BOX SCORE

SALEM, Ore. – With five teams in the hunt at the midway point of the Cascade Collegiate Conference season, Corban's women's basketball team survived a nail-biter against Warner Pacific winning in overtime, 63-62, thanks to a double-double by junior Tess Bennett Friday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.

With tonight's win, Corban remains ½ a game behind conference leader Eastern Oregon thanks to an overall record of 12-5 and 6-2 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play. Meanwhile, Warner Pacific falls to 11-8 overall and 5-3 in league games.

Bennett led the Warriors with 19 points and 12 rebounds after shooting 7-for-16 from the field, while freshman Tara Vanweerdhuizen and senior Shayla Fetters chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Aiding Bennett on the boards was Vanweerdhuizen with 10 rebounds, while four different Warriors – Bennett, Vanweerdhuizen, Fetters, and junior Emily Tsugawa –handed out a team-high three assists in the win.

After jumping out to a 6-0 run to open that game and holding Warner Pacific to an 0-for-8 showing and no points until the 13:08 mark, Corban watched as the visiting Knights used an 11-5 run to knot the game for the first time at 11-all on a Chelsey Christensen three-pointer at the 8:39 mark. A back-and-forth battle would result in a six-point Warner Pacific lead (25-19) thanks to a 14-8 run over a span of six minutes that ended on a jumper by Christensen with 2:43 on the clock. Over the final two-plus minutes, Corban would close the Knights' lead to a single point (25-24) at halftime thanks to a closing 5-0 run that included a three-pointer by senior Becky Buhler and a Bennett jumper for the final points of the first half.

The second half would begin with Corban quickly building a four-point lead (34-30) thanks to an opening 10-5 run that ended with a lay-in by Vanweerdhuizen with 15:55 on the clock. Warner Pacific would battle back over the next seven minutes to tie the game for the seventh time at 39-all thanks to back-to-back free throws by Cameryn Calhoun with 8:41 left. Following the deadlock in score, Corban went on a quick 5-0 run that included a three-point play by freshman Katherine Salness and a lay--in by junior Christy Mosier with 7:38 remaining. In a game of runs, Warner Pacific would tie the score once again at 44-44 before the two teams got caught in another even affair at 54-all with six seconds left. Following a timeout by Corban, the Warriors had the ball on the far baseline and attempted to drive the length of the court for the potential winning basket only to have Warner Pacific force a turnover with 1.3 seconds on the clock. Not wanting to foul and put the Knights at the free throw line to potentially win the game, Corban backed off allowing Warner Pacific a wide-open look from deep. WPC's Nichole Jackson would in-bounds the ball to Christensen, who unleashed a half-court bomb that dropped halfway through the hoop before ricocheting up and out of the cylinder as the second half buzzer sounded to force overtime with the score knotted for the 11th time at 54-54.

Warner Pacific would open the extra period scoring the first four points en route to securing a 58-54 lead on a lay-in by Christensen with 2:47 remaining. Corban would once again battle back to tie the score at 60-60 on a fast-break lay-in by Fetters following her first steal of the night at half court. After a Calhoun jumper that gave Warner Pacific a 62-60 lead, Corban would get an offensive rebound and put back by Vanweerdhuizen that tied the score for the 13th and final time at 62-62 with 52 ticks left. A missed jumper by the visiting Knights and a WPC turnover would give Corban the ball with 25 seconds left, as Fetters was fouled after she registered her second steal of the game. Stepping to the free throw line with the game on the line, Fetters knocked down one-of-two shots to give Corban a one-point lead (63-62) with 23 seconds remaining. After three straight timeouts by both teams, Warner Pacific had the ball on the baseline with six seconds left and the Knights had a pair of golden opportunities to win the game only to have a jumper by go long and then a lay-in off her own miss by Calhoun go over the iron as the final buzzer sounded handing Corban a breath-taking one-point win (63-62).

The visiting Knights were led offensively by Christensen, who scored a game-high 20 points on 9-for-24 shooting from the field to go along with a 13-point effort by Calhoun. On the boards, Christensen grabbed a team-best eight rebounds and Jackson dished out a game-high nine assists for Warner Pacific.

As a team, Corban combined to shoot 24-for-59 (40.7%) from the field to go along with a 2-for-13 (15.4%) showing from beyond the three-point line and a 13-for-19 (68.4%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Warner Pacific was 23-for-72 (31.9%) from the field, 3-for-16 (18.8%) from long distance, and 13-for-18 (72.2%) at the charity stripe.

Corban will return to action tomorrow – Saturday, January 14th – against CCC rival Concordia beginning at 5:30 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center in Salem.

NOTE: There will be a halftime ceremony honoring members of the 1994-95 NCCAA Championship team, as the members of Western Baptist's first-ever national championship squad will be inducted into the Warrior Hall of Fame earlier that afternoon.