News

Lady Owls Earn First CCC Victory

12.31.2010

Crissy Watts scored 17 points to lift Oregon Tech to a 71-66 win over Northwest Christian. (photo by Kelly Caleb)

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon Tech women’s basketball team held host Northwest Christian University to just 17.9% shooting in the first half, and 31.6% for the game, as the Lady Owls picked up their first Cascade Conference win of the season with a 71-66 win over the Beacons tonight in Eugene.

Oregon Tech is even on the season at 9-9 and now 1-5 in conference play. NCU drops to 4-10 overall and 0-5 in CCC action.

A Karissa Dixon 3-point field goal gave OIT their first double-digit lead of the night, as the Owls moved out to a 16-6 advantage with 12:34 remaining in the opening period. NCU, however, answered with a triple of their own and quickly closed the gap to seven points on the next possession.

Tech’s Kassi Conditt then capped a 9-0 Owl run with a short jumper that sent Oregon Tech to a 25-9 lead with nine minutes remaining in the half.

The Beacons would eventually close to within seven points again, 28-21, with two minutes on the clock, but the Owls answered with the last four points of the first period to take a 32-21 lead into the half.

Oregon Tech looked to easily secure a road win over the Beacons after enjoying a 47-29 advantage with 13:20 remaining in the contest. A 10-0 NCU run over the next three minutes, however, would switch momentum and pull the home team to a manageable eight points.

Tech would push the lead back to double-digits, but another NCU run, this time 15-4, would tie the contest at 60-60 with 3:25 to play.

NCU took their first lead since early in the game on a 3-pointer and go up 63-62 with just over three minutes to play.

Both teams went scoreless until Tech’s Crissy Watts converted a basket and free-throw to give the lead back to the Owls at 64-63 with 43 ticks on the clock.

The team’s traded baskets, but after being forced to foul, OIT’s Colleen Hunt hit four-straight free-throws to ice the game to give Tech a hard-fought 71-66 victory.

Watts led the Owl offense with 17 points, followed by 13 from Aundrea Albright. Brittany Cherry grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds and added nine points in the win. Hunt, Morgan Hofman, Kassi Conditt and Dixon each came away with eight points with Hofman and Conditt combining for 15 rebounds.

Oregon Tech will host Northwest University and The Evergreen State College this Friday and Saturday with both games beginning at 7:30 PM.