ROCKLIN, Calif. – The William Jessup University women's basketball team closed their own tournament out with a come-from-behind victory on Saturday night, erasing a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to upset Northwest Christian University, 69-67.
 
The Beacons emerged from a tight first half with a 33-31 lead and pulled out to a large lead in the second half as they held the Warriors to 2-for-13 shooting in the third quarter. Back-to-back layups from Shanay Dotson and Morgan McKinney in the first minute of the fourth quarter gave the visitors a 60-47 lead, but the NCU shooters went cold after that, watching WJU outscore them 22-7 over the final nine minutes.
 
With 1:24 remaining, Jessup tied the game and after trading buckets, the score remained tied with 22 seconds to play. Looking to win on their final possession, McKinney was called for an offensive foul, NCU's eighth turnover in the final five minutes. The Warriors' Lily Hagerty capitalized, winning the game with a layup under four seconds.
 
"This was a tough loss," said head coach Chad Meadors. "We had a big lead and we were right there. We had them but we couldn't make the plays at the end. We started playing tight and couldn't execute. There is a ton of growth for us coming out of it, but this one definitely hurts.
 
NCU (1-3) shot 39% in the game and held William Jessup to 36% shooting. The Beacons also out-rebounded the home team 44-41. McKinney led the Beacons in all categories, picking up 15 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Conner Borigo scored ten points as did Sarah Reinecker and Jenna Christenson, the latter hitting a pair of three-pointers in the second half.
 
William Jessup (3-1) was led by Hagerty, scoring 17 points along with eight rebounds. Liz Gehweiler scored 16 points and Olivia Luu added 12 hitting three triples. Miranda Zaragoza led all players with ten rebounds including six on the offensive end.
 
Northwest Christian University will return to California again this week, first hitting Simpson University on Thursday at 6:00 pm. Then NCU will take on Pacific Union on Friday at 2:00 pm. The Beacons are a combined 27-3 all-time against the two schools and have never lost to PUC.