NU's Kia Gibson with another 23 point performance.
NU Turns Back Evergreen State for Fifth Straight
KIRKLAND, Wash. – Northwest University, behind a 23 point performance by Kia Gibson, defeated the Evergreen State College, 72-58, in Cascade Conference play tonight to maintain their hold on first place in the league.
NU jumped out early, taking a 15-5 lead six minutes into the first half as Marielle McKean dropped in a 3-pointer. Evergreen would battle back to pull to within three points, 21-18, at the 5:38 mark, but Northwest would go on an 8-1 run to take a ten point lead, 29-19, with 4:15 left on the clock. Emily Drivstuen would drill a trey from the right side to give NU a 36-24 lead and teammate Kia Gibson would score in the paint to increase the lead to 38-24 with 48 seconds left in the half. Evergreen State’s Shekia Hill would make two free throws to end the scoring for the half with NU leading, 38-26.
The second half would see Northwest pulling away to lead 47-33 on a Gibson layup in the paint, but the Geoducks would refuse to go away easily and chip away at NU’s lead to cut it to six, 52-46, with 7:55 to go in the game. But once again, Northwest would put on a spurt and go on a 7-0 run capped off by Kia Gibson’s short jumper to make it 59-46 with 5:16 on the clock. NU would slowly pull away and have their largest lead of the game, 70-51, with 1:31 remaining and they would lock up their 16th win of the season and improve their league record to 9-2.
In addition to Gibson’s game high 23 points for Northwest U. (16-5, 10-2 CCC), freshman guard Domi Mendezona (Issaquah, Wash.)scored 12 points and teammate Emily Drivstuen (Monroe, Wash.) contributed 10 points for the Eagles. Jessalyn Jackson (Vancouver, Wash.) and Marielle McKean (Moses Lake, Wash.) tied for team honors with 7 rebounds each. NU shot 48% for the game, and 40% from beyond the 3-point arc.
The Evergreen State College (4-15, 2-10 CCC) was led by Vanessa Caskey’s (Tacoma, Wash.) 13 points and 5 rebounds. Shekia Hill (Steilacoom, Wash.) scored 11 points and LaTrina Woods (Skyway, Wash.) tallied 9 points as did Latifa Ward (Tacoma, Wash.). NU held ESC to 38% shooting on the night and only 18% accuracy from the 3-point line. Evergreen State out rebounded Northwest 46-39.
"I thought we had a great week of practice and it was great to see improvement in the areas we worked on regarding defense and taking care of the ball," commented Eagle head coach, Lori Napier.
Both teams will be back in action next weekend as they host Southern Oregon and Oregon Tech on their home courts, Friday and Saturday. NU takes on SOU on Friday and then hosts OIT on Saturday. Game times are set for 5:30 p.m. starts.