SEATTLE, Wash. – A play here or a play there and the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team is still playing in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament.

Instead, a furious rally late came up short as the Nighthawks lost 66-63 to Western Washington in the semifinals at Royal Brougham Pavilion on the Seattle Pacific campus.

The Nighthawks now must hope they earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Division II tournament next weekend at a place to be determined.

"We lost to a really good team without one of our starters and the entire game was played in their style and we still only lost by three," NNU coach Steve Steele said. "We need to go back to remembering what we do well. We want to play uptempo and stay aggressive."

Sophomore Erin Jenkins hurt her knee just four minutes into the game and was on crutches the rest of the night. Her status for the national tournament is unknown.

"We did a good job adjusting to Erin being unable to play," senior Avery Albrecht said. "People had to play in positions they never had and they did it well."

Add in two quick fouls on starting point guard Marina Valles and the Nighthawks were playing with a lot of youth on the floor.

"We were down to our second and third string point guard," Steele said. "Haley (Hanson) played the 1 a lot and she hasn't done it much this season. We scrapped and clawed and still held them to 66 points. We just didn't make enough shots, especially in the first half."

Western Washington, which won in Nampa by pounding the ball inside and using its height advantage, did much the same thing Friday. The Vikings controlled the tempo on both sides and made the Nighthawks grind out possessions, rather than play the up-and-down style that makes them so successful.

"They did a good job defensively of slowing the game down," Steele said. "We only had four assists tonight and that is not our style. That is something we need to learn from – move the ball, share the ball earlier, that is part of the reason we didn't shoot very well.

"We need to get a little tougher down low. It's nothing new. We just have to get back to doing well what we do well."

A close game at halftime became a blowout in the third quarter as Western Washington took a 54-38 lead with 3 minutes, 39 seconds left in the third quarter. NNU (22-7 overall) closed the period on a 6-0 run as Emma Clark made a free throw, Clare Eubanks made three and Valles had a layup to make it 54-44 at the end of the third.

The Nighthawks made it a 10-0 run on a jumper by Avery Albrecht and a layup by Nicole Gall made it 54-48.

After a basket by the Vikings, Valles hit a free throw and Albrecht had a steal and a layup to make it 56-51.

McKenna Emerson then hit a 3-pointer and Eubanks made two more free throws to make it 58-56 with 3:38 to go. It was as close as the Nighthawks would get.

"We started switching up the defense a little bit and that was helpful," Steele said. "Their posts were killing us and their point guard was killing us. We did a good job of containing the point guard in that run, so we didn't have to help off and then it is easier to squeeze on their bigs."

NNU had some chances late, but turnovers and a no call on a moving screen by Western Washington ended any chances of a rally.

Albrecht finished with 21 points, six rebounds and four steals, while Eubanks had 14 points and eight rebounds. Emerson had 10 points and five rebounds, while Valles and Gall each had six points.

Kelsey Rogers had a game-high 24 points, including the final eight to lead the Vikings (22-8). Western Washington will play either Alaska Anchorage or Central Washington in Saturday's championship game.