EUGENE, Ore.  –Morgan McKinney hit a free throw with 0.7 seconds remaining to lift the Northwest Christian University Beacons to a 76-75 victory over Warner Pacific University on Saturday night Cascade Collegiate Conference action at the Morse Event Center.
 
Her final point was the 19 of the second half for the sophomore who helped lift the Beacons to their closest contested game of the season. NCU (7-11, 4-5 CCC) pick up their first home victory of the season on 49% shooting as they hit seven three-pointers.
 
Warner Pacific (8-6, 4-3) hit just 29% from deep and while they collected nine steals, there weren't able to fully capitalize on 25 Beacon turnovers.
 
The Knights and NCU battled through 19 lead changes in the game and nine ties with the lead changing hands seven times in the fourth quarter alone. With 2:38 to play, McKinney scored to lift NCU to a 70-69 lead and they wouldn't trail again. After pushing the lead to five, NCU let the Knights back in when Darbi Pink hit a three-pointer with 15 seconds to play to tie the score.
 
NCU had one final possession to try and avoid overtime and a foul on McKinney's last second drive allowed the Beacons to escape with the win.
 
McKinney finished with 21 points shooting 7-for-12 from the field. Sarah Reinecker came off the bench to score 11 points, hitting a trio of three pointers in the first half the helped NCU lead by as many nine points before intermission. Kaylynn Bush and Hannah Eddens added nine points apiece in the victory. Shanay Dotson scored six points and led the team with nine rebounds before fouling out.
 
Warner Pacific had four players in double-figures led by 18 from Deepika Kapil who also led WPU with seven rebounds and three steals. Kendyl Cone scored 14 while Emily Peters and Gabriella Bruno came off the bench to chip in 13 and ten respectively.
 
NCU will return to action next Friday night, traveling to take on No. 18 Southern Oregon University at 5:30 pm. Warner Pacific returns home that same night to take on The College of Idaho.