Portland, Ore. | Warner Pacific Women's Basketball fell to Northwest University 81-83 on Friday night. The Knights were led by Courtney Jackson's 22 points, followed by Gabriella Bruno's 21 and Darbi Pink's 19.
The Warner Pacific press is a force to be reckoned with, considering the squad sports warm-up shirts that read "Warner Press-ific". The Knights forced 29 Eagle turnovers, scoring 31 points off of them and only lost the ball 13 times themselves.
It was a battle between the end lines, as the two teams traded leads a few times. The Knights started slow, trailing by nine after the first ten minutes of play but picked up the momentum in the second quarter after back-to-back-to-back threes by Celeste Pantoja, Darbi Pink and Courtney Jackson. WPU took the lead with five minutes left in the half and managed to head into the break with a 16-point lead.
The Eagles wouldn't let them have it that easy, fighting and clawing their way back within three after Bruno got into foul trouble. The Knights sent NU to the free throw line 14 times in the third quarter, where the Eagles converted on 10 of them, keeping them in the ball game. At the end of three quarters of play, NU had closed the gap to four.
Heading into the last ten minutes of play against a very aggressive and quick Warner Pacific squad, the Eagles were determined to snag a win from the Knights on their home floor, managing to hit shots down the stretch. NU went on a 10-6 run to take the four-point lead with 1:53 remaining.
As many WPU contests have come down to free throws this season, this one came down to who could convert late. With :42 left on the clock, Jackson threaded the needle to Bruno making it a two-point ball game. The Eagles brought the ball across the line and called a timeout. Setting up in a tight man-to-man defense, the Knights matched up as the Eagles prepared to inbound the ball, Freshman Anna Farner read the in-bounder like a book, stealing the ball in stride to the other side of the floor, taking it down and sinking the game-tying bucket.
The Eagles raced down the floor, responding quickly and with :13 left on the clock they had taken the lead. Warner Pac called the timeout, advanced the ball and with five seconds left, a Courtney Jackson three-pointer circled the rim and hopped out, the ball was knocked out of bounds with 3.8 remaining on the clock. The Knights went over the top to a cutting Jackson and at the buzzer, her lay-up fell short. The Eagles had gotten their third conference win of the season on the Knights' home floor.
Usually a very good free-throw shooting team, the Knights shot 64.7% from the stripe on the night.
Celeste Pantoja dished out six assists and had four steals.
NU was led by Liv Lindsey's 19 points.
Warner Pacific will host the Geoducks of The Evergreen State College on Saturday night with a scheduled tip-off of 5:30pm.