NU's Hannah Carlson gets to the basket for two of her 24 points
Strong Second Half Lifts Eagles Over Beacons
KIRKLAND, Wash. – Northwest University, trailing by five at halftime, scored 51 points in the second half for an 82-71 Cascade Conference victory over Northwest Christian tonight.
Northwest Christian took the lead in the first half after Northwest U led early. NCU tied the game at 12-12 and would go on an 11-4 run to maintain a 23-16 lead after Maddi Bartholomew’s 3-pointer with 10:13 left in the half. Northwest would come back to tie the game twice and with the game knotted up at 27-all, Mindy Smith would put NCU up 30-23 with 3:06 left in the half. NU would cut the Beacon lead to one twice, but NCU would hold on to take a 36-31 lead into the locker room.
NCU would maintain their lead four minutes into the second half, but Northwest U would chip away at their lead and with 16:25 on the clock, the Eagles would tie the Beacons at 40-40 after Brianna Fiso hit two free throws (16:25). After NCU would retake the lead, 42-41, Northwest U would regain the lead for good as Kristen Frey would hit a big 3-pointer and the Eagles would lead 44-42. Charity Degman’s trey at the 8:42 mark would bump the NU lead to 12, 62-50, as Northwest would hold off the Beacons the remainder of the game for the win.
Freshman Hannah Carlson scored a career high 24 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and added 4 assists for Northwest U (8-3, 2-1 CCC). Carlson was also a perfect 10 for 10 from the free throw line. Junior guard Jordan Asher added 17 points and 9 rebounds while senior Chanara Greene added 15 points. NU hit 31 of 6 from the free throw line for 85% and out rebound the Beacons, 43-29, wit 12 offensive rebounds.
Melyssa Weber led Northwest Christian (4-6, 0-2 CCC) with 17 points and teammate Demarea Caples had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Sami Pitts added 9 points while Maddi Bartholomew totaled 5 assists for the Beacons who shot 44% for the game.
“We hit a bit of a dry spell mid-way through the first half,” said NU coach Ken Crawford, “but our ladies buckled down and played a pretty solid second half to come away with the win. Our young players are really gaining more valuable experience with each game we play and that’s a real positive.”
Northwest U remains home and will host Corban tomorrow night in the Pavilion. Northwest Christian heads south to Olympia and will take on Evergreen.