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Morgan McKinney
John Hayes Photography
66
Winner Northwest Christian (Ore. NC 10-2, 4-0 CCC
63
Eastern Oregon EOU 9-6, 3-2 CCC
Winner
Northwest Christian (Ore. NC
10-2, 4-0 CCC
66
Final
63
Eastern Oregon EOU
9-6, 3-2 CCC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Northwest Christian (Ore. NC 17 18 11 20 66
Eastern Oregon EOU 13 19 17 14 63

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Nick Askew, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications

Beacons Make Statement with Historic Win

La Grande, Ore. - New Year's fireworks carried over a few extra days for the Northwest Christian University women's basketball team, as the Beacons dealt an historic defeat to No. 18 Eastern Oregon University on Friday evening, 66-63.  
 
The victory was a record-tying eighth straight for NCU and broke the Mounties 50-game home winning streak. The last team to defeat EOU in the Quinn Colosseum was none other than the Beacons, back on January 22, 2016. The win also helped the Beacons (10-2, 4-0 CCC) remain one of two undefeated teams left in Cascade Conference action, joining Oregon Tech. 
 
Head Coach Chad Meadors said, "Somehow, we walked into EOU's gym and walked out with a win. We stopped a streak and we are starting one of our own and it's pretty fun to watch our kids play. I was really impressed with our overall defense. They have some size and are hard to handle but we fought like crazy and scratched out enough rebounds to get the job done. It was cool to see us get this win against a really, really good Eastern Oregon." 
 
As expected, it wasn't an easy win for the Beacons. After grabbing a 12-9 lead on a layup from Aspen Slifka, the Beacons controlled the better part of the first half. They led by as many as seven, but a late charge gave EOU a brief lead with under three minutes to play. The Beacons shot back with five points from Sarah Reinecker, including a three-pointer in the final seconds to give NCU a three-point lead at the intermission.  
 
The lead immediately vanished in the second half as the defending CCC champions got a triple from Taylor Stricklin. The advantage grew to as many as eight in the third quarter, but the Beacons showed a bit of resiliency, using a 7-2 run to climb within 49-46 as they headed to the fourth.  
 
The final ten minutes proved to be a heart-stopping stretch as the teams traded seven leads and were tied on three occasions. NCU trailed by three points with just over three minutes to go when junior All-CCC guard Morgan McKinney (pictured) took over.  
 
For the first 37 minutes of the game, McKinney had shot 6-for-15 from the field. Trailing by three, McKinney scored NCU's final nine points, adding a steal and a big rebound, and iced the game with a free-throw with three seconds remaining.  
 
"They changed things up defensively and ran double-teams and threw the kitchen sink at Morgan tonight," said Meadors. "The sign of a really great player is when things don't go your way and your shots aren't going in for three quarters, you want to win so bad and you put the team on your back. She has a huge heart and just wants to win." 
 
McKinney finished with a game-high 21 points added eight rebounds as she shot 10-for-20. Dani Baker came off the bench to score nine, hitting three triples, while Slifka, Kaylen Kamelamela and Reinecker each scored seven. Kayce Mock led the team with nine rebounds and two steals.  
 
Meadors said, "Kayce was a monster for us on the boards and Kaylen was just a really great player for us today, specifically in the second half after sitting out a lot with first half fouls. You could tell that she had an extra gear tonight and really led us down the stretch and made some big plays." 
 
The Beacons shot 44% in the game and were just 6-for-21 from three-point range and were out-rebounded 46-35. They held Eastern to 37% shooting from the field and 25% from beyond the arc.  
 
The Mounties (9-6, 3-2) were led by Rachel Fielder with 14 points and Taylor Stricklin with eight. Beverly Slater scored seven points and had 11 rebounds while Emma Logan added nine rebounds and eight assists to her five-point game.  
 
NCU returns to action on Saturday, taking on The College of Idaho (4-10, 2-3) at 4:30 pm (PST). Eastern stays at home to face Corban (9-5, 5-1) at 5:30 pm.  
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