In two games this season against Corban, NCU's Lindsey Shearer has registered a combined 46 points, 22 rebounds, and nine assists.
NCU Earns First-Ever Season Sweep Over Corban With Wire-to-Wire Win
BOX SCORE
SALEM, Ore. – NCU's Kelsey Atkins hit a back-breaking three-pointer with 99 seconds left and Lindsey Shearer registered a game-high 22 points and 14 rebounds, as Northwest Christian University earned its first-ever season sweep over Corban University with a 76-72 victory Friday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
Northwest Christian (12-11, 6-6 CCC) was led by Shearer's eighth double-double of the season, while Katie Collins was a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line en route to scoring 16 points for the Beacons. Atkins and Tami Brown also scored in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively, while Shearer added a game-high tying six assists for NCU.
Corban (6-16, 3-9 CCC) was led offensively by Emily Tsugawa with 16 points and a game-high tying six assists, while reigning CCC Player of the Week Tara Vanweerdhuizen registered her third straight double-double with 13 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Tess Bennett and Julia Young tallied 10 points each for the host Warriors, while Katherine Salness and Megan Benedict chipped in with six points each.
Northwest Christian would begin the game scoring 17 of the first 22 points, as the visiting Beacons earned a 17-4 lead on a lay-in by Brown with 14:28 left. NCU would push its lead to 14 points (21-7) on back-to-back free throws by Andrea Gloss with 12:52 left before Corban used a 21-11 run over a span of 10 minutes to pull within four points (32-28) on a three-pointer by Young with 2:49 on the clock. Northwest Christian would push its lead up to six points (34-28) on two free throws by Brown before Corban hit a pair from the line by Kendra Staymates to cut the lead to four points (34-30). Unfortunately, NCU would get two more free throws by Collins for the final points of the opening half en route to earning a six-point advantage (36-30) at halftime.
The second half would begin with Northwest Christian using a 16-12 run to pull ahead by 10 points (52-42) on a three-pointer by Shearer with just over 13 minutes left. Over the next six-plus minutes, Corban used a 17-7 run to tie the game for the first time at 59-all on a jumper in the paint by Bennett with 6:40 on the clock. After tying the game for the fourth and final time at 65-65, Corban's offense went cold over a three-minute stretch that allowed NCU to build a five-point lead (70-65) with the dagger coming via Atkins' aforementioned three-pointer with 99 seconds remaining. Despite a pair of lay-ins by Vanweerdhuizen that were sandwiched around a jumper in the paint by NCU's Shearer, Corban could not get any closer than three points until Tsugawa hit a three-pointer with 13.6 seconds left to bring the home team within two points (75-73). Back-to-back free throws by Shearer would seal the win for Northwest Christian, as Corban missed a game-ending three-pointer to give the visiting Beacons the four-point win (76-72).
As a team, Corban combined to shoot 26-of-68 (38.2%) from the field that included a 6-of-19 (31.6%) performance from beyond the three-point line and a 14-of-24 (58.3%) showing at the free throw line. On the other hand, Northwest Christian was a combined 26-of-57 (45.6%) from the field, 7-of-12 (58.3%) from long distance, and 17-of-19 (89.5%) at the charity stripe.
Northwest Christian will not return the floor for seven days until the Beacons take on nationally-ranked The College of Idaho in Caldwell. Meanwhile, Corban will return to action tomorrow – Saturday, January 26th – in a non-conference game against New Hope Christian beginning at 5:00 p.m. inside the Rexius Event Center in Eugene.