PORTLAND, Ore. – After falling behind by 10 points early in the second half, the Evergreen Geoducks had a chance to win it in the final seconds but the Warner Pacific Knights found a way to hold on to earn a 51-47 win in a Cascade Conference women’s basketball game on Friday night at C.C. Perry Gymnasium in Portland, Ore.
The Geoducks held the lead early as Warner Pacific struggled to find their shot. The Knights eventually evened up the score at 17-17 with just over a minute to play in the opening half and WPC would talk on three more points before the buzzer to take a 20-17 lead into the break.
Warner Pacific continued the run into the second half, pulling ahead by 10 points at 31-21 with 14:51 left to play in the game. The double-digit differential was enough to wake up the Geoducks, who fought back to pull within two on a three-pointer by Sammi Clark (Monroe, Wash./Edmonds CC) with 10:20 left to go.
Evergreen tied the game up for the fourth time in the contest with 7:40 left to go as Dela Jones (Las Vegas, Nev./Scottsdale CC) hit a pair of free throws to knot the game at 39-39. The Knights resumed the lead for the next few minutes but a pair of free throws from Danielle Swain (Rainier, Wash./Black Hills H) gave Evergreen a one-point lead with just 1:37 left to play.
Melissa Carey hit a jumper following a WPC offensive rebound that put the Knights back up by one with 1:21 left to play and the Geoducks just couldn’t put the ball in the basket the rest of the way, allowing Warner Pacific to escape with the 51-47 win.
Evergreen was led by 17 points and 10 rebounds from Swain, who now sits at 945 career points as she creeps towards the 1000-point club. Clark finished with 12 points and nine rebounds to narrowly miss the double-double while Jessica Denmon (Oak Harbor, Wash./Skagit Valley CC) brought down 11 rebounds against her former team.
Warner Pacific was led by 16 points from Chelsey Christensen. Tori Carroll added 10 points for the Knights, who shot 35.2% from the field, making 19-of-54 attempts.
The Geoducks remain in Portland overnight, making the short trip to Concordia on Saturday. Tip with the Cavaliers is set for 5:30 p.m. at Cavalier Gym.