EUGENE, Ore.  – For the second time in three weeks the Northwest Christian University women's basketball team has knocked off the first-place team in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, this time upsetting Eastern Oregon University, 70-57 in the Morse Event Center. EOU came into the game receiving votes in the NAIA national coaches' poll.
 
The Beacons never trailed and were only tied with the Mounties four times over the first eight minutes. With the game knotted at 14-14 and 11:10 remaining in the first half, Melyssa Weber hit a layup to give NCU a lead that they would hold for the remaining 31 minutes of action.
 
NCU led by as many as 13 points in the first half and took a 34-22 lead into the intermission. Sami Pitts was the catalyst for the Beacons spreading the gap late in the half, hitting three three-pointers and scoring nine points.
 
NCU shot 47.8% in the opening stanza and outdid themselves over the final 20 minutes, shooting 52% as they held off numerous Eastern Oregon charges before pulling away late.
 
The Mounties, in fact, came out of the locker room on fire, rattling off ten straight points to cut the NCU lead to just two points. Within five minutes it had dropped down to one, 39-38 on a jumper by Maloree Moss. After a Beacon turnover EOU had a chance to take the lead, but missed both ends of a two-shot trip to the free-throw line. It wasn't the first or last difficult trip to the charity stripe for Eastern who shot just 37.5% on free-throws in the game.
 
NCU took advantage and gradually pulled away for their just their third win ever against EOU.
 
The Beacons (7-9, 3-5 CCC) had four players in double-figures on the night, led off the bench by Breanna Schmidt (pictured) with 13 points. Demarea Caples added 11 while Hannah Frederick and Allie Kelsey each scored ten. Frederick had another strong all-around night, adding seven rebounds and seven assists. Chandler Gabrio added six points, all in the second half, along with seven rebounds.
 
The Beacons shot 50% in the game, hitting that plateau for just the second time this season. NCU also held the Mountaineers to 34.9% shooting, including a 4-for-22 night from three-point range.
 
Head Coach Heath Alexander said, "I am very proud of our effort on both ends of the court tonight. We continue to share the ball well on offense and play all five against the ball on defense. Breanna gave us some great minutes off the bench tonight and Chandler hit some big three's down the stretch to put it away. Our team is going the right direction and having fun competing."
 
Eastern Oregon (14-5, 6-2) was led off the bench by Kassy Larson, scoring 14 points and nine rebounds. Moss finished with nine points and seven rebounds in the loss. EOU held the rebounding advantage by a 42-37 count.
 
NCU will return to action on Saturday night, taking on The College of Idaho. Eastern Oregon is now in a three-way tie for first-place in the CCC and will close out the first half of the conference schedule against one of their co-leaders as they head to Salem to face Corban University. Both games will tip-off at 5:30 p.m.