EUGENE, Ore. - An historic season saw another monumental piece of history on Monday as the Northwest Christian University women's basketball team claimed their first Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament Championship, knocking off third-seed Southern Oregon University, 80-65.
 
The Beacons, seeded No. 1 and ranked 16th in the latest NAIA National Coaches Poll have won a record 26 games so far this season and will head to the National Championship tournament riding a seven-game winning streak.
 
Head Coach Chad Meadors said, "I am so proud to call the NCU Beacons CCC champions. This is such a special group we have here and were ready to go Sioux City, Iowa next week."
 
The Beacons struggled from the field to start the game shooting just 9-of-24 from the field while the Raiders shot 8-of-12 with four made threes. Despite the shooting woes, the NCU defense picked up the slack forcing 10 turnovers to end the first quarter tied 20-20. In the second quarter the Beacons shooting improved while holding SOU to just 23%, entering the break with a 42-33 lead.
 
"We got through that first quarter," said Meadors, "and it didn't feel like we hit a shot but boy after that we started hitting shots and we tightened up defensively creating turnovers and causing several shot clock violations. As the game wore on we kept coming in waves and our players kept stepping up."
 
Behind 14 second half points from junior Morgan McKinney, the Beacons were able to gradually pull away as they outscored the Raiders 24-16 in the third and led by as many as 22 before turning to the bench in the fourth quarter.
 

Northwest Christian (26-5) was led by McKinney with a game-high 25 points on 11-for-18 shooting to go with her seven rebounds, three assists, and three blocks. Meadors said, "There was no way Morgan was going to let us lose. She hit big shots in the third quarter to stop SOU runs and I am so proud of her. There is not a better player in this conference and man am I happy she is on our team."
 
Junior Kayce Mock added 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and owned four of NCU's season-high nine blocked shots.
 
In their final home game, all three of NCU's seniors had solid performances. Shanay Dotson scored ten points and added three assists. Dani Baker and Hannah Eddens were huge off the bench, combining to score 19 points to go with eight rebounds apiece.
 
On the night, NCU shot 44% from the field with nine threes to go with their 20 assists. The Beacons defense was stingy all night forcing 26 turnovers resulting in 13 steals.
 
Freshman Kami Walk led the way for the Raiders (20-10) scoring 15 points and nine rebounds on 6-for-10 shooting while Daranda Hinkey added 10 points and four assists while Kalei Iwami added 12 points off the bench. SOU outrebounded the Beacons 45-40 with 17 offensive rebounds in the loss.
 
It is off to the NAIA Division II National Championship tournament for both teams, NCU as the regular season and tournament champions, and Southern Oregon as the tournament runners-up. The tournament begins on March 11 and the seeding and bracket will be released on Wednesday at 4:00 pm.