Three-Point Barrage Buries the Wolves
College Place, Wash. – The Beacons of Northwest Christian University played as visitor to the Wolves on Saturday evening as both teams looked to earned their first victory of conference play. The Beacons (4-5, 1-1 CCC) were looking to get back on track after two consecutive losses at the hands of Boise State University and Corban University. The Wolves (1-8, 0-1 CCC) were hoping to start their conference play off with a win.
The Beacons jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the opening minutes as they fed off the intensity of their head coach, Chad Meadors. Following a Walla Walla timeout, however, the lead was erased single-handedly by sophomore Carolina Montes, who scored nine consecutive points to put the Wolves up 13-9. The two teams played neck-and-neck for the remainder of the first quarter, but it was Beacons' center Conner Borigo who gave her team a 16-15 lead going into the second quarter with a strong post move.
Northwest Christian went to work on expanding their lead as they gained a rhythm on offense at the start of the second quarter. The Beacons offense primarily ran through Conner Borigo throughout the first half, as the Wolves struggled to match her physicality in the paint. Borigo had 11 points with four minutes left in the half, while her team led by ten at 35-25. The Beacons maintained their lead through the remainder of the second quarter, taking a 39-28 lead into the halftime break.
In the first three minutes of the third quarter, Northwest Christian extended their lead to 14 at 49-35, while Conner Borigo extended her stat-line to 21 points and 8 rebounds. It was the attacking play of Aaliyah Anderson that paced the Wolves on offense throughout the third, as she scored seven points in the quarter alone. As the final seconds of the quarter wound down,
Itzel Rubio pulled up from Prague and drained a trey to pull the Wolves within 10 and cap off a 9-0 Walla Walla run.
Northwest Christian caught fire from behind the arc in the early stages of the fourth quarter, as Jenna Christenson, Sarah Reinecker, Morgan McKinney, and Shanay Dotson hit four consecutive threes to put their team up 71-51. Carolina Montes and Titi Graham were doing everything they could to help the Wolves keep pace, as Montes scored eight points in the fourth quarter, and Graham pulled down three rebounds, giving her a new career high of 12. It was the three-point shooting of Northwest Christian that proved to be the Wolves ultimate downfall, as the Beacons held on to snatch the win by a score of 84-59.
The top performers for the Wolves were Carolina Montes (20 pts, 5 rbs), and Aaliyah Anderson (19 pts, 8 rbs). The top performers for the Beacons were Conner Borigo (23 pts, 10 rbs), and Shanay Dotson (15 pts, 15 rbs).
In their next game, the Wolves will be looking for a different result against the same team, as they will face the Beacons again on Sunday, December 2 at 1p.m. here on
Windemuth Court.