EUGENE, Ore. – Looking to end 2013 on a high note, the Evergreen Geoducks won their first conference game of the season in convincing fashion, crushing the Northwest Christian Beacons, 70-45, in a Cascade Conference women’s basketball game on Saturday night at Morse Event Center in Eugene, Ore.

The Geoducks and the Beacons traded baskets early as both teams had the opportunity to take control.  Evergreen finally seized the opportunity, using an 11-2 run to go ahead by double-digits and the Geoducks kept rolling, heading into the break up by 21 points at 36-15.

Evergreen continued to blow past NCU in the second half as the lead ballooned to 30 on a three-pointer by Jessica Denmon (Oak Harbor, Wash./Oak Harbor HS/Skagit Valley CC) with 12:18 left to play.  The Geoducks’ biggest lead was on another Denmon basket with 9:10 that put Evergreen up by 38 points at 61-23.  NCU mounted a slight comeback but the Evergreen lead was simply too big to overcome as the Geoducks earned the 70-43 win.

Evergreen was led by 14 points from Sadee Jones (Belfair, Wash./North Mason HS).  Senior Sammi Clark (Monroe, Wash./Monroe HS/Edmonds CC) added 13 points in the win while Denmon finished with 10 points.  The Geoducks shot 43.1% from the field, sinking 22 of 51 attempts but it was at the charity stripe that Evergreen did the most damage, making 20 of 31 attempts from the free throw line.

Northwest Christian was led by 15 points from Andrea Gloss. Hannah Frederick added 11 points in the loss.  The Beacons shot just 34.9% on the night, making 15 of 43 attempts.  NCU also turned the ball over 23 times, leading directly to 25 Evergreen points.

The Geoducks will take a break for the holidays before returning to action on Jan. 4 at in-state rival Northwest.  Tip with the Eagles is set for 5:30 p.m. at NU Pavilion in Kirkland, Wash.

Box Score