Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — Coach Steve Steele refused to use the word heartbreaking.

But as much heart as the Crusaders showed, fighting to force overtime for the second time in their last three games, the finish was painful as the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team fell on a buzzer-beater putback Thursday at the Johnson Sports Center.

"On one hand it hurts a lot, but I don't feel like our kids are broken," Steele said after Concordia's Jordyn Peacock tossed in the game-winner in the Cavaliers' 89-87 victory as the buzzer sounded. "Our kids are tough, they're resilient; they're fighters and I'm proud of them for that.

"You don't want to take a loss in your own building, especially in a 1-point game, that's hard to take, but I don't want to use the word heartbreaking just 'cause of the way I feel about my team," NNU's coach added.

A week ago, the Crusaders fought back from eight points down on the road to force overtime, scoring an 84-77 victory at Alaska.

Thursday at home, it looked like NNU (7-8 overall, 5-4 GNAC) might pull off the same magical finish, erasing an 11-point deficit with a determined fourth-quarter effort.
 

A McKenna Walker 3-point play cut a 66-55 deficit down to 66-58 to start the fourth, and a Raquel Jardine free throw 2 minutes into the period made it a 68-62 ballgame.

Then the Crusaders clamped down defensively, allowing just a single free throw as they chipped away with an Avery Albrecht bucket, an Ellie Logan basket, a Danielle Jardine free throw and a final Logan jumper that whittled the Cavaliers edge down to 71-69 with 3 minutes left in regulation.

NNU's comeback continued and on Danielle Jardine's 10^th rebound of the game, an offensive putback, the Crusaders knotted the score at 76-76 with five seconds left.

Kate Cryderman then drew a charge against Danielle Hartzog as NNU's defense came up with one final stop to force overtime.

"We were really aggressive on defense, we held them to 10 points in the fourth quarter, that was the big difference," Steele said.

NNU built on that momentum, going up 84-79 midway through the extra session on a final Ellie Logan basket, and a Raquel Jardine layup had the Crusaders in front 87-84 in the final 16 seconds before the Cavaliers spoiled the night.

Erin Higbie first tied it with a 3-pointer, then after Concordia forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds play, Peacock grabbed the rebound after an errant Higbie shot and banked in the game-winner as time expired.

Lexi Tubbs led the way with 18 points, while Ellie Logan scored 17 and grabbed nine rebounds to lead NNU, which also got 12 points from Cryderman, and seven points and 10 boards from Danielle Jardine.

NNU gets the chance to show its resiliency as the Crusaders look to bounce back from the hard loss — but not heartbreaking — as they host Western Oregon at 2 p.m. on Saturday.