EUGENE, Ore. – With first place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) standings on the line, the (RV) Corban University women's basketball team and No. 22-ranked Northwest Christian University faced off in a midweek battle at the Morse Event Center down in Eugene. The two Interstate-5 rivals battled back and forth until the final horn, with the Beacons riding a strong fourth quarter to down the Warriors, 70-54.

"We played very hard and we were right there going into the fourth quarter on the road," said head coach Bill Pilgeram. "Give credit to NCU, they are a very good team and we struggled to get a rhythm on offense. We will learn from this, continue to grow, and work towards peaking down the stretch of the season."

Heading into the evening, Northwest Christian and Corban laid claim to first and second place in the CCC standings, with Tuesday's duel carrying significant playoff implications as the regular season winds down.

The Beacons stormed out to a ten-point lead after the first ten minutes, but the Warriors battled back with a strong second stanza to trim the deficit to four (29-25) at the midway mark. Everything was falling for NCU in the early part of the third quarter, building the lead to as much as 11. The Warriors closed the third on an 11-2 run, however, pulling within two (44-42) ahead of the final period.

Northwest Christian finished the contest with 26 points in the fourth quarter, 10 of which came from Morgan McKinney, to pull away late.

The battle between two of the CCC's top talents—Corban's Jordan Woodvine and NCU's McKinney—was as good as expected.

Woodvine entered Tuesday's contest as the conference's second-highest scorer with 19.0 points-per-game, delivering yet another standout effort with her 19 points (8-of-17 FG) on Tuesday.

The conference's most-efficient scorer (54.3 FG%) was up to her usual tricks for NCU, as McKinney sank seven of her nine shots (3-of-3 3PT) en route to 21 points. Playing in all 40 minutes, her teammate Kayce Mock matched her 21-point performance, while also adding six boards.

Shaelie Burgess notched her fourth double-double of the season in the defeat, scoring 10 points and snatching up 11 rebounds.  

The Warriors' rigorous five-game road swing has now officially come to a close, with the squad set to make its return to the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center next weekend.

Corban (14-8, 10-4 CCC) will first enjoy a weekend off, hosting (RV) Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon on February 7-8. Tip-off for both matchups is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.