ARCATA — Humboldt State cruised to a 30-point lead before holding off a furious Notre Dame de Namur comeback in the final minutes of a 71-60 HSU victory at the Humboldt State Classic on Saturday.

With the win the Lumberjacks improved to 6-1 overall, the program's best start since going 12-1 to open the 1996-97 season. Their current record equals the third-best start HSU women's basketball has posted, tying the 6-1 beginning by the 1991-92 team.

Notre Dame de Namur dropped to 1-6 overall. The Argonauts are back in action Saturday in the third game of the Humboldt State Classic, taking on CSU Stanislaus at 3:30 p.m.

Humboldt State faces Northwest Nazarene at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in a battle of two teams that received votes in this week's ESPN USA Today NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. Like the Lumberjacks, NNU is off to a 6-1 start to the season.

"We didn't play with any sense of urgency in the second half tonight," HSU head coach Joddie Gleason said. "We were playing like we were just waiting for the clock to run out. If we play like that tomorrow, we'll get blown out."

Brittney Taylor scored 22 points and freshman Kristen Huffman had 18 for Humboldt State. Also in double figures was Andrea Bobic with 10 points, and Bree Halsey topped the Jacks with 11 rebounds.

Katie Zalsey scored 16 points for Notre Dame de Namur, and Jennifer Dreesen scored 11 points for the Argonauts. Jane Ryabulkhina scored 10 points and Laura Zasly had a team-high seven rebounds.

NDNU's only lead of the game occurred when Ryabulkhina drove for a layup to put her team up, 2-1 just over a minute in. But Humboldt State quickly grabbed the momentum, going on a 23-5 run that ended with a pair of Bobic free throws midway through the first half.

Ryabulkhina scored on consecutive trips down the floor two minutes later, pulling the Argonauts within 13 points.  HSU took a 47-20 lead into halftime on Kayla Williams' long three-pointer at the buzzer.

The second half featured more of the Jacks' dominance early, allowing every healthy player on the HSU bench to get in on the action. But the Argonauts surged to a 28-5 run, pulling within seven when Zalsey's three -pointer made it 67-60 with 2:15 remaining.

Taylor scored a layin and Bobic hit a pair of free throws to finish the scoring.

"Notre Dame did a good job of not giving up," Gleason said. "They worked hard the whole game, and got rolling in the second half."

At Arcata, Calif.
HUMBOLDT STATE 71, NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR 60
NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR (1-6)
Zasly, Katie 5-11 4-6 16; Dreessen, Jennifer 3-6 5-7 11; Ryabulkhina, Jane
5-6 0-0 10; Zasly, Laura 3-15 2-2 8; Mullins, Pilar 2-7 1-4 5; Saia,
Natellie 1-6 2-2 4; Burr, Nicole 0-0 3-4 3; Hom, Kim 1-4 1-2 3; Llanes,
Melissa 0-2 0-0 0; Maxie, Nekeisha 0-1 0-0 0; Roe, Chanel 0-0 0-0 0;
Brunson, Rachel 0-0 0-0 0; Diaz, Tina 0-0 0-0 0; House, Nia 0-0 0-0 0;
Tatupu-Leopoldo, Bry 0-0 0-0 0; Bruni, Laura 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 18-27
60.
HUMBOLDT STATE (6-1)
TAYLOR, Brittney 9-14 3-5 21; HUFFMAN, Kristen 4-5 5-6 13; BOBIC, Andrea 2-7
4-4 10; HALSEY, Bree 3-11 1-2 7; WILLIAMS, Kayla 3-4 0-0 7; PETTY, Lisa 1-4
4-6 6; OSBORNE, Luiza 1-3 2-2 5; KINSEY, Deja 0-0 2-2 2; HOWARD, Whitney 0-0
0-0 0; RICHARDS, Caitie 0-4 0-1 0; WILSON, Alyssa 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-54
21-28 71.
Notre Dame de Namur...........   20   40  -   60
Humboldt State................   47   24  -   71
3-point goals--Notre Dame de Namur 2-10 (Zasly, Katie 2-3; Zasly, Laura 0-3;
Saia, Natellie 0-2; Hom, Kim 0-2), Humboldt State 4-16 (BOBIC, Andrea 2-7;
WILLIAMS, Kayla 1-1; OSBORNE, Luiza 1-2; PETTY, Lisa 0-1; RICHARDS, Caitie
0-4; WILSON, Alyssa 0-1). Fouled out--Notre Dame de Namur-None, Humboldt
State-None. Rebounds--Notre Dame de Namur 40 (Mullins, Pilar 8), Humboldt
State 41 (HALSEY, Bree 11). Assists--Notre Dame de Namur 9 (Saia, Natellie
3), Humboldt State 15 (WILLIAMS, Kayla 5). Total fouls--Notre Dame de Namur
23, Humboldt State 22. Technical fouls--Notre Dame de Namur-None, Humboldt
State-TEAM 2. A-287