Lewiston, Idaho | Coming off the holiday break, the Warner Pacific University Women's Basketball team (6-5, 4-2) suffered a setback in their quest for the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championship, falling to the Lewis-Clark State College Warriors (12-1, 6-1) at P1FCU Activity Center by a final score of 71-82.

Due to travel concerns because of the recent inclement weather in the Pacific Northwest, the Knights have endured a brutal start to their travel schedule coming into today's matchup. After learning of the impending travel cancellation late on Thursday, the CCC had to push this contest to today in order for WPU to make the trip. Even more travel issues continue to rain down on the Knights, due in part to their next three conference games being held in the Southern Washington, Eastern Oregon, and Western Idaho regions.

The Knights came out hitting basket-for-basket against the receiving Top 25 votes Warriors, ending the first quarter down just three points in their first road conference game since their opening night game at Multnomah University. While Warner Pacific was able to capitalize on multiple Warrior turnovers, they fell flat from the field over the last half of the opening quarter.

Three-point shooting dominated the second quarter, as the Knights and Warriors connected on nine total baskets from beyond the arc, six of which fell in favor of LC State. Warriors' guard Callie Stevens hit all three of her opportunities, while Knights' senior guard Courtney Jackson connected on two of her three shots.

Lewis-Clark State was extremely efficient from the field in the second quarter (83.3 FG%, 85.7 3-PT%), and shared the ball perfectly in the first half by having 16 assists on 16 baskets made.

Despite this huge advantage, turnovers kept Warner Pacific in this game, as the Warriors turned the ball over an egregious 13 times in the first half alone. Both teams managed to score 27 points leading into the halftime break, leaving a three-point difference at 43-46 for Warner Pacific to try to overcome.

The Knights and Warriors all came out shooting cold in the third quarter, with both squads unable to convert anywhere on the court for a majority of the period. Both teams barely shot above 30% from the field, with Lewis-Clark State able to squeeze out another point on top of the Knights to put WPU in a four-point deficit with just 10 minutes left to play.

While Warner Pacific was able to hang tight for 37 straight minutes against LC State, and led by as many as four points late in this contest, the Knights were unable to convert crucial opportunities down the stretch, resulting in just their second conference loss of the season. The Knights shot a lowly 28.6 % in the final quarter, and could not convert on a single three-pointer.

The lengthy Warriors lineup kept the Knights out of the post all afternoon, which forced WPU to shoot more mid-range jumpers than Knights' Head Coach Matt Gregg would have preferred. The Knights see most of their success from behind the three-point line and inside the paint, which the Warriors made an emphasis of taking away from Warner Pacific today.

Only two Knights were able to find any consistent offensive in today's game, one of which was senior forward Hannah Myers, who scored a game-high 25 points, shooting 60% from the field and collecting four rebounds along the way before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

Senior guard Courtney Jackson added 24 points towards Warner Pacific's efforts, nabbing five boards and dealing three assists. Jackson has scored in double-figures in all but one game this season, and currently leads the conference with 18.6 points per game.

Both Jackson and Myers looked to the leadership of fellow senior guard Anna Farner in their effort today, who finished with a career-high 12 assists in a supporting role.

The Warriors had three players in double figures in this contest, which included a double-double effort featuring 14 points and 17 rebounds from forward Maddie Holm. Holm finished the game four assists shy of a triple-double with six assists in her 35 minutes played. Stevens led LC State in scoring with 23 points, and dished out seven assists along the way.

The Knights will return to action tomorrow when they continue their delayed road trip into Washington, where they will play the Walla Walla University Wolves at 3pm PST on Windemuth Court.