William Jessup women drop two in Oregon

The William Jessup University women's basketball team went cold down the stretch last Friday in Oregon. Willamette University topped the Lady Warriors 71-58 in the first round of the Bruce Henderson Memorial Capital City Classic at Corban College. The Bearcats improved to 1-2 overall. William Jessup dropped to 3-5.The Bearcats trailed 5-0 and 11-6, but scored the next seven points to take a 13-11 lead with 7:15 remaining in the first half. WJU countered with an 8-0 run of its own, as the Warriors pulled back in front, 19-13, at the 4:55 mark. Carly Haddan scored on a jumper and two free throws during the run.Willamette regained the lead at 25-24 on a jumper as the clock reached 2:03. Zennan tacked on two free throws with 1:32 left in the half.The Warriors pulled within 27-26 on two free throws by Ashley Rose, but Willamette scored the final five points of the half on a pair of charity shots followed by a 3-pointer with 29 seconds to go. Overall, Willamette closed the half with a 19-7 run to build a 32-26 lead at the break.The Bearcats used an 8-2 run at the start of the half to increase the advantage to 12 points at 40-28 with 16:44 remaining and then held their largest lead of the night at 60-45 with 5:38 to go. William Jessup put in 13 of the next 15 points, including three 3-pointers, to cut the deficit to 62-58 with 3:16 left. Jennifer McNamara provided the final six points of the run on a pair of 3-point shots. The Warriors never scored again, as Willamette ended the game with a 9-0 run. The Bearcats limited William Jessup to 30 percent shooting (17-of-55). The Warriors hit 8-of-23 three-pointers and connected on 16-of-21 free throws.Freshman Ashley Rose and sophomore Jennifer McNamara led the Lady Warriors with 15 points apiece, including a combined 5 of 10 from behind the 3-point arc.After dropping to the opener of the tournament in Salem, the Lady Warriors looked to get back on track against host Corban College. However, Corban College topped William Jessup, 69-57 Saturday evening inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.Corban College improved to 2-5 overall. Meanwhile, William Jessup falls to 3-6 overall.Corban began the game shooting 7-for-10 from the field before closing out the opening half making only three more baskets on 22 attempts. Despite that shooting performance, the host Warriors held an eight-point lead at intermission, 28-20. William Jessup battled back to knot the game at 44-all before Corban began to pull away with a 41-point second half that led to the 12-point win.All-tournament team member Jennifer McNamara led the Warriors in scoring with 11 points on 3-for-13 shooting from the field to go along with a team-high tying eight rebounds. Rose and Nicole Abournrad added 10 points each, while Rachelle Russell chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds off the bench.Abournrad capped the game with a buzzer-beating half-court 3-pointer that brought the crowd to its feet and capped off a great two-day tournament in the Capital City.The Warriors will return to the hardwood this weekend as they host Johnson and Wales University Friday and The Master's College Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. both days.