LA MIRADA, Calif. – Northwest Nazarene women's basketball battled to take a late lead at Biola, but the Eagles pulled away in the final minute to defeat the Nighthawks 64-60.
 
After trailing from the beginning, NNU clawed back to take a 54-53 lead on a triple from Erin Jenkins with 3:30 to play. The Nighthawks held that lead until the two-minute mark, when a Biola free throw evened the game at 56 apiece. The Eagles then scored five points in 21 seconds, though, and NNU was unable to overcome the late deficit.
 
"Our young team is getting a lot of good experience with close games, and starting to figure out what they will need to do to come out on top," said head coach Steve Steele. "This road trip has been really tough, with three straight back-to-back games and no scouting reports since it was the first game of the year for each of the teams we played."
 
The Nighthawks fared very well defensively, especially after the first quarter. The Nighthawks forced 24 Biola turnovers and outrebounded the Eagles 37-33, the latter of which was a significant improvement from the first two games of the year.
 
"We spotted them about a 10-point lead early, but really came back to the fundamentals and defended and rebounded much better after that," said Steele. "I'm proud of them for not panicking when the offense wasn't firing early, and proud of the incredible improvement on the defensive side."
 
Nyalam Thabach led the Nighthawks with 14 points and eight rebounds. Erin Jenkins was also in double figures with 13 points.
 
Teagan Thurman finished with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds, continuing her impressive start to her freshman season.
 
I'm proud of the work that Teagan is putting in to do what we need her to do," said Steele. "Scoring comes natural to her, but she stepped it up tonight on the defensive end and on the boards."
 
The Nighthawks struggled to find their offense in the opening quarter, as Biola took a 17-8 lead after one frame.
 
Things turned around in the second period, as after the Eagles went up 21-10, NNU responded with 11 straight points to even the score before taking a brief 23-22 lead on a Thurman jumper with 2:08 remaining. Biola scored the final five points of the half, however, and took a 27-23 lead into the break.
 
The Eagles were able to hold on to that lead throughout the third, and NNU went into the final ten minutes down by three, 42-39. The Nighthawks made their comeback late, taking the lead for a couple of minutes, but ultimately came up short, 64-60.
 
NNU has one more game in their season-opening road trip, visiting Fresno Pacific on Monday at 1:00 p.m. PT.