NU's Ebany Herd grabs a rebound.
Eagles Hold Off Late Geoduck Rally for Win
KIRKLAND, Wash. - Northwest University held off a late second half comeback by Evergreen to defeat the Geoducks 66-61 in their conference opener tonight.
Having lost four players to foul trouble, Evergreen refused to quit and trailing 57-49 with 6:19 remaining on the clock began chipping away at the Northwest lead to tie the game at 57-57 on Mele Rich's driving layup with 3:49 to go. NU's Jessalyn Jackson would help NU regain the lead, 61-59, with her offensive tip in at the 2:53 mark after Evergreen's Maddie Graves tied it with her jumper. Sami Clark would then tie the game again at 61-all with 2:02 to go with her two free throws and Domi Mendezona would answer with two free throws of her own to put the Eagles back into the lead, 63-61, at the 1:13 mark. After a missed Graves' jumper, Mendezona would hit one of two free throws and grab her miss to give NU possession with 20 seconds to go. Ebany Herd would clinch the victory with her two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to give Northwest their first CCC win of the season.
Northwest led the entire first half, but the Geoducks kept is close, tying the game three times and NU's largest lead coming with 11:25 left in the half at 18-10. Evergreen would battle back and cut the lead to two, 18-16 (9:49), but Carol Howard's layup would put NU back up by 5, 23-18, with 8:41 on the clock. NU would grow their lead to ten, 32-22 with 1:51 to go in the half, and would maintain that lead to take a 36-26 lead into the locker room.
Northwest (4-4, 1-0 CCC) had four players in double figures led by Jessalyn Jackson who finished with 15 points and a career high 10 blocks for a double-double. Emily Drivstuen added 14 points while Domi Mendezona and Ebany Herd each scored 12 points for the Eagles. NU shot 33% on the night and a cool 16% from the 3-point line (3-19).
Evergreen (2-5, 0-1 CCC) was led by guard Sami Clark who scored 18 points and handed out 4 assists. Jessica Edge scored 13 points and grabbed 5 rebounds before fouling out and Sadie Jones and Danielle Swain each scored 7 points before they fouled out. Swain also had 12 rebounds on the night as the Geoducks out rebounded NU, 48-36.
"Evergreen has always been a battle for us," commented Lori Napier, NU head coach. "It wasn't a pretty game but any conference win is a good one."
Northwest will host Montana Tech on Friday, Dec. 9, in a non-conference game next week. Evergreen will host Puget Sound in Olympia on Dec. 7