Box Score




NAMPA, Idaho — A disappointing night proved to be frustrating, as well, for Crusader coach Steve Steele.

The first-year head man left the court unimpressed after his Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team started slowly and never really got into a rhythm in a 101-89 loss to visiting Simon Fraser in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action Saturday at the Johnson Sports Center.

"Their effort was the difference in the game," Steele said of the visiting Clan, adding, "we didn't show up tonight.

"We didn't show up, we didn't play hard enough, we didn't talk our — effort and our level of focus and our communication was just flat out unacceptable."

After an opening bucket by Colette Gall gave the Crusaders an early 2-0 lead, Simon Fraser took over with a 10-2 run, and never trailed again.
 

Not that NNU (6-6 overall, 4-2 GNAC) didn't put up a fight as a Maya Rodgers 3-pointer cut the difference down to 22-17 in the opening quarter.

Two McKenna Walker free throws made it an 8-point game in the second quarter, an Ellie Logan layup closed the gap to 11 points in the third quarter, and two Kate Cryderman free throws led to the final 12-point margin.

But while the Crusaders tried and tried to battle back into the contest, they simply couldn't match the Clan (14-2, 5-1), which shot 70.6 percent in the opening quarter (12-of-17), and never relented throughout the night.

A frustrating fact for Coach Steele.

"They played harder than we did and that's not OK," NNU's coach said. "It started in the first quarter and went throughout the rest of the game."

Rodgers turned in a Crusader and collegiate career-high 15 points to lead another balanced offensive effort for NNU, which also got 12 points from Carly Parker, 11 points from Lexi Tubbs, and four points and seven rebounds from Danielle Jardine.

Now the Crusaders look to bounce back on the road as they travel to Alaska to play in Fairbanks on Thursday, then at No. 7 and GNAC-leading Alaska Anchorage on Saturday.