SALEM, Ore.  – Leading by as many as 14 points late in the first half, the Beacon women's basketball team couldn't hold on as the dropped their Cascade Conference closer, 60-49.
 
NCU played inspired basketball in the first half, building a 16-11 lead after the opening quarter. Holding just a two-point lead with 6:45 remaining in the second quarter, the Beacons were sparked by Dani Baker who hit three consecutive three-pointers and four total triples within 88 seconds of each other. The visitors went ahead 29-18 and soon led by 14 after a three-pointer from Sarah Reinecker. NCU ended the half with a 34-24 lead, having hit six three pointers while holding the Warriors to just 39% shooting.
 
Everything that went well in the first half went wrong in the second for the Beacons as Corban caught fire, shooting 62% in the third quarter to build a 49-45 advantage with just ten minutes to play.
 
The fourth quarter belonged to the Warrior defense as they held NCU to four points and just one field goal as the Beacons went 0-for-5 from outside and Corban pulled away.
 
Head Coach Chad Meadors said, "We probably played our best half of basketball, certainly on the defensive end, in the first half. They came out in the third quarter and reestablished themselves and we got a little tentative. We weren't executing like we were in the first half defensively and we struggled to run our offense."
 
The Warriors (20-8, 14-4 CCC) were led by Emily Yost who scored 16 points, hitting 8-for-10 from the field. Heidi Mueller came off the bench to score nine point off three treys and Lindsay Asplund also scored nine. Corban's leading scorer Jordan Woodvine was held to just seven points but added ten rebounds and six assists. Corban out-rebounded the Beacons 41-33.
 
Northwest Christian (10-19, 7-13) found themselves in plenty of foul trouble throughout the evening which led to the Beacon bench scoring over 70% of their points from the bench. NCU's reserves out-scored the Corban bench 35-14, led by 14 from Baker who went 4-for-7 from beyond the arch and led all players with four steals. Reinecker added ten points and Conner Borigo chipped in nine.
 
The Beacons will now sit and wait and watch their fate decided over the weekend. NCU now sits in eighth in the CCC standings, virtually tied with Multnomah University. Having lost both regular-season games to the Lions (6-12 CCC) the Beacons need Multnomah to drop both of their games over the final weekend in order to hold on to the eighth and final playoff spot. MU is slated to play Evergreen (0-16) on Friday and Northwest (7-11) on Saturday.