Box Score

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — The Crusaders made a valiant charge, but a four-minute lull proved a bit too costly.

Playing their Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener at Central Washington on Tuesday night, Northwest Nazarene played even almost all night with the Wildcats, but a 19-2 surge by the hosts led to a 78-72 victory for CWU.

"I feel like we made strides tonight, but still not enough to come out with a win," said NNU head women's basketball coach Ryan Bragdon. "We once again dug ourselves too big of a hole against a very good, physical team in Central."

An Ellie Logan bucket in the final fleeting seconds of the opening quarter gave the Crusaders a 17-16 edge on the host before the game swung Central Washington's way.
 

A 1-of-8 shooting stretch by NNU (1-5 overall, 0-1 GNAC) over the next 4 ½ minutes fueled a 19-2 charge by the Wildcats (5-1, 1-0), who built a 35-19 advantage then held on.

"As a team, we need to figure out how to limit the length of our lulls, which tonight lasted the second quarter," Bragdon said. "We got tentative on both sides of the ball, and a good team like Central is going to take advantage."

The Crusaders' Kate Cryderman buried a 3-pointer to trim the difference to 36-29 late in the first half, a CoCo Gall layup made it a 59-54 ballgame early in the fourth quarter, and a Lexi Tubbs 3-ball cut the margin down to 76-72 in the final minute before the NNU comeback came up just short.

"I loved the fight we showed to give us a chance in the end," Bragdon said.

Logan finished with a game-high 23 points for NNU, which also got a double-double from Simmons, who had 10 points and 10 assists along with five steals, and Gall chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds for the Crusaders.

"It was great to see CoCo and Ellie break out of their slumps, and I thought Taylor had a really good floor game," Bragdon said, adding, "and Katie Swanson and McKenna (Walker) gave us great energy and minutes off the bench."

Swanson added eight points and six rebounds and Walker scored seven points for NNU, which plays the final game of a seven-game, season-opening road trip at Montana State Billings on Saturday before making its home debut on Dec. 14, hosting cross-county rival The College of Idaho.