PORTLAND | The Warner Pacific University Women's Basketball team (5-4, 3-1) dropped their first conference game of the year Friday night, falling to the Northwest University Eagles (9-2, 3-1) at home 61-71 in their penultimate home game of the 2021 calendar year.
 
While the Knights shot the ball at a decent rate from the field (45% for the evening), an abysmal 4^th quarter would eventually write their undoing, scoring just 10 points and missing every three-point attempt for the last 10 minutes of play. After Knights' senior forward Hannah Myers fouled out late in the final quarter, WPU was left at a significant height disadvantage, and wasn't able to find any consistency in neither rebounding nor points in the paint from that point on.
 
Multiple Warner Pacific starters played in foul trouble early in tonight's contest, forcing Knights' Head Coach Matt Gregg to dig deep into his bench earlier than he would have liked to. 18 team fouls for the game put the Eagles in great shape at the free throw line, as Northwest attempted 26 free throws on the evening, compared to just seven attempts for Warner Pacific.
 
With the Eagles touting a much taller lineup than WPU, it was difficult for the Knights to find any success on the boards, as they were outrebounded by Northwest 21-36. While NU found success pounding the ball down low and finding layup opportunities, the Knights were forced to spread the ball out, hitting jumpers from the corners of the key and the baseline for a majority of their points scored.
 
Warner Pacific was led tonight by senior guard Lynden Harry, who scored 18 points and dealt out six assists in her 33 minutes played before an injury forced her to sit out the remainder of the night. Myers had herself a highly efficient night before fouling out, which included 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting, while adding four rebounds along the way.
 
Senior guards Livi Lindsey and Grace Meza set the pace for the Eagles tonight, each scoring 17 points and handling six rebounds apiece on very similar shooting percentages. WPU had no answer in the paint for senior post player Sam VanLoo, who scored 13 points and hauled in 7 rebounds, while smacking back two Knights shots for a couple of blocks.
 
The Knights look to get back on track tomorrow night, as they play host to the Evergreen State University Geoducks in the final home game of 2021, and their last home match until January 14^th, 2022. The game tomorrow is slated for a 5pm PST tipoff time.