NAMPA- Mallory Whipple's 11 assists paved the way for the Women of Northwest Nazarene as they defeated the Nanooks of the University of Alaska Fairbanks 93-89 in a GNAC contest at the Johnson Sports Center on the NNU campus.
“Mal was huge for us tonight. She was the core of our momentum and really led the way for us” commented Coach Kelli Lindley on the Whipple's assisting effort on the night.
Whipple's double digit assists led the way for four NNU ladies to score in double digits.
Jennifer Williams led the way with 23 points and a game high 12 boards to give her one of the games two double-doubles. Also with a double-double was sophomore post
Kristin Hein with 13 points and 10 boards. Also in double digits in points was
Lindsay Brady with 11 points and senior Nikki Schutte with 17.
“It was great having those girls in double digits, especially coming off the Thursday's game where we only scored 50 points” commented Coach Lindley following the game.
The Crusaders had a vast improvement in shooting percentage from Thursday's loss to UAA in which they shot 31-percent compared to tonight's 53-percent on 34 of 64 shooting.
NNU's bench added a big key in their transition offense as they scored 32 points to the Nanooks 9.
Leading the way for the Nanooks of UAF was Sheena Brown with a game-high 34 points on 11 of 27 shooting from the field and 3 of 10 shooting from behind the arc. Also in double digits for the Fairbanks was Kari Reabold with 20 and Cristina Bruketta with 16.
With the win the Crusaders climb to 9-4 on the season and 2-2 in GNAC play. The Nanooks fall to 7-5 and 0-4 in conference play.
NNU will travel to Washington next week as they play Central Washington on Thursday and Western Washington on Saturday.
