EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University women’s basketball team shot 47% from three-point range and forced 18 turnovers but couldn’t come away with a victory on Saturday night, falling to Warner Pacific, 74-67. Aly Bruns hit four treys and Jess Anderson led the Beacons with 21 points in the loss.
Head Coach Liz Turner-Bolton said, “Obviously, we’re not happy to be winless still, but I’m pleased with how we played tonight. There are certain measures you have to be happy about and I feel that we did some really good things on defense tonight. They shot the lights out on us, so it’s frustrating to give up a high shooting percentage when we always seemed to have a hand in a girls face.”
Warner Pacific (12-8, 6-3), currently receiving votes in the NAIA national coaches poll, shot nearly 60% from the field and went 13-for-14 at the free-throw line. The Knights out-rebounded NCU 31-23. With the win WPC ends the first half of conference play in a two-way tie for fourth place.
Northwest Christian (8-13, 0-9) pulled in 12 offensive rebounds in the game which translated to nine second-chance points. The Beacons forced 18 turnovers and grabbed eight steals, scoring 19 of their points off of those lose balls.
The Knights hit five three-pointers in the game, including three from leading scorer Cameryn Calhoun (pictured). Calhoun scored a game-high 24 points, shooting 8-for-11 from the field, adding four assists. The junior opened up the second half for WPC scoring the teams’ first 14 points, highlighted by back-to-back three pointers.
Chelsey Christensen was 8-for-12 from the floor for Warner Pacific and punched the clock for a double-double with 19 points and ten boards. Nichole Jackson had a strong effort at the point, scoring seven points to go with a game-high nine assists.
NCU was led by Anderson, who scored 21 points off 8-for-13 shooting, scoring a trio of three-pointers. Lindsey Shearer added 19 points while leading the Beacons with seven rebounds and three assists. Bruns finished with twelve points and Martha Taylor came off the bench to score ten points to go with a game-high three steals.
The Beacons will be back in action next weekend when they hit the road to face Evergreen State on Friday night. The Geoducks (4-14, 2-7) knocked off the Beacons in Eugene earlier this season, 67-62.
Warner Pacific will be on the road next Saturday to face cross-town rival Concordia.