Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — Senior night can be an emotional, hectic evening; definitely not time to face a must-win game.

With the playoffs wrapped up, the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team was able to celebrate the final home game of seniors Elayna Rice, Kelli Christenson, Katie Swanson, Cierra White and Taylor Swanson with a little less stress.

A big help for the Crusaders as a slow start proved too much to overcome in a 74-55 loss to visiting Montana State Billings in Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball Thursday night at the Johnson Sports Center on the NNU campus.

"A lot of emotions tonight," NNU interim head coach John Hartman said, "it's hard for the kids to stay focused and it showed in the first half."

The Yellowjackets jumped up 27-12 at the end of the first quarter, and led by as many as 23 points before halftime.

But the playoff-bound Crusaders didn't quit when they fell behind.

Instead, NNU (12-14 overall, 10-10 GNAC) battled hard as a McKenna Walker layup before the end of the third quarter closed the gap to 63-44, and a Lexi Tubbs 3-pointer in the fourth made it 69-53.
 

But the 'Jackets (19-8, 15-4) proved to be a little too hot-handed, shooting 53.7 percent (29-of-54) on the night to stall any serious Crusader comeback thoughts.

"I was still proud of what the kids did," Hartman said. "They never quit the whole game. That's been our motto the whole year, play for 40 minutes and play hard for 40 minutes."

And it's proven beneficial as NNU earned its first GNAC playoff berth in three seasons, winning 7 of its final 11 games.

And with their regular-season finale done, it's time for the Crusaders to focus on the postseason, which begins Thursday night in Lacey, Wash., at either 6:15 or 8:30 p.m. (mountain time) against an opponent yet to be determined.

"There excited to go on to that next tournament," Hartman said.

Simmons led the way for NNU on "Senior Night" with 12 points and eight steals, while Tubbs tossed in 11 points and grabbed six rebounds.

White finished with seven points, Rice had four points and five boards, Christenson scored five, and Swanson had three points and three rebounds in her home finale.