ST. GEORGE, Utah – The Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team lost 79-70 on Friday to Dixie State.

The Nighthawks led 45-38 at halftime, but were outscored 41-25 in the second half.

"We gave up too many offensive boards and second-chance points," NNU coach Steve Steele said. "They were able to get to the line a lot more than us and that was probably the difference."

NNU (2-3 overall) was 12-of-15 from the line, while Dixie was 22-of-28.

Avery Albrecht scored a career-high 29 points. She also had career highs in field goals (10), field goals attempted (19) and 3-pointers made (5). She added six rebounds and three steals.

"She was fantastic and aggressive all night long," Steele said. "We saw a couple of things on film I thought we could take advantage of for Avery and she did a really good of doing that in the first half. She got hot and then kept attacking.

"In the second half, they keyed on her, but she stayed aggressive which I was really proud of. She's going to have to be more aggressive in trying to create her own shot this year which she did really well tonight."

Marina Valles added 10 points, four rebounds, three steals and three assists. Nicole Gall had 10 points, Zoe Wessels had six points and six rebounds, while Erin Jenkins and Jordan Pinson each had five.

A 3-pointer by Gall and a layup by Valles gave NNU a 50-39 lead with 9:05 left in the third quarter. A minute later, Gall hit another 3-pointer for a 53-41 lead.

Dixie State (4-1) closed the quarter on a 17-2 run to take a 58-55 lead. NNU pulled back within 62-60 on a 3-pointer by Albrecht with 7:17 left in the game, but the Trailblazers went on a 15-1 run to blow the game open.

"Overall, I'm happy with the effort and the press and the defensive rotations," Steele said. "We have to corral more rebounds and that is going to give us a better chance to win. Obviously, we played another well-coached team on the road at their house. It's a tough place to win and for a young team."

The Nighthawks play Colorado Mesa at 1 p.m. Saturday at Dixie State.