Beacons not alarmed by early opener.

Byline: Chris Hansen The Register-Guard

The Northwest Christian College women's basketball team will depart for Oklahoma and the United States Collegiate Athletic Association tournament on Tuesday knowing only this about its game on Thursday - it's starting early.

So early, in fact, most people in Eugene won't have even left for work or school by the time the Beacons are finished with their 8 a.m. (CST) opener against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.

That's a 6 a.m. start on West Coast time, with the players' alarms feeling like they're going off at 4 a.m. in order to get the team to the arena 90 minutes before the opening tip.

Thus, NCC coach Charlie Olds had his team practicing before the crack of dawn late last week to start getting their bodies used to the early wake-up call.

"I think they react less to an adverse situation than I do, anyway," Olds said. "I don't think it's going to be a bad situation."

It's the second straight postseason appearance for the Beacons (15-9), who earned a fourth seed and first-round bye in the 12-team tournament that runs Wednesday through Saturday at Rhema Bible College in Tulsa. They'll play the winner of a game Wednesday between Taylor-Fort Wayne University (Ind.) and Philander Smith College (Ark.).

"It's worked out well," Olds said. "We kinda had a goal to get into the top four so we could have a bye that first day, and we accomplished that with our fourth seed. That way, we get to watch these other teams play once before we play them. ... I doubt they have a tape on us or anything, so that could be to our advantage. "

NCC WOMEN

If either team did have tape on NCC, what it would see is a team that started the season on fire and then cooled off considerably in the final months.

On Jan. 2, the Beacons were 13-5 and winners of four straight and nine of 10. But since then, they have played six games and won just two, both against Walla Walla College.

"I don't feel we played very well at the end, even though we beat the teams that we were supposed to beat and the games that were supposed to be close were close," Olds said. "But the girls have really come together, and they're practicing really well right now. I don't think those losses are really going to be a factor."

Northwest Christian is led by sophomore center Emily Gray, who averages 13.5 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore point guard Amy Croll is second in scoring with nine points per game. She also averages a team-high 4.2 assists and 3.7 steals.

"Amy Croll is outstanding on defense," Olds said. "And if they don't pay any attention to Emily, (she) is going to go off on them. They'll have to have a good post against her."

The Beacons, who are in only their third season, won a pair of games at the tournament last season to finish in fourth place. It was their first postseason appearance and could prove to be an invaluable experience for this year's team.

"Most of the kids have been there before, and they're excited about going again," Olds said. "Last year, we had no idea about the quality of the teams. We were going in blind. We have a pretty good idea this year. We played two of the top four seeds last year, so we know who the better teams are, and there's not an easy game to be had."

Just better starting times.