A full slate of action is on tap for this weekend as the Bushnell basketball, baseball, and track teams are all in action.
 
BASEBALL
Friday, 2/4 at Simpson University, 11:00 am & 2:00 pm (Livestats | Video Stream)
Saturday, 2/5 at Simpson University, 11:00 am & 2:00 pm (Livestats | Video Stream)
 
It is finally here. 13 months after announcing the return of varsity baseball, and over 50 years after the school played their last game, the Beacons return to the Diamond this weekend.
 
For a complete season preview for the 2022 Bushnell Baseball team, click here.
 
MEET THE RED HAWKS: The first opponent for the Beacons will be Simpson University as the team travels to Redding, California for a four-game series.
 
Simpson is a program on the rise, after qualifying for the California Pacific Conference tournament last season for the first time in ten years. The Red Hawks went 8-28 on the year. The team is 1-5 to open the 2022 season, and took one of four games with Oregon Tech last weekend.
 
Simpson is scoring 4.8 runs per game while hitting .282. They are allowing 9.8 runs per game. At the plate, Nathan Minami leads the way, batting .358 while Eric Winchester has done the best job on the mound, firing a 3.24 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 8.1 innings of work.
 
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
Saturday, 2/5 at Portland Indoor Three, 11:00 am (Livestats | Video Stream)
 
The indoor track & field season continues this weekend at the Portland Indoor Three at the Austin Sports Complex at George Fox University, with events beginning at 11:00 am. The Beacons will sent 11 athletes to the meet which will include the season debuts for Adrienne Mai (60m), Dakota Underwood (Shot Put, 60m), Mikayla Rodriguez (High Jump), and Sarah Phillips (High Jump).
 
Making their Bushnell collegiate debuts will be Faith Palmer (High Jump), Trinity Hazelitt (Long Jump) and Ashton Williams (60m).
 
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (15-9 Overall, 12-4 CCC)
Friday, 2/4 vs. Oregon Tech, 5:30 pm (Livestats | Video Stream)
Saturday, 2/5 vs. Southern Oregon, 3:00 pm (Livestats | Video Stream)
 
LAST WEEKEND: The Beacons were named the Under Armour CCC Team of the Week this week, after securing a berth in the CCC post-season tournament with two hard fought road wins at Eastern Oregon and The College of Idaho.
 
Morgan McKinney led a balanced attack against league leading Eastern Oregon in a 73-70 win. The victory completed a regular season sweep for BU against the Mountaineers. McKinney tallied a game high 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. As a team the Beacons shot 46% from the floor.
 
With a 13-point lead after three quarters the Beacons withstood a furious comeback from by the Yotes to hold on for the 60-56 win. McKinney again led Bushnell with 14 points, seven rebounds and a game-high three steals. It was only the second road sweep of EOU and C of I in program history.
 
On Monday, McKinney was rewarded for her efforts as she was named the CCC Women's Basketball Player of the Week.
 
BEACON RANKINGS: Bushnell is currently tied for fifth in the CCC in scoring (66.9 ppg) and eighth in defense (64.9 ppg allowed). The Beacons are fourth in the conference for both shooting (.418) and three-point shooting (.312) and are third for both assists (16 apg) and steals (10 spg).
 
CONFERENCE OUTLOOK: After their loss to the Beacons last weekend, EOU is now 13-3 in the CCC and holds a half-game lead on both LC State and Southern Oregon at 12-3. Bushnell is just one full game behind the Mounties at 12-4. The chances of hosting a first-round playoff game are looking good as Bushnell holds a 2.5 game lead over Oregon Tech for fourth-place with the top-four teams hosting in the quarterfinals.  
 
MILESTONES AND RECORDS:  McKinney is closing in on a few more Bushnell records. She needs just 15 assists to become the Bushnell all-time leader, along with 46 rebounds for that record, and 35 steals for that title. McKinney has scored 1749 points in her career and is the only player to collect 1500 points, 600 rebounds, 300 assists, and 150 steals.
 
Aspen Slifka now has 865 points in her career. She ranks eighth all-time in scoring and is aiming to become just the fifth player ever to cross the 1000-point plateau.
 
MEET THE OWLS: Oregon Tech (16-6, 9-6 CCC) comes to town after splitting each of their last two conference weekends. The fell at home to Northwest University last Saturday, 58-54.
 
The Owls are impressive on paper, ranking second in the CCC in offense (72.3 ppg), defense (57.9 ppg allowed), and scoring margin (+14.4). The have the best field goal percentage (.450) and free-throw percentage (.766) in the conference and are second in three-point percentage (.344).
 
OIT spreads out the offense, with their top scorer, Maddyson Tull, averaging 12.7 points per game, 17th in the CCC. She leads the conference in field goal percentage (.572). Shelby Blodgett is close behind at 12.3 ppg while Abby Kreiser leads the CCC with 6.5 assists per game.
 
The Beacons claimed a COVID-related forfeit win in the first scheduled meeting between the schools back in December and are now 10-20 in the all-time series. The teams are an even 7-7 dating back to 2016.
 
MEET THE RAIDERS: Southern Oregon (19-4, 12-3) is currently receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches Poll, and has won seven of their last nine games. They swept their weekend series with Northwest (60-48) and Evergreen (49-46) last weekend.  
 
The Raiders are tied with Bushnell for fifth in the CCC in scoring (66.9 ppg) but they lead the conference in defense, allowing just 52.8 points per game. They also lead the conference in steals (14.2 spg) and are third in blocks (4.0 bpg).
 
