PORTLAND | Leaving no doubt on the court tonight was the Warner Pacific University Women's Basketball team (4-2, 3-0), who utilized a remarkable second half to down the Bushnell University Beacons (4-4, 2-1) in impressive fashion, and improving to 3-0 in conference play on the 81-58 victory.
 
The final score tells very little about the story of two very different halves, as a competitive first half left the Knights and Beacons only 1-point apart heading to the locker rooms, with both teams looking to break free and find a more consistent offensive approach. Both teams were shooting poor from behind the three-point line, and points were hard to come by due to excellent defense and poor offensive execution from both sides, yet only a 34-33 halftime score in favor of the Knights separated fairly equal first-half performances.
 
However, the Knights would leave little to the imagination in the second half, outscoring the Beacons 47-25 through the final 20 minutes of tonight's contest, including a blazing hot 11 for 16 field goals made in the 4^th quarter alone, which was more than enough to ice the Beacons and grant them their first conference loss of the season.
 
Knights' Head Coach Matt Gregg shared his thoughts on tonight's win, starting with, "It's been a long time since we've started out 3-0 in conference play, but this team has earned every bit of it."
 
"I love the heart of this team. They just continue to outwork their opponents, and the encouragement among the team is at the best it has ever been," Coach Gregg elaborated. "We played well in the first half despite some errors, but we really turned up the motor in the second half."
 
Warner Pacific senior guard Courtney Jackson absolutely torched the Beacons tonight, scoring a career-high and game-high 28 points on 12 of 18 field goals, and hitting 4 of her 7 three-point attempts. Jackson came 3 rebounds shy of a double-double, pulling down 7 over her 28 minutes played, along with 3 steals. When asked about Jackson's career night, Coach Gregg razzed her by saying, "Pretty sure Courtney was a post player in another life. Yeah she got a couple of three's in here and there, but when we needed a bucket, we got her the ball inside and let her go to work."
 
Jackson wasn't the only Knight to pop-off tonight, as senior guard Kylie Guelsdorf recorded the first Warner Pacific double-double of the season by dropping 10 points and coming down with 12 rebounds along the way. Guelsdorf has come close in multiple contests this year, and was finally able to record that elusive double-double tonight.
 
Knights' senior guard Anna Farner packed the stat sheet tonight, scoring 7 points, hauling in 5 rebounds, and playing the role of point guard on multiple occasions with a game-high 9 assists.
 
Coach Gregg touched on the leadership of Guesldorf and Farner by sharing, "When Kylie and Anna are going hard, the entire team feeds off of their energy, then they start to swarm like piranhas. I absolutely love their intensity."
 
Bushnell University was led by forward Kalina Rojas, who scored 17 points in her complete game played, adding 6 rebounds and a blocked shot. Beacons' Morgan McKinney, who plays multiple positions around the court for Bushnell, scored 13 points and brought down 6 rebounds of her own in their effort.
 
Warner Pacific now sits at 3-0 in the conference standings, and will take a brief hiatus from conference play to battle NCAA DIII George Fox University in Newberg, Ore. for a non-conference preseason game next Friday, December 10^th. Tipoff is set for 6pm PST at the Wheeler Sports Center.