OLYMPIA – Northwest made a second-half charge but came up short at Evergreen State on Friday, 65-60.
 
The Eagles struggled through the first half and trailed 34-20 at intermission. The third quarter saw the Eagles fall behind by 21 points with three minutes to go. NU closed out the quarter on an 8-0 run, including four points by Grace Harder.
 
After missing every three-pointer in the first three quarters, NU canned three in the final period with Maya DuChesne scoring 10 of her 20 points in the fourth period. Duchesne's final basket with under 10 seconds left cut the lead to 63-60, but Monique Bungay put the game out of reach with two free throws for ESC with four seconds left.
 
"It was a tale of two halves tonight," said NU Head Coach Ken Crawford. "We were a little bit flustered and out of sync in the first half, but we played much better in the second half. We'd like to think we just ran out of time! We see continued improvement. Now we want to see more W's."
 
DuChesne led the team with her 20 points, while Harder put together 13 points and nine rebounds. Kylie Lunday had a good game back from injury with seven points and eight rebounds from off the bench. Kinslee Gallatin had three assists.
 
Now 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, the Eagles step away from CCC action for a 6 p.m. exhibition on Saturday at Central Washington.