Leading scorer Kami Walk (16.2 ppg) recently returned after missing a number of games due to injury and she had a big impact in the weekend sweep of NU and ESC, averaging 14 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. She is also the top free-throw shooter in the CCC (.891) while Syd'Nee Fryer leads the conference in steals (2.7 spg).
 
The Raiders won the last meeting between the schools down in Ashland in December, 69-62. The Beacons shot 48.1% in the game, but were out-rebounded 32-24 with host SOU scoring 27 points off of the Beacons' 23 miscues. The visitors managed to put up just 16 points off of 25 Raider turnovers.
 
Southern Oregon is now 25-6 in the all-time series but Bushnell has won the last three meetings between the schools in Eugene.
 
ON THE HORIZON: Bushnell will stay in Eugene next weekend, to close out the home schedule against LC State on Friday and Walla Walla University on Saturday.
 
MEN'S BASKETBALL (8-15 Overall, 6-10 CCC)
Friday, 2/4 vs. Oregon Tech, 7:30 pm (Livestats | Video Stream)
Saturday, 2/5 vs. Southern Oregon, 5:00 pm (Livestats | Video Stream)
 
LAST WEEKEND: Bushnell held off a late comeback from Eastern Oregon on Friday to come away with an 82-75 road win over the Mountaineers. It was the Beacons' third straight win over opponents they had lost to earlier in the season, as the team had taken down Warner Pacific and Multnomah the weekend prior. The Beacons fell to No. 10 College of Idaho the following night, 96-70.
 
Bushnell led 65-49, a 16-point advantage, with seven and a half minutes to go in Friday's contest before the momentum started to shift in favor of Eastern Oregon. The Mountaineers used a 14-3 run to get within five with under four minutes on the clock. EOU was within six with 43 seconds to go but that was as close as the Mountaineers would get. Stevie Schlabach finished with 16 points to lead the Beacons in scoring. Keishon Dawkins recorded 14 points and five rebounds.
 
Schlabach led the Beacons with 28 points in Saturday's game. The junior scored 35 points in the first meeting between the schools and has now scored 97 points in the four games he has played against the Yotes. Bushnell gave up 26 points off 20 turnovers and were outscored 53-21 in bench points.
 
BEACON RANKINGS: Bushnell is currently sixth in the CCC in scoring (76.9 ppg) and ninth in defense (79.8 ppg allowed). Schlabach ranks second in the conference in scoring, averaging 18.7 points per game. He is shooting 52% from the floor, 42% mark from beyond the arc and 81% from the free throw line. Drayton Caoile is third in the CCC in three-point percentage (.476). 
 
CONFERENCE OUTLOOK: Bushnell sits in a tie for ninth place with Multnomah (6-10), who earned a critical win over Lewis-Clark State last weekend. Northwest (7-9) is just a game ahead of the Beacons. The top-eight teams qualify for the conference tournament. Oregon Tech (14-1) and the College of Idaho (14-2) are the only teams that have clinched a spot.
 
MILESTONES AND RECORDS:  Stevie Schlabach has moved to No. 2 on Bushnell's NAIA-Era career scoring list with 1,058 points. 
 
MEET THE OWLS: Oregon Tech (17-6, 14-1) is receiving votes in the latest NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Poll. The only loss in conference play for the Owls came against second-place College of Idaho on Jan. 22, a 59-56 loss on the road.
 
OIT took the first-round game with Bushnell, 78-63 in Klamath Falls in mid-December. The Beacons held a 36-35 edge at the break before the Owls pulled away in the second half.
Oregon Tech used a 30-8 run through the remaining 12 minutes of play to cruise to a victory.  
Kaden Sand led the Beacons with 16 points on the night. Luke Smith finished with 11 points, while Dillon Young and Jarrett Bryant added 10 points apiece.
 
Oregon Tech was led by Matt Van Tassell's 20 points. The Owls finished just 17-of-33 from the free throw line but made up for it by outrebounding the Beacons 41-28, including a 12-4 margin in offensive boards.
 
The Owls lead the conference in field-goal percentage (.508) and three-point percentage (.386), while averaging a third-best 81.5 points per game. OIT ranks second in scoring defense, allowing 68.6 points per game. Seven Owls are averaging at least eight points per game with four of the seven ranking among the top-six in the conference in field-goal percentage. Garret Albrecht is their leading scorer, averaging 10.7 points per game.
 
Oregon Tech holds a 51-15 advantage in the all-time series with Bushnell and has won the last five matchups.
 
MEET THE RAIDERS: Southern Oregon (13-10, 10-5) moved into third in the CCC standings after wins over Northwest and Evergreen last weekend. The Raiders have won nine of their last 11 games since losing to the Beacons in mid-December.
 
The Beacons came out on top in the matchup in Ashland thanks in part to freshmen Jarrett Bryant and Luke Smith, who combined for 24 points in the second half. Bryant hit the go-ahead three with 49 seconds on the clock as Bushnell came away with a key win early in conference play. Kaden Sand led the Beacons in scoring with 17 points. Bryant finished with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Logan Sand recorded a team-high eight rebounds and seven assists.    
 
Southern Oregon was led by Josh Meyer, who recorded a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Atmar Mundu added 15 points off the bench for the Raiders.
 
Meyer is averaging 15.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game to lead the Raiders, who rank 10th in scoring (73.0 ppg). Tez Allen ranks among conference leaders in multiple categories with seven rebounds (6th), 3.7 assists (5th) and 1.7 steals (4th) per game. Allen is also averaging 10.7 points per game. 
 
The all-time series is tight between the Raiders and Beacons with SOU holding a 31-27 edge. The sides are 5-5 over the last 10 matchups.