Eagles Fall to No. 15 Whitworth in Spokane
SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth remained undefeated with a 77-61 victory over Northwest University tonight. The No. 15 ranked
(NCAA D-III) Pirates are now 9-0 for the season as Northwest U drops to 8-5 overall.
Northwest U took an early 14-13 lead when Hannah Carlson hit a short jumper with 10:50 left in the first half and the Eagles maintained a slim lead over the home team Pirates for the next 7 minutes. With NU leading 29-27, Whitworth’s Katara Belton-Sharp would score to tie the game for the 6
th time at 29-all with 2:37 left in the half. Sharp would then go on an 8-0 run of her own to put the Pirates ahead 37-29 with 52 seconds showing on the clock. Two free throws by NU’s Charity Degman would close the gap to six, 39-33, as the teams headed for the locker room.
Northwest U would come out in the second half and outscore Whitworth 15-4 to take a five point lead, 48-43, after Kristen Frey buried a 3-pointer for the Eagles with 14:20 to go in the game. But, the Pirates would come back to tie the game for the 7
th time, 48-48, on Lexie Zappone’s trey at the 12:07 mark. Whitworth would then slowly pull away and Carlie Harwood’s jumper would extend the Pirate lead to 57-48 as they would maintain that lead the remainder of the way for the victory.
Northwest U (8-5) got 17 points each from Kristen Frey and Chanara Greene. Greene added 13 rebounds for a double-double. Hannah Carlson and Charity Degman each dropped in 8 points for the Eagles who were forced into 27 turnovers by the Whitworth defense. NU out rebounded the Pirates 40-34, shot 44% for the game and hit 83% of their free throws going 15 for 18.
Whitworth (9-0) was led by Katara Belton-Sharp’s game high 29 points while adding 9 rebounds. KC McConnell scored 16 points and handed out 8 assists with teammate Lexie Zappone adding 13 for the Pirates. The Pirates shot 41% for the game.
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Northwest U now returns to Kirkland, but will be on the road once again on Friday as they travel to Eugene, Ore., to play another non-league game with New Hope Christian and then head north to Olympia to resume league play against Evergreen on Saturday.