PORTLAND, Ore.—Kicking off the second half of conference play for both teams, Warner Pacific topped the Concordia women’s basketball team 73-62 on Saturday, after pulling away from the Cavs in the latter part of the second half.

Neither Concordia (7-14, 3-7 CCC) nor Warner Pacific (13-8, 7-3 CCC) could take much of a lead early in the second half, though, after the team’s went to halftime tied 32-32.

The Knights scored six of the first nine points in the second period to take a small advantage, but the Cavs would eventually tie it back up at 46. The tie came after Concordia went on their own small, 6-0 run behind a pair of jumpers from senior point guard Courtney May.

However, the Knights would again push ahead of the Cavs, claiming a small, six point lead at 62-56. This time, though, the Knights kept scoring from there, going on an 11-0 run that stretched their lead to 17 at 73-56. The Knights sank all three of their field goals over that stretch, while the Cavs missed on five straight attempts. By the end of it, only 1:31 remained on the clock and the Knights easily closed out the victory.

Earlier, Warner Pacific put the Cavs in an instant hole with a 14-2 run over the first five minutes of the game. The Cavs proved ready for the challenge, though, and almost immediately reversed fortune with the Knights as they went on a 24-6 run of their own over the next nine minutes.

The Cavs’ May gave the Cavs a huge lift early in the run with a three-point play that dropped the Knights lead back into single digits. Then, a few minutes later, May sandwiched a Kayla Bustos free throw with two three-pointers, the second of which put the Cavs up for the first time at 19-18 with 9:43 left in the first. Neither Concordia nor May stopped there, though, as the Cavs scored seven more points in the run with May’s third three-pointer of the half capping it with Concordia up 26-20.

Concordia maintained that lead over the next couple minutes until a key 7-0 stretch for Warner Pacific gave the lead back to the Knights at 32-30 just before halftime.

Overall, Warner Pacific’s run in the second half reflected the team’s field goal shooting as the Knights outshot Concordia .583-to-.346 in the second after the teams had been relatively even in the first (Warner Pacific .462, Concordia .444). However, the Cavs also converted a 31-27 rebounding edge (13-6 offensively) into a big 13-2 advantage in second chance points.

Individually, Warner Pacific’s Chelsey Christensen led all scorers with 25 points, while teammates Cameryn Calhoun (17), Kelsey Mattsen (12) and Nichole Jackson (10) all scored in double-digits as well. Calhoun also filled the stat sheet for the Knights, totaling game-highs in rebounds (6), assists (6) and steals (3).

For the Cavs, May led the team with 22 points, while Gabi Beyer added 18. In addition, Brittney Yates tied Calhoun for the game-high in rebounds with six, five of which came on the offensive glass.

Next up, both Concordia and Warner Pacific host Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon next weekend. Warner Pacific will first face Southern Oregon on Friday, Jan. 27, while Concordia takes on Oregon Tech that the same day. Both games will begin at 5:30 p.m.