SALEM, Ore. – The entire scope of the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) was centered on Tim Hills Court tonight for the women's basketball opener across all 11 full-time members, as the No. 22-ranked Corban University Women's Basketball program opened league action with a second-consecutive victory over their I-5 rival Beacons from Bushnell University, 94-85, with the Warriors sending them to the loss column for a seventh time in 2025-26 while remaining undefeated themselves on the year and touting the top spot in the conference standings.
"It's really exciting to start conference play finally and against a formidable opponent in Bushnell," shared Warriors' head coach Kylie Frizell earlier this evening. "I'm proud of our resiliency time and time again to get stops when we needed them while finding ways to score despite scoring droughts of our own. The third quarter was very much a lull where both teams struggled to score but then the fourth was the complete opposite. We executed when we needed to, and it's just great to start conference play off with a win and see some of our players return to action simultaneously."
Despite the drastically varied overall records, the Warriors (8-0, 1-0) and Beacons (1-7, 0-1) competed in a true rivalry matchup tonight within the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center, as neither team was able to stretch out a double-digit lead until late in the fourth quarter when the Navy and Gold were burying the final free throws to ice Bushnell in Salem. The first of two matchups between Corban and Bushnell featured ten lead changes and three separate ties, with the programs nearly splitting the rebound margin straight down the middle at 33-32 in favor of the Dubs. While the Beacons dominated in second chance opportunities due to efficient offensive rebounding, the Warriors lit up the scoreboard with just under 56% of their field goals finding the bottom of the basket.
Both Corban and Bushnell's scoring highs and lows coincided at near identical timeframes across the four quarters of regulation, with the second and fourth quarters representing their best offensive possessions of the contest while the first and third periods represented some of their most forgettable moments. Although the Beacons kept the No. 22-ranked team in the NAIA in check for most of tonight's matchup, back-to-back scoring play with under two minutes to play in the fourth quarter put the Warriors up ten and played the free throw game the remaining minute and change to close out the nine-point victory.
Warriors' redshirt sophomore guard Jersey Huerta put together another one of her casual offensive firework displays with a team-high 30 points and led all players with seven assists, leaving her mark on over half of the field goals scored tonight by the hometown team. Redshirt junior guard Jenna Albrecht scored 19 points, hauled in six rebounds, and swiped a game-high four steals in her return to the starting lineup, while junior guard Tayla Yost scored a career-high 17 points alongside four rebounds and three assists. Graduate student center Emilia Bishop controlled the paint with a near double-double effort of 11 points and nine rebounds while dishing out four dimes.
Bushnell guard Ayden Krupke did everything in her power to keep the Beacons in contention of the road upset to start their conference slate, scoring a game-high 36 points on 12-for-27 shooting with seven rebounds and four assists along the way. The only other Beacon in double-figure scoring was represented by guard Sabrina Flowers and her 14 points on a nearly 50% field goal percentage.
Corban women's basketball receives a single off-day before they're scheduled to travel up the I-5 corridor to Portland for their next CCC matchup, as they'll battle Warner Pacific University (3-3, 0-0) at 5:30pm on Thursday, December 4th.
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