EUGENE, Ore.  – Sami Pitts hit a free-throw with four seconds remaining on Tuesday night to lift the Northwest Christian University women's basketball team to a 51-50 victory over Linfield College.
 
Head Coach Heath Alexander said, "I give a lot of credit to Linfield. They came out ready and prepared and got on us early to put us in a big hole. We just had to chip away from there and in the end we just made a few more plays."
 
The Wildcats jumped out to an 18-6 lead after the first quarter, but NCU broke out the chisel and hammer and chipped away for the next 30 minutes. The Beacons scored the first eight points of the second quarter to pull within four and went into the locker room down three, 26-23.
 
Northwest Christian quickly took the lead coming out of the intermission with a Hanna Mack layup and a Pitts three-pointer and the teams traded leads three more times in the frame. After the Beacons forced a tie late in the third quarter, Hannah Depew scored a late jumper and the visitors claimed a 39-37 edge with ten minutes to play.
 
With under five minutes to play, Linfield found themselves ahead by four points, 48-44, when NCU began to find a rhythm. Consecutive layups in transition by Andrea Gloss tied the game and with 47 seconds remaining, a transition layup by Mack gave the Beacons a 50-48 lead.
 
Quincey Gibson buried a mid-range jumper for the Wildcats with 20 seconds to play, tying the game once again and setting up NCU for the final possession. Pitts was fouled driving the baseline and with four seconds to play, hit her first freebie to give NCU the 51-50 advantage. The second free throw missed which proved to be fortuitous as the clock began to wind down on the rebound.
 
Paige Graham lifted a half-court heave as time expired and her attempt looked true. With a deafening silence in the building, the ball rattled off the front of the rim and away to preserve the win for the Beacons.
 
NCU held the Wildcats to just 26% shooting and the defense forced 18 turnovers while also posting an NCU single-game record with ten blocked shots in the contest. Last year's leading scorer for Linfield, Amantha Hood, was held to six points on 3-for-14 shooting. Depew, Gibson and Graham all had ten points to tie for the team lead with Gibson chipping in seven rebounds and three steals.
 
On a night where NCU shot just 29% from the field, Mack was a shining star as she hit 6-for-8 for 16 points. She added ten rebounds for the double-double along with three blocks. Pitts added 11 points on the back of three treys and Gloss finished with 8 points, all coming in the fourth quarter. Gloss also added four blocks.
 
The Beacon bench was outscored 19-12 but the efforts of the NCU reserves were a key factor in Tuesday's win. MeShel Rad posted eight rebounds and three steals while Monique Thompson scored six points along with eight rebounds "Monique was a beast on the boards," said Alexander. "Her eight rebounds were key and she gave us some energy off the bench that we needed."
 
Also seeing significant time was sophomore backup Point Guard Maddi Bartholomew (pictured) who split time evenly with starter Jenna Christenson. Coach Alexander said, "As a freshman, Jenna is going to be great some nights and have a hard time on other nights. Linfield really rushed her tonight and Maddi was able to come off the bench and give us a calming presence. She played fantastic defensively and was able to get us into our offensive sets making plays for our bigs."
 
NCU (3-1) will return to the court on Friday night, playing host to Pacific University at 7:00 pm.