REDDING, Calif.  – NCU walked away with a split from their first road games of the season this weekend, falling to William Jessup University on Friday before defeating San Diego Christian College on Saturday in the Simpson University Classic. Both opponents are members of the NAIA DI Golden State Athletic Conference.
 
William Jessup 59, Northwest Christian 48
 
The Beacons suffered their first loss of the season on Friday night to the Warriors who, after trailing by six points at halftime, rallied to take the lead in the third quarter before pulling away in the fourth. NCU shot just 1-for-12 from three-point range in the second half.
 
"We just had too many unforced mistakes tonight," said head coach Heath Alexander. We struggled to get flow into our offense at times and missed a few opportunities in transition. We made the same amount of baskets as they did and twice as many three pointers, but it is tough to win when they go to the line 26 times to our ten."
 
Jessup finished the night shooting 18-for-59 while the Beacons were 18-for-57. Both teams hit on 80% of their free-throws, but the Warriors were 21-for-26 compared to just 8-for-10 for NCU.
 
Andrea Gloss (pictured) made her senior season debut, coming off the bench to lead the team with 14 points. Hanna Mack, Sami Pitts, and Jenna Christenson each scored eight in the losing effort with Mack picking up eight rebounds and four blocks to lead the team.
 
Jessup was led by Crystal Sewell, scoring 18 points and 9 rebounds. Olivia Luu added ten points, hitting both of WJU's three-pointers.
 
Northwest Christian 64, San Diego Christian 45
 
NCU turned things around in a big way on Saturday, jumping ahead 16-6 in the first quarter and never looking back as the defense shut down the Hawks. SDCC shot just 22% in the game and scored just four points in the fourth quarter as the Beacons put the game out of reach.
 
Coach Alexander said, "It was a great team effort and great team win tonight."They really bought into our game plan and took away the transition. We beat a really good team tonight."
 
Gloss led the team once again, scoring a double-double with 14 points and ten rebounds in her first start of the year. Pitts added 11 points and four assists and Mack scored six points while tying NCU's single-game record with five blocks.
 
San Diego Christian was led by Kaylie Fandino, coming off the bench to score a game-high 16 points.
 
The Beacons (2-1) will come home to play their next four non-conference games within the friendly confines of the Morse Event Center. On Tuesday night NCU will welcome in Linfield College (1-0) for a 7:00 pm tip.