EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University women's basketball team put the rest of the Cascade Collegiate Conference on notice on Saturday night, finishing a weekend sweep with a 60-50 victory over defending CCC champion Eastern Oregon University.
 
It was only the fourth win ever for the Beacons against EOU and the second in as many seasons. The Beacons held the Mounties 15 points under their season scoring average as the visitors shot just 2-for-20 from three-point range. NCU shot 43% in the game and held the Mountaineers to just a 32% clip and EOU ended the night with just eight points and just two field goals in the fourth quarter.
 
Head Coach Heath Alexander said, "I say the word 'Proud' a lot. Our team was really focused and intent on stopping them tonight. When it counted we made the stops we needed. To hold that team to eight points shows that we bought into the scouting report and dug down deep down the stretch."
 
The Beacons (6-5, 2-2 CCC) were led by Niki Duncan, coming in off the bench to score 12 points. Sami Pitts (pictured) had another great night, going 4-for-5 with three triples to score 11 and Monique Thompson finished with ten points and two steals. Hanna Mack scored nine points on 4-for-4 shooting, led NCU with four assists, and was one of three NCU players to collect a pair of blocked shots.
 
Eastern (7-6, 3-1) suffered their first loss of the conference slate despite a game-high 16 points from Jordan Klebaum. Nikki Osborne was the only other player in double-digits, scoring ten points along with a game-high 12 rebounds. EOU finished the game outrebounding the Beacons, 33-27.
 
The Mountaineers will have an 11-day layoff, returning to their home court on December 30 against Northwest University.
 
It will be a quicker turn around for the Beacons who head to Salem on Tuesday to face Corban University (5-7, 1-3) at 5:30 pm. The Beacons won both games on the weekend, improving to 2-2 in conference after dropping games to No. 13 Southern Oregon and No. 23 Oregon Tech two weeks ago.
 
The Beacons most into fifth place in the CCC and with the hardest road trip of the season behind them, they have some definite momentum on their side. "The first road trip was really hard and it didn't get any easier coming home to these opponents," said Alexander. "I am incredibly pleased to sweep this weekend and now Tuesday will be huge for us. It can be a big momentum swing and we have lofty goals to get into the top few spots and host a playoff game.A win against Corban will start to put us in position to do that."