SEATTLE – Northwest Nazarene women's basketball bounced back on Saturday afternoon for their first GNAC victory of the year, defeating Seattle Pacific on the road 63-54.
How It Happened
- NNU and SPU went back and forth over the first quarter, reaching a 15-15 tie with 10 minutes in the books.
- The Nighthawks pulled ahead by as much as eight in the second quarter, when back-to-back threes from Lydia Nieto and Ellie Salisbury made it 28-20 at the 5:04 mark.
- The Falcons scraped their way back in it before halftime, though, cutting the NNU lead to just two, 32-30.
- SPU took the lead midway through the third quarter as a triple gave the Falcons a 41-39 advantage at the 5:40 mark. They held the lead for just four minutes, as NNU would eventually close the quarter on a 7-0 run that put the Nighthawks up 50-46.
- The Falcons came close to tying things back up, drawing within two a few times in the final stanza, but the Nighthawks pulled away late to take an eight-point lead, 60-52, on a Jordan Pinson layup with 70 seconds remaining.
- After that, it was just a formality of a few free throws as the Nighthawks took the 63-54 victory.
Nighthawks Notes
- The Nighthawks bounce back from their GNAC opening loss at Montana State Billings on Thursday, moving to 1-1 in the early going of conference play.
- The win marks NNU's 11th in the last 13 matchups against SPU dating back to the 2015-16 season.
- Nyalam Thabach led the Nighthawks in scoring for the second-straight game, recording 16 points and seven rebounds, including a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.
- Jordan Pinson tallied a season-high 15 points along with four boards and three steals.
- NNU was outshot by SPU from the field (39% to 33%), but the Nighthawks had a vast advantage from the charity stripe, going 16-19 (84%) compared to 3-8 (38%) for the Falcons.
- The Nighthawks were very active on defense, forcing a whopping 27 SPU turnovers that included 13 NNU steals, leading to 25 points off turnovers. On the other side, the Nighthawks only turned the ball over a season-low 14 times, with the Falcons only managing nine points off those giveaways.
Next Up
The Nighthawks will play just one game next week, returning home to face Central Washington on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. in the Johnson Sports Center.
