EUGENE, Ore.  – The Northwest Christian University women's basketball team will return from an Exhibition with NCAA DI University of Idaho with their heads held high, despite a 71-48 final score.
 
After falling behind early, NCU was trailing 38-16 at halftime. The second half, however, belonged to the Beacons as the 22-point margin moved by just one point. NCU finished the stanza with a 58% shooting clip as they outscored the Vandals 24-18 in the fourth quarter.
 
The Beacons finished the night with a better shooting percentage, 42.6% to 36.8% and were even with Idaho with 35 rebounds apiece. NCU was even able to keep up their strong defensive numbers with four blocked shots.
 
Head Coach Heath Alexander said, "We did a lot of great things tonight. We competed on almost every possession and battled against a great team."
 
Idaho, who used the game as a regular season contest, improves to 6-1 on the season. The difference in the victory proved to be in ball control as the Vandals collected 18 steals, forcing 26 NCU turnovers. Idaho had three players in double-figures led by Taylor Pierce who came off the bench to score a game-high 16 points, hitting four three-pointers. Christina Salvatore added 14 points and three steals while Renae Mokrzycki scored 11 points with a game-high seven rebounds.
 
Northwest Christian was led by Andrea Gloss (pictured), scoring 14 points. Sami Pitts and Monique Thompson added eight points apiece. Thompson also led NCU with five rebounds and three steals.
 
The Beacons (4-3) remain on the road this weekend and will begin the Cascade Collegiate Conference schedule with a big test, playing No. 25 Oregon Tech (6-3) on Saturday at 5:30 pm and No. 15 Southern Oregon (5-0) at 1:00 pm Sunday.