Portland, Ore. | With 1 second left on the clock, Warner Pacific's Payton Whitmore sent up a floater from the elbow that rimmed out at the buzzer as the Knights lost a gut-wrenching 82-83 battle to No. 17 Northwest Christian University on Friday night's Senior Night.
 
In what could arguably considered the best game this year's Warner Pacific squad has played all season, it was apparent that the Knights wouldn't go down to the No. 17 team in the nation without a fight and a  fight it was.
 
Warner Pacific jumped out early, taking a 14-8 lead catching the Beacons on the heels of their feet defensively and attacked the middle. After the first ten minutes of play, the Knights were up 19-17.
 
The Beacons were lights out from deep on the night, nailing three back-to-back-to-back to start the second quarter and taking the lead from the Knights. As seemed to be the case for the night, the Knights responded right away with a run of their own. This time a 11-0 one and stretching out to a seven point lead that eventually closed to four heading into halftime.
 
Warner Pacific continued to take it to the Beacons in the third quarter, stretching the lead out to as many as twelve at one-point. Every time it seemed the Knights would have some room to breathe, the Beacons would respond with a 23-footer. In foul trouble early in the quarter, the Beacons sent the Knights to the line where they converted, which led to the 10 point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
At the 6:00 mark of the fourth quarter, the Knights had managed to take a 12-point lead with two Samantha Morgan free-throws. The Beacons continued to launch from deep, somehow managing to hit the ones they needed, when they needed them, closing the gap to four with just over a minute to play.
 
With the tock ticking down, Northwest Christian's Aspen Slifka released a ball so high it got lost in the rafters, only to fall through the net perfectly. 31 seconds left on the clock and the Knights were up one, Coach Gregg called the timeout to advance the ball. After the draw up, the Knights got the ball inbounded on the sideline but the player stepped out of bounds and gave it back to the Beacons. NCU went down the floor, got a tick-tacky foul called which gave them the possession under their own basket with 12 seconds remaining.
 
In bounding the ball, NCU's Kaylen Kamelamela dribbled around her defender and got the layup to fall after three bounces on the rim. With no timeouts remaining and the clock ticking, the Knights sprinted down the floor, Celeste Pantoja gets to corner and passes out to Payton Whitmore, who attacks and releases the floater. The gym grew silent as two-thirds of the ball was inside the net but eventually rimmed out at the buzzer, and the five Knights on the floor fell to the ground in heartbreak.  
 
The Knights shot 43% from the field and 46% from deep on the night.
 
Warner Pacific honored their six seniors on Friday as well; Mya Kirzy, Samantha Morgan, Celeste Pantoja, Darbi Pink, Gennah Schoen and Payton Whitmore. "I'm so proud of these girls. Not only do they show up and work hard every day in practice but they get it done in the classroom." Coach Gregg had to say about his group of seniors. "They are flat out just good people. I'm so proud to be involved in their lives".
 
In their final games in CC Perry Gymnasium, Warner Pacific's Samantha Morgan had a game-high 22 points while adding five rebounds and three assists and Payton Whitmore finished with 13 points and five assists.
 
Northwest Christian's Aspen Slifka led the Beacons with 15 points, shooting 4-11 from three.
 
The Knights have clinched a playoff spot but will finish up regular-season play next weekend beginning with Oregon Tech at 5:30pm.