Box Score

LAS VEGAS — Jet lag? Hope. Opening-game jitters? Nah.

The Crusaders came out on fire to start their season Friday afternoon, tossing in three free throws and hitting their first four shots from the field, grabbing a 10-point lead on Central Missouri and rolling to an 88-63 victory at the D2 Vegas Showdown.

"I'm pleased with our enthusiasm, energy and the togetherness that we played with today against a very tough, athletic Central Missouri squad," said Crusaders head women's basketball coach Ryan Bragdon. "We were able to settle in defensively and then take control of the boards, and I think that made a big difference in the outcome."

The win came after a tough road to Las Vegas for the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team, which didn't leave Boise until nearly midnight Thursday night because of flight delays.

Once at the tournament, though, NNU (1-0 overall) got rolling as Kate Cryderman and CoCo Gall combined to hit 3-of-4 free throws, then 3-pointers by Cryderman and Lexi Tubbs spotted the Crusaders a 13-3 advantage just three minutes into the action.

The Jennies (0-1) chipped away and chipped away, eventually grabbing a 40-36 on a Tayler Weiks 3 on the opening possession of the second half, but from there it was all Crusaders.

A Kelli Christenson 3 put NNU on top 48-45, and a Taylor Simmons layup capped an 11-2 run to open the fourth quarter, giving the Crusaders a comfortable 65-52 edge.

The lead grew to as much as 26 points on a McKenna Walker bucket before NNU settled for the final, 25-point win.

"In the second half, we got back to the basics of our offense and were able to push the tempo a bit," Bragdon said.

"We won playing team basketball, getting very good contributions from a lot of people," added NNU's coach, as 12 of the 13 Crusaders who hit the hardwood scored at least two points in the win.

Tubbs led the way with a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while Simmons scored 16, had five assists and four steals for the Crusaders, who play at noon (MT) on Saturday against Minnesota State Moorhead to wrap up their season-opening trip to Las Vegas.

Cryderman scored 15 in the victory and Gall had 11 points and eight boards for NNU, as well.