Box Score

SEATTLE, Wash. — After all the hugs, handshakes and "welcome backs," Steve Steele's new team spoiled his former squads unbeaten season.

Northwest Nazarene's first-year head women's basketball coach, Steele, watched as his Crusaders dug out of a 10-point hole to score a 73-66 upset win over host and 13^th-ranked Seattle Pacific in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on New Year's Eve.

Down 25-15 with 2 ½ minutes gone in the second quarter, the Crusaders (6-4 overall, 4-0 GNAC) began chipping away and put together a crucial 8-0 run into the halftime locker room that, which not by happenstance, sent the game into the second half knotted at 34-34.

A Maya Rogers bucket started the late charge, then Raquel Jardine hit a pair of free throws and Lexi Tubbs trimmed the difference to a single basket with a layup.

A Jardine bucket then sent the game to the break tied.

NNU didn't stop there, though, charging into the lead and grabbing a 56-45 advantage at the third-quarter buzzer on a Tubbs layup.

A Carly Parker lay-in stretched NNU's advantage to 64-49 with 6:13 remaining in the game, and the Crusaders held on from there for the upset of the highly-ranked Falcons (11-1, 3-1), a win that gave Coach Steele plenty of reason to savor a homecoming to the campus where he coached as a top assistant for the last three season.

Ellie Logan led the way for the Crusaders with 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Kate Cryderman and Tubbs each scored 11 points. Tubbs added a team-high eight rebounds, while Raquel Jardine had 10 points and six boards for NNU, which returns home for the first time since Dec. 1 to host Western Washington on Thursday night at the Johnson Sports Center at 7 p.m.