T-Birds Thwarted By Last Second NU Heroics
BOX SCORE
PORTLAND, Ore. - Kristina Schumacher hit a 12 foot jump shot with 16 seconds remaining to give Cascade a one point lead, only to see Northwest respond with the game winner by Rachel Mitchell to push the Eagles to a 72-71 win in CCC action last night.
Mitchell hit a turnaround shot from the elbow under pressure as time expired to send the Thunderbirds to their second loss in as many nights. Once again Cascade jumped out to a substantial early lead, only to see it slowly disappear.
"We have had great starts the last two games, but we are unable to sustain our quality of play." said T-Bird coach Matt Murphy. "Basketball is often a game of momentum, and we need to figure out how to have it on our side at the end of games, as well as the beginning."
The good start for Cascade translated into a 40-24 first half lead, but a 13-2 run by NU to close the period was capped by a half court heave from Erika Hornyak and gave the visitors a boost at the buzzer.
Cascade managed to hold the Eagles at bay for most of the second half, but saw the lead vanish at the 4:20 mark on a Mitchell three pointer. After the teams traded several buckets, Schumacher's jumper provided the tenuous one point lead for Cascade which was eclipsed by Mitchell's buzzer beating heroics.
Cascade's Robin Swain led all scorers with 28 points on 9-13 shooting and 6 for 6 from the free throw line. Maya Gross contnued her CCC leading rebounding with 12 caroms.
Mitchell led NU with 16 points, and Dani Drivstuen retrieved 11 rebounds as the Eagles to improve to 5-10 and 3-3 in CCC play.
Cascade falls to 8-2 and 1-2.