On Thursday night, the SFU women’s basketball team played host to Northwest Nazarene, the second place team in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), in the second part of a double header for the SFU basketball teams. The Clan played admirably throughout the contest, but were unfortunately not able to keep up with the Nighthawks as they showed why they are one of the most dominant teams in the conference.
The teams battled back and forth in the first quarter, as neither team could push much in front of the other throughout the frame. After being down by seven points with less than a minute to go, the Clan put up a quick 8–0 run to end the quarter and give themselves their first lead of the game. After assisting a basketball with six seconds to go, Tayler Drynan then stole the ball off the inbound pass and hit a buzzer beater three to end the quarter. This basketball gave the Clan a 17–16 lead heading into the second.
After the teams traded baskets for the first few minutes of the second, SFU regained momentum, and led the game from the 3:52 minute to the end of the half, after nearly three minutes without a basket. The team’s would go into the second half with a score of 35–32, in a game where SFU was in great position to pull of a major upset.
As good teams always seem to do, however, Northwest Nazarene bounced back.
The third quarter was far from ideal for the Clan, as they were outscored 29–13 in the frame. Much of the damage came during a 16–2 run for the visitors, in which SFU couldn’t buy a bucket or seem to get a stop. A pair of free throws by Sophie Swant at the end of the quarter stopped the bleeding, but it seemed all but too late. The teams head into the fourth quarter with a score of 61–48 in favour of the Nighthawks.
While the Clan bounced back in the fourth, it was too little too late. The team cut the deficit to single digits just a minute and a half into the frame, but were unable to sustain any major run for the rest of the game. A three-pointer by Jessica Jones gave the team some hope as it cut the lead to seven with under a minute to play, but some free throws down the stretch by Northwest Nazarene put the game out of reach. SFU would eventually lose 76–67.
Four Clan players had 14 points or over, as Swant and Drynan lead the team with 16 points, and Jones and Tayla Jackson pitched in with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Coincidentally, all four players took 11 shots from the field in the contest.
Only seven players dressed for the team on the evening, as Nicole Vander Helm sat out with an injury.
With the loss, Simon Fraser is now 6–11 in conference play this season, and 11–14 overall. Their next game is on Saturday night as they host Central Washington on Pink Night, in support of breast cancer awareness. Tipoff is at 5:15 p.m.
