Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — It seems like the Crusaders have everything clicking, and at just the right time.

Riding high after securing a Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament berth over the weekend, the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team started tuning up for the playoffs by surging in the fourth quarter to pull away and down visiting Central Washington, 84-77, Tuesday night at the Johnson Sports Center.

The win was the fourth straight and seventh in the last 10 games for NNU.

"It's really nice to seem like we're peaking right before we go to the tournament," said NNU guard Ellie Logan, who led the way with a game-high 27 points in Tuesday's victory. "We've been working all year to get to this point, so it's nice to see it pay off."

The Crusaders (12-13 overall, 10-9 GNAC) open the league playoffs on Thursday, March 3, in Lacey, Wash., but against who is yet to be determined.

No matter, NNU was far more focused on Tuesday's foe at the JSC, and showed that focus by rallying out of an early six-point hole.

Trailing 26-20 in the second quarter, a Taylor Simmons layup, a Logan pull-up jumper and a Lexi Tubbs fast-break deuce tied it, and NNU kept rolling from there.

A Taylor Simmons hoop-and-the-harm 3 put the Crusaders on top 38-33, and a 3-pointer from Tubbs made it 42-35 just before halftime.

Playing for their playoff lives, the Wildcats (16-11, 9-10) did fight back, clawing out a brief 50-48 lead only to see the Crusaders answer with a 11-2 run to end the third quarter and start the fourth.

Kate Cryderman had seven points in the surge, which Logan capped with a bucket for a 68-59 NNU advantage with 7 minutes left to play.

CWU tried to answer but Logan hit 7-of-8 free throws and added in a bucket in the final 3 minutes, helping finishing off the victory.
 

"It was a quite 27," NNU interim head coach John Hartman said of Logan's performance, which included four rebounds, two assists and two steals. "She'd get a basket here, a basket there, she'd knock down some free throws, and she made some great passes; just a well-rounded attack from Ellie.

"And it's always exciting when Ellie cuts to the basket for sure," Hartman added.

While Logan led the way, she had plenty of help as well as Simmons and Cryderman each added in 14 points apiece, while Simmons also had four assists and three steals.

Tubbs scored 11 and grabbed seven rebounds in the victory for NNU, and Cierra White had five points and nine boards for the Crusaders, who now wrap up their regular season Thursday night hosting Montana State Billings — a potential first-round playoff foe.

Tip-off Thursday is at 5:15 p.m. at the Johnson Sports Center, and it will be "Senior Night" as the Crusaders say thanks and farewell to seniors Simmons, White, Katie Swanson, Kelli Christenson and Elayna Rice.