Rally Falls Just Short for Geoducks
A desperation 35-foot three-point shot by Cierra Moss was off target and Northwest Christian escaped Costantino Recreation Center with a 74-71 Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball victory over The Evergreen State College on Saturday night.
The Beacons (17-3 overall, 10-3 CCC) led by as many as 20 points early in the third period before the Geoducks (9-10, 7-8) put together a rally that came up just short.
Northwest Christian, ranked No. 16 in this week's NAIA Division II Top 25 national poll, maintained a double-digit lead for almost the entire third quarter before Alexcis Higginbotham converted a layup to cut Evergreen's deficit to 55-46 with 37 seconds left in the period. Anamaria Virjoghe, NCU's 6-5 frosh center, scored a thee-point play at the other end to put her team on top, 58-46, entering the fourth period.
That is when things got really interesting.
Evergreen started out with a 14-4 run, highlighted by six points from Higginbotham, to make it a 62-60 NCU lead with 6:36 on the clock. The Beacons regained a six-point advantage about four minutes later before a 5-0 Geoducks run, including a Higginbotham three-pointer, made the score 69-68 in the visitors' favor with 1:43 remaining.
Moss hit a three-pointer from the left corner with five seconds left to cut NCU's lead to 73-71, and after Virjoghe made the first of two free throws the Geoducks had one last look from Moss, but her hopeful attempt missed to the right.
Virjoghe scored 27 points to lead the Beacons, who also got 12 point from Niki Duncan. The Beacons shot 46 percent from the field (26-for-57) and won the rebound battle, 42-33.
Alexcis Higginbotham tallied 22 points and nine rebounds for the Geoducks, who also got 12 points from Deidra Miller and 11 apiece from Jahpera McEachin and Cayla Jones. Evergreen shot 40 percent (25-for-63) overall and turned the ball over just nine times.