NCU's Katie Collins was 3 of 4 from 3-point range and from the free throw line on Friday.
Collins Leads Beacons to Road Win at Concordia
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. Northwest Christian
PORTLAND, Ore.—Hitting 5 of 11 from 3-point range in the first half as a team, Northwest Christian handed Concordia University a 65-57 loss in women’s basketball action on Friday night.
Building a double-digit lead midway through the first half, the Beacons held off the Cavaliers by an eight-point margin to improve to 11-8 overall while evening its Cascade Collegiate Conference record to 4-4. Concordia, meanwhile, fell to 6-17 on the season and 1-7 in league play.
Concordia jumped out to a 7-0 lead behind five quick points by senior forward Malori Dixon. The lead would not last long as the Beacons needed just two and a half minutes to secure an 8-7 lead at the 14:20 mark.
From there, the teams went on to trade leads on eight occasions, the final coming via a Katie Collins layup to make it a 17-16 affair in favor of the road team. Minutes later, Collins returned with another layup to cap an 11-0 run for a 26-16 NCU advantage.
With one minute remaining, Shearer hit a 3-pointer to make it a 37-22 contest which gave NCU its largest lead of the half before CU’s Kelly Huey finished the half with a pair of free throws for a 13-point differential.
After nearly three minutes of scoreless play to start the second half, the Beacons posted the first five points to stake a commanding 18-point lead. The Cavs responded with its best string of offensive output by adding a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 11 at 44-33 but would not break into a single-digit gap until a McKenna Daly layup dropped with six minutes remaining.
Daly connected on another layup with 4:20 left in regulation to cut it to 61-54 but the Cavaliers would only manage three more points down the stretch as the Beacons thwarted the CU comeback.
The Beacons shot just 37.9 percent in the game, a shade higher than their 36.7 average (11 of 30) from long range. Concordia, plagued by several attempts that rattled out of the cylinder, shot just 30.5 percent from the floor. The Cavs converted 18 of 20 attempts from the free throw line for a 90 percent exchange.
NCU’s Collins finished with a game-high 22 points on an 8 of 13 shooting performance. Tami Brown chipped in with 16 points and Lindsey Shearer added 14 points in the winning effort.
Four Cavaliers barely reached double figures with Huey topping the bunch with 13 points. Following Huey’s total, Gabi Beyer finished with 12 points while the Cavs got 10 each from Daly and Dixon.
In addition to the positive free throw disparity, Concordia grabbed 46 rebounds compared to 39 from the Beacons. The Beacons forced CU into 18 turnovers while being charged with 13.