La Grande, Ore. | After making the icy trek along the Columbia Gorge, the Warner Pacific University Women's Basketball team's (13-15, 11-11) season came to an end in the Quarterfinals of the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament, as the Knights dropped their road game to the Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers (22-9, 18-4) Tuesday night, with 61-70 as the final score.
 
The Knights and Mountaineers are coming off a fresh head-to-head conference clash last Saturday in Portland, as Warner Pacific hosted Eastern Oregon for their Senior (K)night honors on the final day of CCC regular season play. The Mounties ended up clinching the season sweep over WPU following their 49-63 victory against the Knights on the 19^th, despite their first win coming on a Covid-Forfeit by Warner Pacific back in January. And with how the rest of the conference matchup decisions swung that evening, we saw the creation of their official "rematch" in the first round of the conference playoffs.
 
With their first official decision in the books, it was time for EOU to play the host for the first time this season on Tuesday night, but with a playoff basketball environment in their corner. The student section was filled, rowdy, and ready to badger the Warner Pacific student-athletes all night long.
 
However, Knights' Head Coach Matt Gregg had different plans for how he foresaw this game beginning, as his Knights won the tip, scored on the opening possession, and hung with the Mounties shot-for-shot for a majority of this contest.
 
To put it more clearly, rather than hitting shot-for-shot, the Knights and Mountaineers went run-for-run, as there were numerous lopsided scoring droughts and yet still an abundance of points scored in a short amount of time by both squads in this Quarterfinal matchup.
 
After being gridlocked at 12-12 midway through the first quarter, the first official scoring run of the evening took place to finish out the first 10 minutes, as Eastern Oregon mounted a 13-6 run on the Knights that was capped off by a myriad of missed shots under the basket by the WPU players on the floor, as a lid had seamlessly been placed on top of the basket.
 
After shooting 76.9% from the field in the first quarter, EOU fell back down to Earth a little bit, scoring just 15 points in the second quarter after putting 25 points on the scoreboard in the first quarter. Lucky for the Mountaineers, the Knights had their worst shooting percentage in the same period, shooting under 30% and scoring only 11 points to make it a 40-29 Eastern Oregon advantage as both teams jogged off the court for a much needed halftime break.
 
As the teeter-totter of scoring droughts leaned heavily in favor of the Mountaineers through the first half, that storyline would take a brief detour to start the third quarter, as Warner Pacific scored on their first four possessions while limiting Eastern Oregon to a single bucket to open the second half on an 11-2 offensive explosion, forcing EOU to call their first timeout of the evening.
 
The pendulum would swing back into the favor of EOU once again following WPU's hot start to the third quarter, as Eastern Oregon's opportune timeout stalled the Knights' hot-streak to go on their own 15-7 run to end the period, setting up a 10 point hole for the Knights to dig out of with 10 minutes remaining.
 
Up to this point of the evening, the spectators in Quinn Coliseum and watching online had witnessed a plethora of offense from both squads that suited up. Nonetheless, the players on the court took a brief hiatus that caused both fan bases to grow concerned, as not a single point was scored until the 6:34 mark in the fourth quarter.
 
Both the Knights and Mountaineers traded baskets following each of their first fourth quarter points to keep this game locked at a 10 point margin in favor of EOU. Unfortunately for Warner Pacific, that had bled so much time off the clock, that there was only a minute and three seconds of game clock remaining when senior forward Hannah Myers hit a deep three-pointer to cut the lead to seven points.
 
The Knights needed just one defensive stop to possibly keep their playoff journey alive, but Eastern Oregon's point guard Sailor Liefke scored one final jump shot to put the metaphorical dagger in Warner Pacific's season.
 
At the end of the night, WPU's lack of offense at times, missing out on easy baskets, and full-court defensive pressure breakdowns are what separated the Knights from a victory. Other than being out rebounded by the Mountaineers, Warner Pacific led in a majority of statistical categories, including the lopsided turnover ratio of 9-19, as well as leading 8-2 on steals for the entire contest. Offensive rebounds and field goal percentage is what doomed the Knights on the 19^th, and is what repeated the same fate Tuesday evening.
 
Myers left it all on the court tonight for WPU, scoring 21 points in 30 minutes played, adding a pair of blocks and steals to her six rebounds. Senior guard Lynden Harry scored 14 points and led all players with six assists, while fellow senior guard Courtney Jackson added 11 points and a solo block and assist.
 
EOU's Liefke balled out once again against the Knights, as she scored 22 points and dished out five assists along the way. Mountaineer's guard Taylor Stricklin came just one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 15 points and nabbing nine boards to stymie Warner Pacific the entire evening, as she played 38 of 40 possible minutes for Eastern Oregon.
 
With tonight's loss, the Knights will return home to Portland with a final season record of 13-15, capped off by a six-member Senior Class that comprised of the entire starting lineup. However, the Knights brought in six freshman this past offseason as well, setting up a potential repeat in just three years' time of an entire senior class starting lineup.