By Ron Smith
November 21, 2025
 
(NAMPA, Idaho) A bucket with two-seconds remaining by senior point guard Trinidie Nichols lifted Northwest Nazarene (3-0) to a 66-65 win over Westmont Women's Basketball (2-1) on Friday evening in the Johnson Sports Center. The game featured significant swings in momentum and it appeared the Warriors had jumped on board just in time to secure the win, but Nicholas turned the tide to secure the home victory for the Nighthawks.
 
Sage Kramer led the way for the Warriors with a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds. It is the first double-double of the year for the senior and the ninth of her career. Kramer made nine of 18 from the floor - including two from long distance - and went three for three from the free throw line. She grabbed six boards on each end of the court.
 
Westmont jumped out to a 15-4 lead, courtesy of eight points by Bailey Fong, five from Kramer and a layup by Lisa Kiefer. Fong finished the game with 16 points while dropping in four from beyond the arc. Kiefer tallied four points and eight rebounds.
 
After the Warriors took the early lead, however, momentum moved to the Nighthawk's side, with Northwest Nazarene outscoring the Warriors 10-3 in the remainder of the opening quarter. That resulted in a much smaller 18-14 Westmont lead at the end of the first 10 minutes of play.
 
After Skyler Night drained a shot from beyond the arc to start the second frame, the Nighthawks scored nine of the next 10 points to take a 23-22 lead with 6:21 to play before the intermission. With Northwest Nazarene up 27-25 with just under four minutes in the first half, Chloe Deharo and Hadley Craig hit back-to-back threes, giving the Nighthawks a 33-25 lead. Westmont responded with a 7-2 run to close out the half at 35-32 in favor of the home team.
 
Westmont tied the game at 37 apiece in the third quarter on a long-range bomb by Fong and the game remained close throughout the rest of the penultimate period. Headed into the final frame, Westmont was clinging to a 48-47 advantage.
 
That lead evaporated quickly as Northwest Nazarene opened the quarter with a 9-0 run to go on top 56-48 with 7:20 to play. The Warriors restarted their scoring with a layup by Mariah Brown, a pair of shots by Jazmyn Shipp to make it a 56-54 game. Then the Knighthawks' Beaux Bruegman traded triples with Skyler Knight. However, Claire Fischer drained another three-pointer for Northwest Nazarene and the Nighthawks secured a five-point advantage (62-57) with 4:33 to go. After Bruegman scored on a layup with 3:14 to play, Westmont found itself behind by seven (64-57).
 
With 2:39 to go, Kramer grabbed hold of momentum and made it her own, scoring the next eight points on a shot from downtown, an 'and-one play' and a layup. With one minute remaining in regulation, the Warriors were up 65-64.
 
The Nighthawks took possession, but turned the ball over when called for an offensive foul. An attempted layup by Fong was blocked by Craig, but Brown collected the rebound. She was immediately fouled, but was unable to convert the free throws. With 15 seconds remaining, the Nighthawks called timeout. Then, before the ball could be put in play, the Warriors did the same.
 
With eight seconds to go, Kiefer was called for her second foul of the game. Six seconds later, Nichols played hero and scored in the paint. The Warriors called timeout, but when play resumed they were unable to get off a shot before time expired.
 
Though the Warriors had a lower field goal percentage than the Nighthawks (36.4% compared to 40.0%), they scored four more points from the field than their opponent. That is the result of extra possessions resulting from an offensive rebound advantage (18-11) and fewer turnovers (16-22). Both teams made nine three-point shots.
 
From a scoring perspective, the difference came at the free throw line. Both teams attempted 17 free throws. However, Northwest Nazarene converted 13 while Westmont made just eight. Those five points erased the Warriors' four-point advantage from the floor and gave the Nighthawks their one-point victory.
 
Westmont scored 23 points off turnovers compared to just 12 for Northwest Nazarene. However, the Nighthawks tallied 14 second chance points to the Warriors' 11 despite Westmont's positive offensive board margin.
 
The Warriors also held an advantage close to the basket, tallying 30 points in the paint compared to 20 for the Nighthawks. That is despite the fact that Northwest Nazarene outscored Westmont 13-3 with fast break opportunities.
 
Surprisingly, just a week after Westmont tallied 43 bench points against Simon Fraser, Northwest Nazarene held the advantage in points scored by reserves 31-14.
 
Westmont remains in Nampa for another game on Saturday, taking on Central Washington (3-0) tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. PDT. The Wildcats are coming off a 66-58 win over Vanguard (2-1) earlier today.