EUGENE, Ore. – The No. 16-ranked Northwest Christian University women’s basketball team rode a strong second half performance to their fourth straight Cascade Collegiate Conference victory tonight, a 71-50 final over the visiting Multnomah University Lions. With the win, the 2017-18 squad has tied the Beacon single-season win record of 19 set in 2015, with five regular season contests remaining on the schedule.
NCU (19-3, 12-3 CCC) outscored the Lions (1-25, 1-15) 35-15 in the second half thanks in large to a 22-point third quarter in which reigning CCC player-of-the-week Anamaria Virjoghe took over with 11 of her team-high 18 points. The Beacons shot .403 on the night, and outrebounded MU 50-28 with an 18-5 advantage on the offensive glass.
Northwest Christian shot .529 from the field and .714 from long-range in the opening period, dominating both inside and beyond-the-arc to jump to an early lead. Senior guard Niki Duncan hit her first of four first-period three-pointers at the 5:35 mark to put the Beacons up 14-5. NCU maintained their early advantage throughout the quarter, going into the second with an 11-point lead at 29-18.
The Lions came out strong in the second period, using an efficient attack and stingy defense to whittle-away at the Beacon lead. Down 36-23 with just under five minutes remaining in the half, MU scored the final 12 points of the period to cut their deficit to one point at 36-35 heading into the intermission.
The third period saw a role-reversal with the Beacons holding Multnomah without a field-goal for the first seven minutes of action, in which time they added nine to their lead to build their advantage back to double-digits. 48-38, at 2:57. A three-ball from Morgan McKinney coupled with a seven-point run put the Beacons up big, 58-42, going into the final period.
Multnomah had no match for the Beacons depth in the fourth period, with center Conner Borigo scoring seven down the stretch as NCU finished their season sweep of the Lions with a 71-50 victory.
Duncan finished the night with 15 points, going four-for-eight from three-point land and three of four from the line. McKinney shot .800 from the field en route to a ten point, seven rebound effort, while Dani Baker came off the bench for six points and five boards. Virjoghe added four boards and three blocks to her stat line with forward Katerina Brejchova working her way to a six rebounds, four assist, four steal night.
Faith Kraatz led the Lions with 19 points, five rebounds and four steal off the bench. Bethany George finished with nine points while Rachelle Tau chipped-in eight.
The Beacons set out on their final road trip of the season next weekend, first heading to Klamath Falls for a 5:30 pm clash with Oregon Tech on Friday, February 9. The Lions return to their home court where they will host the College of Idaho Coyotes.