 12 for NCU. Every started played at least 32 minutes for Northwest Christian.

Oregon Tech (14-13, 7-11) was led by Nicole Morgan's 27 points and 13 rebounds, with Kellie Morey right behind at 26 points. Kelsey New added 14 points off the bench.

The Beacons will now close out the 2008-2009 season next weekend at home against The College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon University on Friday and Saturday night respectively.