NAMPA, Idaho – After a sluggish first half Thursday, the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team flipped the switch and rolled to another victory.

The Nighthawks hammered Alaska 92-53 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both teams at Johnson Sports Center.

NNU led just 33-25 at halftime, but scored 33 points in the third quarter and held the Nanooks to just seven points in the fourth.

"I think it was just effort, honestly," NNU's Ellie Logan said of the second half. "We came out with a lot of energy and played fast. That is our game and when we play our game usually good things happen."

The victory keeps the Nighthawks (7-0 overall, 1-0 GNAC) undefeated and sets up a marquee matchup with No. 4 Alaska Anchorage on Saturday night. NNU and Anchorage split the GNAC regular-season title a year ago and the Seawolves knocked the Nighthawks out of the national tournament.

"We weren't overlooking Alaska," NNU's Danielle Jardine said, "we just have been having slow starts. We have to get on a path to having better starts in the first half."

The biggest part of the resurgence in the second half was the depth of the Nighthawks, who finished with five players in double figures and two more players with nine points.

"I don't even know how to describe it," Logan said. "Every night you are going to have someone else go off. It could be anyone 1-12 and you don't know who is going to do it each night. It is just exciting."

On Thursday, it was freshman Jordan Pinson's turn.

The diminutive point guard finished with a career-high 17 points and was 5-for-5 form beyond the 3-point line, including making three in a row in the fourth. She pulled up from about 35 feet on her final shot to put a cherry on top of the victory.

"I felt good, so I just kept shooting," she said. "A lot of times in high school I would just decide to shoot it – so after hitting those previous shots I just felt like I could pull up."

Avery Albrecht added 14 points, Logan had 11 points and 10 rebounds, Erin Jenkins had 11 points and Raquel Jardine had 10 points. Danielle Jardine added nine points and 10 rebounds and McKenna Walker had nine points and five rebounds.

"The great thing about this team is that a freshman can have a career night and everyone will be happy for her and not jealous or mad about shot attempts," NNU coach Steve Steele said. "I love that we have freshmen who can hurt you. The style we play, we have to have depth."

The Nighthawks used a 13-5 run in the third quarter to push the lead to 17 and then cruised from there.

They made 12 3-pointers on the night and were 18-of-22 from the free throw line, all while holding Alaska (3-4, 0-1) to just 33.3 percent shooting on 20-of-60 shots overall.

"We were mature in that we made good adjustments and tried to play more our style of game in the second half," Steele said.