ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team started out red-hot Saturday, but couldn't keep it up against the No. 7 team in the country.

The Nighthawks lost 73-58 to Alaska Anchorage on Saturday in a matchup of undefeated teams in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

The loss ends an eight-game winning streak for the Nighthawks (10-4 overall, 5-1 GNAC).

"I think it is just a big picture thing," NNU coach Steve Steele said. "We were playing the No. 7 team in the country at their place with one day to prepare and after what equates to traveling across the country.

"I think a lot of people would be happy to come out of (Alaska) with a split."

NNU jumped out to an 18-9 lead behind four points from McKenna Emerson and three each from Avery Albrecht and Marina Valles, but Anchorage then went on a 24-4 run to take a 33-22 lead with 7 minutes, 9 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

The Nighthawks reeled the Seawolves back in, pulling within four twice and went into the break trailing 46-38. Anchorage shot 69.2 percent from the field in the first half and made 7-of-10 3-pointers.

Albrecht hit a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter to pull the Nighthawks with 51-45, but Anchorage closed the quarter on a 9-1 run to open up its biggest lead of the game.

"Analytically, we played good offense and no defense in the first half and in the second half we played good defense and had no offense," Steele said. "You just can't do that against a team this good. For a very young team it is just a lot of information to process and not just process it, but utilize it in a high-pressure situation."

The Nighthawks started three freshmen – Emerson, Nicole Gall and Eubanks – and have seven freshmen in their rotation.

"With this young team, we have to play games to learn," Steele said. "There is no way to learn how to beat Anchorage without playing them. I'm excited we will get another shot at them and it will be at home.

"We now have a lot of kids who have the experience of what it takes to play against a team like that."

The loss was the second consecutive suffered at the hands of Anchorage (16-1, 6-0), which knocked NNU out of the national tournament last season in the second round.

The Nighthawks will have a chance at revenge against the Seawolves on Feb. 6 in Nampa.

Albrecht's 19 points, five assists and four rebounds led the Nighthawks, while Valles added nine points, eight rebounds, six assists and six steals.
Clare Eubanks finished with nine points, Emerson had eight and five rebounds – all offensive – and Nicole Gall had six points.

The Nighthawks return home to face Simon Fraser at 7:30 p.m. Thursday as part of a doubleheader with the men's team.