PORTLAND | The Warner Pacific University Women's Basketball team (13-13, 11-10) needed some late-game magic if they were going to eke out of C.C Perry Gym Friday night with a win, but were unable to conjure the plays necessary in order for that to happen, falling to the visiting Yotes of The College of Idaho (16-13, 10-11) by a final score of 51-58.
 
On the first night of Senior (K)night weekend, and the Hoopin' for the Homeless Sock Drive campaign being ran by WPU Athletics, Warner Pacific battled toe-to-toe with the Yotes for the entirety of tonight's contest, with neither team finding the double-digit lead mark at any point. With the Knight's largest lead at six points, and the Yotes at eight points, these two evenly matched squads gutted it out for 40 minutes straight, before C of I came away with the road victory.
 
Foul trouble once again doomed the Knights from the start, with four of the five starters for Warner Pacific touting at least one personal foul at the end of the first quarter, with two of them already at two fouls. Despite out fouling the Yotes 8-2 in the first quarter, College of Idaho held a slim one point edge over Warner Pacific, thanks in part to five missed free throws from the line for the Yotes.
 
The second quarter donned many of the same qualities as the first period, with WPU once again out-fouling C of I to put the Yotes at the line 16 times in the first half alone. Additionally, the Knights wouldn't do themselves any favors offensively, turning the ball over on 12 occasions in the first 20 minutes of action.
 
Despite losing the turnover battle and fouling egregiously, Warner Pacific only trailed by three points entering the halftime break thanks to taking quality shot selections when the opportunities arose to shoot 45% from the field in the first half. Furthermore, hitting 50% of their three-point attempts in the second quarter allowed the Knights to keep this game from getting out of control, needing to find some second half consistency in order to fight back into this contest.
 
Warner Pacific came out of the midway point pause with exactly what was needed to keep this game locked in a stalemate, as the Knights defense started to cause issues with the Yotes' offensive gameplan. Holding C of I to just eight team points in the third quarter, and keeping them below 25% field goal percentage allowed Warner Pacific to reclaim the lead, and grasp a two point lead heading into the final quarter.
 
The College of Idaho had the final laugh though, as the Yotes came racing back in the fourth quarter to take an eight point lead with 7:40 remaining in the game, and never looked back despite allowing the Knights to pull to within a single point just two minutes later. This would the closest that Warner Pacific would come to pulling off the comeback victory, as the Yotes were able to close this contest out at the free-throw line, where the game started and ended, for their 58-51 triumph.
 
Knights' senior forward Hannah Myers led both teams in scoring with a game-high 15 points, all while bringing down four rebounds along the way. Senior guard Anna Farner continues to stuff the stat sheet for Warner Pacific, scoring six points, collecting seven boards, and dealing out three assists in tonight's efforts.
 
Yotes' guard Taryn Riley had a team-high 14 points in 32 minutes played, handing out three assists and nabbing three rebounds in the process. Meanwhile, guard Lexi Mitchell came a single point shy of a double-double by recording nine points and scooping up 13 rebounds.
 
Warner Pacific Women's Basketball looks to bounce back in their final regular season conference game of the season tomorrow afternoon, as the Knights host the Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers at 3pm PDT, with Senior (K)night festivities beginning earlier at 2:45pm to honor the senior class of 2022 on the WBB squad.