ROCKLIN, Calif.  – The Northwest Christian University women's basketball team got the 2014-2015 season off on the right foot Thursday evening, toppling host William Jessup 60-47 in the Bill Holtz Warrior Classic. Junior Sami Pitts (pictured) led NCU with 15 points and sparked a second-half streak that set up the Beacon victory.
 
NCU shot just 34% but held the Warriors to 31% shooting including a 3-for-16 performance from three-point range. The Beacons themselves were 0-for-8 from beyond the arc in the first half but came firing back with four treys in the second stanza to help ice the season-opening win.
 
Junior Demarea Caples jump-started her Beacon debut early, scoring NCU's first four points. The teams were tied 4-4 when Jessup opened a gap with seven straight points. NCU rallied to within one points, 12-11 on a three-point play by MeShel Rad and with 6:47 the Beacons took the lead on a layup from Andrea Gloss. The teams traded leads four times over the next three minutes but the Beacons walked into the locker room with a 28-26 advantage.
 
Cara Watts delivered the first blow of the second half for the Warriors, hitting a trey in the opening seconds of the period. The teams continued to trade jabs and after ten minutes, WJU was ahead by two points, 38-36. Then the uppercuts started landing for NCU. A three-point play by Pitts opened up a 12-0 run that saw the junior hit a pair of triples with another trey from freshman Meriah Overton.
 
Watts answered with another trey for Jessup to make it 48-41 with 7:16 to play, but that was as close as the Warriors would come as NCU rolled to the win.
 
Head Coach Heath Alexander, victorious in his first game as a collegiate head coach, said, "Our kids just fought for 40 minutes. I'm proud of every individual. From our bench to our starters, everybody contributed. Sami got on a roll and was really key for us at an important time in the game. They showed some fatigue and we were able to get some open looks."
 
Pitts finished the night shooting 5-for-8 off the bench, including the three second-half treys. Caples finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds and also tied the Beacon single-game record with five blocks. Gloss scored ten points and Hannah Frederick led all players with eight assists. Rad ended the night with 8 points and six rebounds in 17 minutes of action.
 
Jessup (0-1) was led by Watts, finishing with 11 points as the only WJU player to score in double digits. Megan Scully added eight points and ten rebounds while Salinda Chan added eight points, five steals and four assists.
 
The Beacons improve to 6-5 all-time in season openers. They will look to make it a 2-0 beginning on Friday at 1 p.m., taking on Pacific Union College (0-1).