EUGENE, Ore. – Junior Lindsey Shearer broke NCU’s single-game rebounding record on Friday evening but it was all for naught as the Northwest Christian University women’s basketball team remained winless in conference, falling to Concordia University, 50-47.
A sloppy game ended with both teams combining for 51 turnovers and neither team able to shoot better than 40% from the field. NCU collected 18 steals and held a 39-38 rebounding margin, including 17 offensive boards, but the Beacons were limited to a 17-for-57 performance from the field.
Head Coach Liz Turner-Bolton said, “We must do a better job of taking care of the ball and our veterans need to step up and play to their level of experience. We did a good job of digging our way back but we have to find a way to limit the early runs.
After trading early leads, Concordia established a ten points lead, 20-10 with four minutes to go in the half. NCU put together an 8-0 run to pull it to within two points, but the Cavaliers took a 22-18 lead into halftime.
Buckets from Katie Collins and Shearer tied things up early in the second half but the Cavs went off on a 14-2 run, establishing a 36-24 lead with 13 minutes to go. The Beacons fought back to within two before Concordia pulled back up by seven, leading 47-40 with 5:19 remaining. Jess Anderson hit a jumper on the next NCU possession and after each team turned the ball over Aly Bruns hit a three-pointer to bring the Beacons to within two points, 47-45 with two minutes to go.
Then, with one minute to play, Bruns got a steal from Courtney May and fed the ball to Collins, who laid in the equalizer. On the next CU possession May got her redemption, hitting a three-pointer as the shot clock expired for her only points of the game. NCU couldn’t get anything done on their end of the floor and the Cavs escaped with the win.
Concordia (7-12, 3-5 CCC) shot 39.6% in the game, but put up an 11-for-21 second half. No players reached double-digits for the Cavs as Lexi Amundsen, Kayla Bustos, and Eva Everett posted nine points apiece. Amundsen added nine rebounds and two blocks. Brittney Yates came off the bench to lead all players with five assists.
The Beacons (8-12, 0-8) were led by Bruns, who finished with 13 points and a career-high seven steals as she hit three three-pointers. Anderson scored 12 points and Collins finished with eight. Shearer also scored eight points but collected 20 rebounds to set a new NCU single-game record. The old record of 19 had been held by Emily Gray since December of 2008.
NCU will look to end their current six-game losing streak on Saturday night when they play host to Warner Pacific College (11-8, 5-3) at 5:30 pm. The Knights will be coming in off a 63-62 overtime loss to #21 Corban on Friday.