Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — Coach Ryan Bragdon's been waiting to see his team mature, and Saturday night his Crusaders looked like a veteran squad.

Keeping the game close throughout, the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team dominated the final minutes to score a 66-65 win over Great Northwest Athletic Conference front-runner Seattle Pacific at the Johnson Sports Center.

"That was big to protect our home floor coming out of Christmas break," Bragdon said of NNU's third straight win in its third consecutive home game after playing seven in-a-row on the road to start the season.

"We gutted it out and did what we had to do to win the game."

Which meant answering every attempt by SPU to break the contest open.
 

Down a half dozen in the opening quarter, the Crusaders (4-6 overall, 2-2 GNAC) got buckets from CoCo Gall and McKenna Walker, then two Ellie Logan free throws to tie the game, 12-12.

Just before halftime, though, NNU found itself down 32-25 and needing another comeback. The Crusaders came back, closing to 35-33 down at the break with a surge capped by a Logan hoop-and-the-harm 3.

In the third quarter, the Falcons (6-5, 3-1) built their largest lead of the night, up 44-36 after two Jordan McPhee free throws, before NNU made its final push.

A Kelli Christensen 3 sparked a Crusader comeback that Kate Cryderman capped with a 3 that gave NNU a 49-48 edge with 8 minutes left in the game.

Nip and tuck down the stretch, NNU got a clutch bucket from Gall with 44 seconds to play, putting the Crusaders on top for good, up 64-63.

After fending off a pair of offensive rebounds by the Falcons, Logan then iced the win with two free throws for NNU.

"Coach was just telling us to run our offense the whole game and down the stretch that's exactly what we needed to do and we got those key baskets," said NNU senior guard Taylor Simmons, who had 12 points in the win.

Logan led all scored with 19 in the victory, while Gall, Walker and Danielle Jardine each scored seven for the Crusaders, and Jardine grabbed six rebounds for NNU, which takes its three-game win steak on the road for a GNAC contest at Western Washington on Thursday.