NAMPA, Idaho – Northwest Nazarene women's basketball fell 91-84 to the Western Washington Vikings after forcing overtime on Thursday night.
The Nighthawks are now 8-11 overall and 5-7 in the GNAC.
NNU hung with Western Washington for most of the first quarter. Leading 16-12, WWU scored six unanswered points at the end of the first quarter to take a 10-point lead at 22-12. The Vikings opened the second quarter shooting 4-5 from the field with three of their makes coming from beyond the arc to take a 33-17 lead. NNU inched back with a 9-4 run sparked by a three-point bucket from
Madeline Gebers. In the final two minutes of the first half,
Loy Waid scored six points and
Hilary James scored two.
WWU came out of the half with a 44-34 lead and extended to 46-34 at the beginning of play. The Nighthawks went on a 13-3 run, bringing the score to 49-47. During the run, NNU shot 5-5 from the field while
Kendall Clark had four points and
Kate Clark sank a three. At the end of the third quarter, WWU led 61-56.
Despite any significant runs, the Nighthawks continued to grind out possessions to gain ground on the Vikings in the fourth quarter. At the 4:19 mark,
Hilary James drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 67-67. Trailing 71-73,
Emma Clark scored the final points in regulation to send the game to overtime. The Viking jumped out to an eight-point lead at the beginning of overtime and held on to the lead until the 91-84 final.
Hilary James led the team in points with 25, topping her season high by eight-points. Gebers and
Kendall Clark each had 16 points. James and Gebers each had eight rebounds.
The women's next game is at home against Simon Fraser on Saturday, February 10
th. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15 p.m.
