Box Score



NAMPA, Idaho — The Crusaders had the No. 2 team in the nation on the ropes, bringing back memories of similar recent upsets of this same highly-ranked Seawolves team.

A Lexi Tubbs jumper had Northwest Nazarene in command, up 10 points late in the first half.

A Colette Gall layup gave NNU a 56-55 lead near the end of the third quarter.

And a 3-pointer by McKenna Walker made it a one-point ballgame in the fourth.
 

Yet somehow the 2^nd-ranked Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team escaped the Johnson Sports Center on Thursday night with a 78-70 victory over the host Crusaders in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

"It's another close one, and young teams are going to lose some close games," NNU head coach Steve Steele said. "We have to figure out how to win some close ones.

"But I am proud of our effort, we played one of our best games of the year tonight," NNU's coach added.

Playing their third straight Top 25 foe, NNU (8-13 overall, 6-9 GNAC) had its chance for the third straight time at an upset only to see the Seawolves (22-1, 15-0) use two clutch putback baskets to stretch their one-point lead to a bit more comfortable 69-64 lead with 3 ½ minutes to play.

Just enough to fend off the Crusaders upset effort, as two Ellie Logan free throws trimmed the difference to 73-70 in the final minute before UAA tossed in a 3-point play and two more freebies to ice the win.

But second-chance points loomed large, and not just those late putbacks, as UAA grabbed 18 offensive boards that helped provide 19 more shots in the game.

"We need to secure those defensive rebounds," Steele said. "When they're shooting long shots there's going to be long rebounds, sometimes you have to box out a little harder, a little longer, and sometimes you have to chase down a loose ball.
 

"They did that a little better than we did tonight."

And the Seawolves shot just a little bit better than NNU in the second half — 13-of-31 (41.9 percent) to 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) — helping provide the difference on the scoreboard.

"In the second half we got a lot of good looks, … it just didn't fall in the second half," Steele said.

In the first half, NNU patiently picked apart UAA's daunting full-court press and forced the Seawolves to work harder on defense than usual, leading to NNU shooting 16-of-24 (66.7 percent).

And leading to 10-point leads twice for the Crusaders, who went up 43-33 on two Walker free throws, and in front 45-35 on Tubbs' bucket.

The deficit was the second largest the Seawolves faced all year, and first time they trailed by double digits versus an NCAA Division II foe.
 
UAA chipped away, though, closing to 45-40 down at the break, then the teams traded leads in the third quarter before an 8-0 run by the Seawolves put them ahead for good, up 63-56 early in the fourth quarter.

Walker led the way for the Crusaders with 22 points in the contest, while Logan added 14 points and six assists, and Marina Vallés added a team-high six rebounds along with six points for NNU, which is back in action playing its home finale on Saturday at 2 p.m., hosting Alaska.