Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho — For 20 minutes the Crusaders had their fans thinking sweep of the No. 3 team in the country.

But a 5-minute stretch to open the second half derailed Northwest Nazarene's drive toward a second upset of third-ranked Alaska Anchorage this season as the Seawolves erased a halftime deficit and topped host NNU, 97-83, on Saturday night at the Johnson Sports Center in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.

"First 20 minutes, and even the second half, I thought our effort was great," NNU head women's basketball coach Ryan Bragdon said. "Our effort was always there.

"We came out the second half and just made some mistake early in that first five minutes that didn't help things," NNU's coach added, "and that's what the No. 3 team in the country does you when you make mistakes, they capitalize."

The Crusaders (5-15, 3-8 GNAC) put Alaska Anchorage into comeback mode with a strong first-half effort that saw NNU use an 11-2 run late in the half to erase a nine-point deficit.
 

A Taylor Simmons 3-pointer sparked the charge, and with 3 minutes left until halftime, Ellie Logan tied the game, 34-34.

The Crusaders — the only team to beat Alaska Anchorage all season, handing the Seawolves a 79-64 setback in Alaska on New Year's Day — kept charging hard and took a 39-38 lead on a Logan 3-point play in the final minute, and went to the locker room leading 42-41 following a CoCo Gall hoop-and-the-harm triple. 

"A lot of good things happened, our effort was great," Bragdon said.

And it remained strong in the second half, but the Seawolves took advantage of a slew of quick fouls by NNU to open the final half, which stalled the Crusader momentum.

UAA (20-1, 10-1) took advantage as a Jessica Madison 3-pointer capped a 17-2 start to the second half, and sent the Seawolves on their way to the win.

Not that the Crusaders didn't make things interesting as a Lexi Tubbs triple cut the difference to single digits.

And a pair of Logan free throws trimmed the lead to 85-78 in the final 2 ½ minutes before the comeback ran out of steam.

Logan finished with 21 in the contest, while Kate Cryderman scored a career-high 23 points for NNU, and Simmons tossed in 14 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out six assists for the Crusaders.

Next up, NNU hits the road for games at Western Washington and Simon Fraser on Thursday and Saturday before playing its final two home games on Feb. 12 and 14.

February 14 will be "Play4Kay" breast cancer awareness night with the Crusaders raising funds to fight breast cancer with a silent auction that weekend.