PORTLAND, Ore.  – The Northwest Christian University women's basketball team has their second Cascade Collegiate Conference win of the season and first on the road after topping Warner Pacific College on Saturday night,  71-61 at Bart Valentine Court.
 
NCU (6-9, 2-5 CCC) shot 42.6% in the game but held the Knights (8-12, 1-6) to just 39% shooting while forcing 17 turnovers. The Beacons had eight steals and survived being outrebounded 36-34. NCU also showed off the difference that depth can make outscoring WPC on bench points, 24-4.
 
The Beacons never led in the first half of a tightly contested fight and after trailing by as many as nine points climbed back to tie the game at 26-26 on a three-pointer from Sami Pitts with just 24 seconds remaining.
 
After trading buckets over the first three minutes of the second half, the Beacons took their first lead of the night, 32-21 on a jumper by Andrea Gloss with 17:03 remaining. The teams again battled point-for-point over the next minute before NCU took the lead for good, 36-35 on a pair of free-throws by Melyssa Weber.
 
The freebies sent the Beacons onto a 9-1 run as they grabbed a seven-point lead with 11:48 to play. NCU led by as many as 11 before claiming the ten-point win.
 
Head Coach Heath Alexander said, "It was simply a great team effort tonight. Melyssa played great through foul trouble, Hannah Frederick gave us some great scoring down the stretch. Andrea was great on the defensive end and did the work on offense to get some easy baskets. MeShel Rad worked her tail off on the boards and set the attitude and effort we needed tonight."
 
The Beacons had four players in double-digits, led by Gloss' 16 on 8-for-15 shooting. Frederick (pictured) added 15 points and seven assists. Weber and Chandler Gabrio scored ten points apiece and Rad came off the bench to lead all players with eight rebounds.
 
Warner Pac owned the high watermark scorer as Lindsay Loe posted 22 points and seven rebounds off 7-for-9 shooting. She was also 8-for-12 from the free-throw line. Jordan Wilcox, who came into the game averaging over 15 points per game, was held to 1-for-12 shooting and seven points. Coach Alexander said, "Our defenders did a phenomenal job covering Wilcox. They all had their turns but Hannah did a great job not allowing her to get any open shots."
 
Northwest Christian will return home next Friday night to take on conference-leading Eastern Oregon University. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the Morse Event Center.