Boxscore

NAMPA, Idaho - The Crusader women showed their character Saturday night with an improbable comeback, rallying from a dozen-point deficit in the final four minutes to beat Central Washington 76-71 in GNAC basketball.

“I'm speechless,” NNU coach Kelli Lindley said. “The one thing I can say about this team that they have consistently shown is a grittiness and heart.

“Clearly we did not play well tonight, we looked out of synch, we looked uncomfortable, we turned the ball over a ton,” Lindley added.

Making that 12 points hole look even deeper as Northwest Nazarene was playing its first contest in three weeks.
Combined with a solid zone defense by the Wildcats (5-6, 0-3 GNAC), the Crusaders (9-2, 1-2) turned the ball over 23 times over the opening 36 minutes, falling behind as much as 61-45 and trailing 67-55 late before a Chelsie Luke 3-pointer with 4:09 left to play finally trimmed the margin to single digits.

That provided the spark, then Heather Adams fueled the fire with three straight 3s, and suddenly, with 1:46 to play, the Crusaders trailed just 71-67.

“I think we started to feel the momentum start to swing our way, it was such a game of ups and downs and runs … I think we just started to feel it go our way and went with it,” said Adams, who finished with 14 points, nine in NNU's final flurry.

The comeback continued with two Megan Hingston free throws after a defensive rebound, then Taylor Simmons put NNU on top, splashing the fifth 3 in just over three minutes for the Crusaders out of the left corner, putting the Wildcats in a 72-71 hole with 51.4 left on the clock.

From there, NNU's defense stepped up with three straight stops while Luke tossed in four free throws, icing the dramatic win.

“I think it just goes to show the character of this team,” Adams said. “… As a team, our character is like the heart of a lion. The girls never give up, and a lot of teams, when you get down by 10 or 12, it's just kind alike, they kinda fold.

“I thought it was so cool that we could bring that spark and comeback and win it.”