Free Throws Lift Cavaliers to 74-64 Victory Over Warner Pacific

Denise Benedict led the Cavaliers with 21 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

Photo: Concordia Athletics

PORTLAND - Concordia made 22 of 24 free throws in the second half, including 13-14 in the final two minutes, to claim a 74-64 victory over Warner Pacific in a Cascade Collegiate Conference women's basketball game tonight in Cavalier Gymnasium.

Concordia improved to 6-15 overall, 2-6 in the conference, while Warner Pacific now stands at 7-11 overall and is 3-5 in the conference.

"The kids are really starting to play as a team," said Concordia head coach Aaron Christian. "We did a nice job of sticking to the game plan."

The two teams battled to a 31-31 tie after the first half.

The Cavaliers jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but the Knights rallied for an 8-5 advantage.

Warner Pacific led by 10, 18-8, with 12:13 left, but the Cavaliers scored 10 straight points to tie the score.

The Knights took a 20-18 lead with 6:36 remaining, but the Cavaliers scored nine of the next 10 points for a 27-21 advantage with 3:55 left.

Warner Pacific rallied to take a 28-27 lead with 1:45 to play.

The two teams were tied three times and there were two lead changes the rest of the half.

Kelsey Schaefer made two free throws with one second remaining to tie the score at 31-all at halftime.

Warner Pacific took a 37-35 lead with 15:56 left in the game on a pair of Bethany Bauman free throws.

The Knights expanded their lead to eight points, 51-43, with 10:16 left.

With 7:58 to play Warner Pacific held a 54-47 advantage.

During an ensuing timeout, Christian talked to his team about effort. "I thought we needed to step up our effort," he said. "We talked about about that. They responded very nicely.

The Cavaliers scored the next eight points to take a 55-54 lead.

Jacque Barton made a field goal to give Warner Pacific a 56-55 advantage, but Denise Benedict made a free throw with 4:24 left to tie the score, then sank two foul shots at the 4:00 mark for a 58-56 Cavalier lead.

Warner Pacific pulled to within one on a free throw, but Benedict sank a three pointer to give the Cavaliers a 61-57 lead with 2:37 left.

During the last 1:57 of the game, Benedict went 6-6 from the free throw line, Maryam Razavi made 5 of 6 free throws and Lindsey Landon hit a pair of foul shots to clinch the win.

"We had some players really step up in the second half," Christian said.

Benedict led the Cavaliers with 21 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

Razavi scored 19 points and pulled down 7 rebounds.

Schaefer added 10 points.

Joyce Oniah had a game-best 8 rebounds and added 8 points.

Jessica Mendezona and Danica Wilson both scored 18 points to lead Warner Pacific.

The Cavaliers host Cascade College in a conference game on Saturday beginning at 5:30 PM.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports