KIRKLAND, Wash. – The Evergreen Geoducks propelled themselves into the sixth seed in the upcoming Cascade Conference Women’s Basketball Championships by virtue of a 55-47 win over the Northwest Eagles in a CCC women’s basketball game on Saturday night at NU Pavilion in Kirkland, Wash.
After the Geoducks took the initial lead, the Eagles soared back with a 7-0 run that put NU up by six early at 10-4. Evergreen managed to cut the lead to one point but Northwest continued to hold onto the advantage as the half progressed.
The Geoducks took the lead back with 5:29 left to play in the opening period after senior Jessica Edge (Lake Stevens, Wash./Skagit Valley CC) sunk a pair of free throws to put the green and white up by one. Northwest grabbed back the lead and stayed in front heading into halftime, 28-26.
Both teams struggled to get it going in the second half as the first basket didn’t come until the 16:30 mark as Sadee Jones (Belfair, Wash./North Mason HS) put in a layup to tie things up. Senior Danielle Swain (Rainier, Wash./Black Hills HS) made a jumper following a turnover by NU to give the Geoducks a two-point lead with 16 minutes to play as Evergreen began to build a lead.
Northwest finally got their first points of the second half with 13:18 left to play on a three-pointer that cut Evergreens lead from six to three at 34-31. The Eagles managed to tie the game right before the midway point of the period but the Geoducks built a small lead yet again.
This time, the Geoducks wouldn’t give the lead back as clutch shooting from the charity stripe down the stretch clinched the 55-47 win to propel the Geoducks into the postseason with a two-game win streak. Evergreen finished the regular season tied with Northwest Christian for sixth but they held the tiebreaker over the Beacons thanks to last week’s win over Southern Oregon.
Evergeen was led by 14 points and 12 rebounds from Swain, who is now just eight points shy of 1000 for her career. Jessica Denmon (Oak Harbor, Wash./Skagit Valley CC) chipped in 10 points and 10 rebounds while Sammi Clark (Monroe, Wash./Edmonds CC) also finished with 10 points on the night. The Geoducks went to the free throw line 29 times, making 22 attempts for 75.9%.
Northwest was led by a game-high 15 points form Alyssa Dario. Sanda Milovic added 11 points while Domi Mendezona finished with 10 points. The Eagles shot 34.7% on the night, making 17-of-49 attempts.
Evergreen has a short turnaround before hitting the road as they open up the postseason on Tuesday night against Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls, Ore. Tip with the Hustlin’ Owls will be 7 p.m. on Danny Miles Court.