EUGENE, Ore.  – The Northwest Christian University women's basketball team closed out the 2018 portion of the season this weekend, traveling to take on Evergreen and Northwest and walking away with a split.
 
Northwest Christian 82, Evergreen 50
 
The Beacons earned their biggest blowout win of the season as they defeated the shorthanded Geoducks (0-10, 0-6 CCC) by 32. The Beacons held a 39-30 lead at halftime but shot 5-for-10 from three-point range in the third quarter and outscored ESC 29-10 in the frame to put the game away.
 
NCU shot 44% in the game and held Evergreen to just 28% shooting including a 5-for-23 effort from long range.
 
Head Coach Chad Meadors said, "We played well tonight and really came out strong in that third quarter. We clamped down defensively, rebounded well and took really good shots. Dani Baker got hot from the perimeter which was awesome to see and I am super pleased with our effort. The second effort on defense and on loose balls won this game for us."
 
Baker led the way, shooting 5-for-7 from three-point range to account for her team-high 15 points. Morgan McKinney (pictured) added a 13-point, 13-rebound performance and Hannah Eddens came off the bench to score 11. Shanay Dotson led all players with six assists.
 
Evergreen was led by Angela Sikora, scoring 15 points, while Imani Dunn added 12. Merrily Jones did not score but matched McKinney with a game-high 13 rebounds.
 
Northwest 89, Northwest Christian 83
 
Things went south as the Beacons traveled north from Olympia to Kirkland on Sunday. The Eagles pulled out to an early lead and took a 47-41 advantage into halftime. NCU matched the Eagles point-for-point in the third and fourth quarters, and had a chance to get the game within one possession in the final minute but were unable to hit key shots.
 
"We got behind early and just could never get over the hump and defensively we made multiple critical errors," said Meadors. "Northwest knocked down open shots when we made a mistake and that hurt us. Offensively, we played well enough to win and hard enough to win, but we continue to make mistakes that are preventing us from winning on the road."
 
The Beacons were led by Conner Borigo, scoring 21 points along with a team-high eight rebounds. Dotson added 14 points and five assists while McKinney and Sarah Reinecker scored 11 points apiece. NCU shot 47% from the field but were out-rebounded 38-37 and committed 16 turnovers.
 
Northwest (5-12, 2-5) was led by Andie Kristinat, coming off the bench to score 20 points as she hit 6-for-11 from three-point range. Miranda Langenhorst added 18 points and four assists while Sam Van Loo scored 17 with a team-high eight rebounds.
 
The Beacons (6-10, 3-4) will return to action at home this weekend, facing Multnomah University on Friday and Warner Pacific University on Saturday. Both games will tip-off at 5:30 pm.