NAMPA, Idaho – The offense that made the Crusaders the best shooting team in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference showed up once again Saturday to overwhelm California Baptist.

The 25^th-ranked Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team hit 14-of-17 shots to open the game, building a big lead they never relinquished as the Crusaders topped the Lancers 94-88 in the final game of the NNU Thanksgiving Classic at the Johnson Sports Center on the NNU campus.

"I love it, that's why we play is to score more than the other team," NNU coach Ryan Bragdon said.

"We just talked about staying in our shots and shooting like we do every day in practice," NNU's first-year coach added, "and that's about the way we shoot every day in practice, so it was good to see it back."

The Crusaders came into the game with a league-best 46.1 field-goal percentage, but had shot 42.9 and 40.3 percent in their last two contests.

That changed quickly Saturday afternoon, led by a near record-tying effort by Megan Hingston, who scored eight of NNU's first 14 points, helping the Crusaders (6-0 overall) to an early 14-2 edge.

Hingston scored a game-high 30 points, hitting a remarkable 15-of-16 shots from the field. Hingston's 15 field-goal total was one off the GNAC record of 16 in a game by Western Oregon's Leada Berkey (2008) and Simon Fraser's Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe (2012).

"She was possessed," Bragdon said. "She's just a player, that's why she's in the running for conference player of the year because she's just that good."

The rest of the Crusaders followed Hingston's lead and kept pouring on the points, taking a 31-14 on a Veronika Skokankova bucket with 9 minutes, 34 seconds to halftime before California Baptist battled back to stay in the game.

The Lancers grabbed 19 offensive rebounds and hit 16 3-pointers to give themselves a chance, closing to 41-39 down late in the first half on a Cassidy Mihalko putback.

"We're not concerned," Bragdon said. "Those type of things are little things. The 3-point shooting we'll get under control, we've done it before.

"Those are all just little adjustments that we'll make," he added. "Our zone (defense) is still a work in progress."

And with the NNU offense clicking away, shooting 34-of-58 (58.6 percent) in the win, the Lancers just couldn't keep up.

A quick surge to open the second half, capped by two Taylor Simmons free throws, pushed the lead to 57-44.

Simmons tied the GNAC record for made free throws and free-throw attempts in a game, going 16-of-20 at the line, matching the marks set by Tina Donahue (2004) of Western Washington and Katie Torland (2010) of Western Oregon of 16 makes, and Torland's 20 attempts.

Two more Simmons free throws pushed the NNU lead to the largest of the night, up 76-58 with 7:42 remaining before a frantic finish by the Lancers made the final more respectable.

Simmons finished with 20 points and six assists for NNU, which also got 18 points and five assists from Kayla Schumann, 12 points from Chelsie Luke and six points and 13 rebounds from Kylee Schierman in the win.

A win that sends the Crusaders into their GNAC openers next weekend at Western Oregon on Thursday and Saint Martin's on Saturday, with a ton of confidence and momentum.

"That's a big deal for this group, in a transition period, to get that confidence in a completely new system," Bragdon said. "Now we head into conference with a lot of confidence and playing sky-high."

Kamille Diaz led the Lancers with 24 in the game, all coming on eight 3-pointers, while Mihalko hit five 3s and finished with 18 points for California Baptist.

Colorado Christian 80, Central Washington 75

NAMPA, Idaho – After a slow start, the Colorado Christian Cougars offense got rolling in an 80-75 win over Central Washington on Saturday afternoon in the NNU Thanksgiving Classic at the Johnson Sports Center on the Northwest Nazarene campus.

Jessica Murdock had the lone bucket for the Cougars (2-2 overall) in the opening 5-plus minutes of action as the Wildcats (3-2) forged an early 8-3 lead.

The Cougars found their rhythm in the final nine minutes of the opening half, snapping a 15-15 tie with a 9-0 run capped by a Gillian Foster bucket for a 24-15 lead.

A Murdock basket stretched the margin to 31-20 with 4:26 left until halftime before Central Washington began chipping away.

The Wildcats eventually grabbed their final lead of the game, up 38-37, on a Melanie Valdez bucket with 1:20 gone in the second half before the Cougars pulled away for good.

Maddie Page's 3-pointer gave CCU a 44-40 edge, and though the Wildcats kept the game close, they never regained the lead.

Up just 62-60 with 7:48 remaining, the Cougars iced the win with a 10-1 run capped by a Kate Louthan bucket with 4:12 remaining.

Murdoch led the Cougars with 26 points in the win while Page added 13 and Foster scored 12.

Jessica VanDyke followed up her 30-point effort on Friday with 20 points Saturday, Courtney Johnson tossed in 19 and Jasmine Parker had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats.