Warner Pacific Tops Evergreen to Earn 7th Seed
Warner Pacific earned the No. 7 seed to the Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball postseason tournament with a 72-63 win over the host Evergreen Geoducks on Saturday night inside Costantino Recreation Center.
The Knights (12-18 overall, 8-12 CCC) and the Geoducks (10-14, 8-12) finished in a three-way tie with Northwest University, but the conference tiebreaker puts Warner Pacific seventh and Evergreen eighth, with Northwest not qualifying for the tournament.
Both Warner Pacific and Evergreen have unenviable tasks. The Knights will play second place Southern Oregon in Ashland on Tuesday night, while the Geoducks will face Eastern Oregon, which finished atop the conference standings with a 20-0 record. That game will be played at 7 p.m. next Tuesday in La Grande, Ore.
Maryah Tipping scored 19 points to lead the Knights, who led for nearly 30 minutes after breaking away from a 21-21 deadlock after one quarter. After trailing by as many as 11 points in the third quarter, Evergreen pulled to within three points in the final period, but no closer.
In addition to Tipping's strong game, the Knights also got 11 points and 10 rebounds from Deepika Kapil and 15 points from Darbi Pink. Warner Pacific shot 44 percent overall (24-for-55), taking advantage of an effective pick-and-roll game to get open shots. Warner Pacific had a slight 42-39 edge in rebounding.
Japhera McEachin scored 15 for the Geoducks, who lost three starters to fouls in the fourth period. Alexcis Higginbotham, who fouled out late in the period, had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Cayla Jones, who also exited with five fouls, chipped in with 10 points for the hosts.
Evergreen struggled shooting the ball throughout the game, ending up at 31 percent overall (19-for-62) and just 24 percent from beyond the three-point line (5-for-21).
Seniors and twin sisters Cierra and Cherish Moss were honored following the conclusion of the contest.