Women’s basketball: Pirates fall to Babson

The Whitworth women’s basketball team fell to Babson 70-62 in its opening game of the Music City Classic Tuesday in Nashville.

Whitworth had a 57-53 lead with 5:50 to play, but the Pirates shooters went cold and the Beavers (7-2) then went on a 12-0 run to put the game away. Faith Emerson led the team with 14 points and 10 rebounds. KC McConnell and Grace Douglas also scored 14 for the Pirates.

Whitworth will play Eureka College at the tournament on Wednesday.

North Idaho 73, Lower Columbia 62: Shelby Cloninger scored 18 points and Maci Benedict added 16 as the Cardinals (13-2) used a 25-11 first-quarter run to establish control in a win over the Red Devils (8-7) at the Lower Columbia Holiday Classic in Longview, Washington.

North Idaho will play Umpqua in the title game on Wednesday. Umpqua advanced with a 71-68 win over Centralia.

Bellevue 69, CC Spokane 57: Shelby Kassuba had 20 points, 12 rebounds and three steals and the Bulldogs (8-3) topped the Sasquatch (10-4) in the semifinals of the Skagit Valley Holiday Tournament in Mount Vernon, Washington.

Erin Hamilton hit all eight of her free throws and added 18 points for Bellevue, which won the rebounding battle 38-27 and had a 13-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

CCS’ Bri King had 17 points, Khadija Nuemeyer had 11 and Gese Gruber chipped in 10.

The Sasquatch will play for third place against Big Bend or Skagit Valley on Wednesday.