NAMPA, Idaho - Leading the nation in free-throw shooting, the Northwest Nazarene University women's basketball team will begin Great Northwest Athletic Conference play this weekend on the road in Oregon and Washington.
The Crusaders, who have won nine-straight games and are 10-1 overall, will open GNAC action on Thursday at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Ore., and continue to Lacey, Wash. to face Saint Martin's University on Saturday. Thursday's game tips-off at 7:00 p.m., while Saturday's matinee begins at 2:00 p.m. local time.
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NNU leads the nation in free-throw shooting at 81.6-percent (169-207) and are led at the line by a trio of post players in
Briaunna King (11-12/91.7-percent),
Beth Johnson (13-15/86.7-percent), and
Kristin Hein (23-28/82.1-percent).
Hein leads the Crusaders in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 13.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per contest. The senior from Tualatin, Ore. is ranked 12th in the GNAC in scoring and sixth in rebounding.
Lindsay Brady leads the Crusader seniors in her bid to become the next 1,000-point career scorer at NNU with 942 career points, while
Janee Olds is right behind Brady with 906. Currently 19 players have joined the 1,000-point club, with the most recent member being Danielle Dwello, who tallied 1,310 career points playing from 2003 to 2007.
In a rare class with five four-year seniors, all five players could possibly reach the 1,000-point club this season. Along with Brady and Olds, Hein has scored 838 career points,
Jennifer Williams sits at 832, and
Brittney Roggenkamp has 825. Each of the five seniors has scored at least 200 points in the previous two seasons.
The current nine-game winning streak is the longest string since the '99-'00 season when the Lady Crusaders set the all-time mark with 24 straight wins. A win at Western Oregon would match the second-best streak of 10 straight, set over the final nine games of '96-'97 and opening game of the '97-'98 season.
