Boxscore

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Freshman Briaunna King scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team past Central Washington 77-63, giving the Crusaders their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference win of the season on Saturday night at Nicholson Pavilion in Ellensburg.

 

King, who scored the game-high tally in just 24 minutes of action, also had five rebounds and three steals.  Mallory Whipple chipped in with 12 points and five assists, while Janee Olds led the Crusaders on the glass with eight rebounds.

 

The win moves the Crusaders to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in GNAC play, while the Wildcats fall to 3-9 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

 

Shaina Afoa led the Wildcats with 13 points and seven rebounds and Hilary Tanneberg hustled for a game-best 10 rebounds.

 

Leading 33-31 at the half, NNU scored 14 of the first 18 points of the second period to take its first double-digit lead of the game at 47-35 with 13:48 left, and the margin remained at 10 or more the rest of the way. The Crusaders eventually pushed it to a 20-point advantage on a pair of occasions before settling for the 14-point win.

 

Turnovers proved to be costly for Central, as they committed 26 miscues which led to 27 NNU points. NNU dished 16 assists and committed only 10 turnovers.

 

The Crusaders will return to Nampa to host a pair of GNAC games next weekend, facing Western Oregon on Thursday and Western Washington on Saturday.  Thursday's tip-off is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. and Saturday begins at 4:30 p.m.  Both games are part of doubleheaders with the Crusader men's team playing at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.