KIRKLAND – Northwest clamped down on College of Idaho defensively for a 65-53 win Friday.
 
The Eagles held CI to 29 percent shooting and complemented that with balanced scoring for the Cascade Collegiate Conference victory.
 
"That was a good win tonight for the Lady Eagles," said NU Head Coach Ken Crawford. "We showed improvement and confidence in many aspects of the game. Now the key is to keep it going, and we'll get our chance tomorrow night against a very good Eastern Oregon team."
 
Sam Van Loo led the Eagles with a double-double on 15 points and 10 rebounds. Lexi Biggerstaff added 14 points, Maya DuChesne scored 12, and Jackie Benton came off the bench for 10.
 
Mackenzie Royce-Radford led the Yotes with 12 points, with Lexi Mitchell scoring 11.
 
Northwest had seven-point leads in both of the first two quarters and had a 31-27 advantage at the half.
 
College of Idaho led by as many as six points in the third quarter, but the Eagles got a three-point play by Bento and a three-pointer by DuChesne to knot the score at 43-43 heading into the final quarter.
 
Northwest rattled off the first eight points of the final frame, with Biggerstaff getting two buckets. Van Loo scored at the 5:07 mark to give NU its first double-digit lead of the game at 55-45.
 
Kate Renfro buried back-to-back three-pointers to get CI within four points, but Biggerstaff and DuChesne got a two- and a three-pointer to march the lead back to 60-48 with 2:16 to go.
 
Van Loo added a free throw with three seconds left for the final margin and the biggest NU lead.
 
Northwest improved to 4-12 overall and 2-4 in the league, while College of Idaho slid to 5-11 and 3-4.
 
The Eagles return to action Saturday at 5:30 p.m. against Eastern Oregon in NU's Kristi Brodin Pavilion.