NU's Brittney Marshall led the Eagles again with 16 points.
#18 Northwest Holds Off Oregon Tech
KIRKLAND, Wash. - #18 Northwest University defeated an upset minded Oregon Tech team tonight, 74-64, in Cascade Conference play to maintain their two game league lead.
Northwest wouldn’t be able to put much distance between themselves and the Owls as they would find themselves in the lead, 15-11, seven minutes into the game. NU’s Emily Drivstuen would put NU up by eight, 22-14, but two OIT free throws and a jumper by OIT’s Jana Parker would cut the Eagles’ lead to four with 6:17 left in the half. Northwest would out score OIT 8-6 to take a ten point, 30-20 lead with 2:02 remaining in the half, but Crissy Watts would hit a trey for OIT to make it 32-27 with a minute to go until halftime. Northwest would then score the final two baskets of the half as a jumper by Alyssa Welk and a layup in the paint by Brittney Marshall would give the Eagles a 36-27 lead as the teams headed to their locker rooms.
OIT would start the half with a 5-0 run to close the gap to four points once again, 36-32 as Colleen Hunt would drain a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Each time Northwest would build their lead to seven, Oregon Tech would answer to narrow the margin to four points. Karissa Dixon would hit another OIT trey to make it 44-40 with 15 minutes left in the game and it would spark an OIT run of 6 to 2 to tie the game at 46-all as Colleen Hunt would score on a layup with 13:24 on the clock. Northwest would answer with Emily Drivstuen’s 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 49-46 lead with 13:16 to go, but Karissa Dixon would answer to knot the score at 49-49 sixteen seconds later. After a timeout, NU’s Jessalyn Jackson would drop in two free throws which would give Northwest the lead for good, 51-49 with 11:55 remaining and the Eagles would slowly build their lead as they would out score the Owls 14-4 over the next five minutes to lead, 65-53, after a McKenzie McKean jumper with 6:38 left on the clock. NU would maintain a 10-12 point lead the remainder of the way as they would down the feisty Owls for their 18th win of the season and improve their league record to 12-2.
Northwest U. (18-5, 12-2 CCC) had four players in double figures tonight led by senior Brittney Marshall’s (Snohomish, Wash.) 16 points and 6 rebounds. Junior Jessalyn Jackson (Vancouver, Wash.) added 14 points and 5 blocked shots, Emily Drivstuen (Monroe, Wash.) scored 13 points and senior Kia Gibson (Spokane, Wash.) added 12 points and 9 rebounds for the Eagles. NU shot 35% for the night, and were held to a cool, 21% from the 3-point arc. The Eagles held a 47-42 edge on the Owls in the rebounding category.
Oregon Tech (10-16, 2-12 CCC) was led by junior Aundrea Albright (Central Point, Ore.) who finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Colleen Hunt (Soph. Silver Lake, Ore.) contributed 12 points and junior guard Crissy Watts (Beaverton, Ore.) scored 11 points for the Owls who shot 38% on the night and 90% from the free throw line (9 for 10).