Phoenix, Ariz. - Arizona Christian University women's basketball cut a 17-point deficit to two points with five seconds left in the game but lost 87-83 to McPherson College (Kan.) in its season opener, Friday, November 4, in Wildcat Gymnasium on the campus of Johnson & Wales University in Denver, Colo. McPherson picked up its first win of the season in its third game. 

The Firestorm continues their Denver road trip with a Saturday, Nov. 5 game against Johnson & Wales University from North Miami, Florida (sister campus of Johnson & Wales, Colo.), at 1 p.m. Denver time in Wildcat Gymnasium. 

The game also marked the collegiate women's basketball coaching debut of ACU head coach Jerry Conner, the three times Arizona Coaches Association State 5-A Coach of the Year from Phoenix's Shadow Mountain High School and 2002 Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee. 

Senior guard Steffani Liscum (Tucson, Ariz./Marana H.S.), an All-A.I.I. Division II first team and NCCAA All-West Region first team selection last season, erupted for 30 points, including 17 points in the second half and 9 points and 2 three-pointers during ACU's 10-minute run that brought them back from a 65-48 deficit, McPherson's widest advantage of the game, to a 71-64 deficit with 7:17 left in the game. Liscum made 10 of 23 shots with 2 three-pointers and hit 8 of her 9 free throws and had 4 rebounds and 2 steals. 

Freshman forward Sarah Beth Hock (Gilbert, Ariz./Perry H.S.) came off the ACU bench and made her collegiate debut with 16 points on 6 of 9 shots and 4 of 4 free throws and grabbed 6 rebounds and stole the ball once. Senior starting guard Anne Munsil (Scottsdale, Ariz./Scottsdale Christian Academy) finished with 11 points, 2 three-pointers and 6 rebounds, and junior starting guard Jessica Largo (Gallup, N.M./Rehoboth Christian School), an All- Conference first team selection last season, contributed 9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Freshman forward Stephanie Brimhall (Gilbert, Ariz./Perry H.S.), Hock's high school teammate, debuted for ACU and added 5 points, 9 rebounds and one steals, and freshman center Jamie Heath (Phoenix, Ariz./Thunderbird High School) tossed in 5 points with one three- pointer and gathered 4 rebounds. 

McPherson, which returns four starters and a total of eight players from last season's 6-22 squad, was led by three players in double figures, including sophomore guard K.T. Porter with 19 points, 3 rebounds and one steal, freshman guard Brittany Pittas with 16 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and one steal, and sophomore forward Kaylee Cramer with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 4 

steals. Sophomore guard Madison Chambers contributed 8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 4 assists. 

ACU led briefly in the first half, 18-16 and 19-18, but McPherson put together a 9-2 run in a span of one minute and led 27-21. ACU tied the score at 27-27 with 8:24 left, on baskets by Liscum and Hock, but McPherson responded with a 14-1 run and took a 41-28 lead with 5:21 left before intermission. McPherson maintained a 57-46 halftime lead. 

McPherson stretched its lead to 17 points twice in the first three minutes of the second half and led 65-48. Refusing to give up, ACU began a 16-6 run of their own, with Liscum scoring 9 and Hock 4 points over the next 10 minutes, and sliced the lead to 71-64 with 7:17 left. The Firestorm continued to chip away and closed to within five points, 78-73, on Largo's offensive rebound basket at 4:18, and Liscum's last points of the game with five seconds left brought ACU to 85-83, the closest the Firestorm came to the Bulldogs since the eight-minute mark of the first half. McPherson iced the game at the free throw line for the 87-83 win.