Saturday, March 9, 2019

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A hot offensive start and a strong defensive finish allowed No. 2 seed Northwest Nazarene to emerge on top in what turned out to be an instant classic in Saturday's GNAC Women's Basketball Championships title game.

Senior Ellie Logan turned in a 15-point, eight rebound performance to pace the Nighthawks en route to the 70-64 victory over Alaska Anchorage that earned the team the GNAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Championships.

The win moved NNU's record to 2-1 on the year against the Seawolves, which entered the conference tournament as the top seed after winning the league's regular-season title. The result also snapped a 21-game winning streak for the regular-season champions. 

Both teams now boast 28-2 overall records heading into NCAA West Regional play next week.

The senior duo of Logan and McKenna Walker (11 points, five rebounds) led Northwest Nazarene in the win. Logan's heroics earned the guard honors as the tournament's MVP. Walker had a near-perfect shooting night, going 3 for 5 from the field while making all four of her attempts from the charity stripe.

Alaska Anchorage senior Tara Thompson led her team with 16 points on the evening. As a team, the tournament's No. 1 seed shot 38.2 percent from the field. The club finished the day contest shooting at a 28.6 percent clip from three-point range.  

Riding the momentum from an emotional semifinal victory over host Western Washington, the Nighthawks were able to parlay some of that goodwill into a hot start in Saturday's title tilt. The team didn't miss a shot out of the gates for nearly five minutes, allowing it to jump out to an early 8-0 advantage.

That lead would be stretched to 44-33 by the end of the first half after a dominant second stanza saw the Seawolves outscored 19-12 in the second 10 minutes.

A switch was quickly flipped, however, as UAA came out of the locker room much sharper on the offensive end of the floor. An ability to consistently get to the line benefitted the team, and when freshman Kimani Fernadez-Roy and guard Safiyyah Yasin each made a pair of free throws midway through the final quarter, NNU found itself trailing 62-59.

That would just about be the last time it played from behind though as a stingy defensive effort allowed Northwest Nazarene to seize control of the contest. Alaska Anchorage went without a field goal in the game's final eight minutes, and guard Marina Valles was able to seal the deal on the victory when she hit a pair of free throws with just eight seconds remaining.

The final score was 70-64, giving the Nighthawks their first GNAC Championships title in program history. They will look to keep things rolling next week when the team returns to the floor in the NCAA Division II Championships at a location to be determined on Sunday night.