SEATTLE, Wash. – The Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team did something Thursday it had yet to do in head coach Steve Steele's two seasons with the program – win a big game on the road because of its defense.

The Nighthawks made a big defensive stand, Colette Gall had a late steal and NNU escaped with a 58-57 victory at Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference showdown.

"This isn't something we've been able to do as long as I've been here," Steele said. "We had to win a close game on the road against a good team by getting a defensive stop.

"Any good team is going to have to learn how to do that and I was glad we were able to do that tonight."

NNU (8-2 overall, 4-1 GNAC) has now won three consecutive games since falling to conference leader Alaska Anchorage on the road. The Nighthawks travel to Lacey, Wash. on Saturday to face Saint Martin's at 8 p.m. MDT.

On Thursday, the Nighthawks found themselves leading by one with 1.7 seconds left and SPU (9-3, 3-2) inbounding the ball under its own basket.

The ball was deflected and Gall came away with it for the game-winning steal. Gall finished with 11 points, three rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals.

"Coco played by far the most minutes tonight," Steele said. "She had a couple blocked shots, hit a couple of timely shots and was outstanding in every category tonight."

The Nighthawks led 56-49 with 4 minutes, 19 seconds remaining, but the Falcons started breaking down the press and getting easy baskets eventually pulling within 56-55 with 1:42 to go.

Danielle Jardine then hit a basket in the paint with 1:19 left and after a steal and missed layup by NNU, SPU pulled within one with 39 seconds remaining.

The Nighthawks wound down the clock, but Marina Valles came up short on a layup attempt setting up the final defensive stop.

"When they get their defense set they are so tough," Steele said of the Falcons. "They do everything well in the half-court defense. They have seven seniors and they don't make a lot of mistakes on defense.

"We made some nice adjustments (at halftime) and played with a lot of energy on defense and that is where our offense came from."

Avery Albrecht scored a team-high 12 points and grabbed four rebounds, while Valles added 10 points and three assists. Kaitlyn Merritt had eight points and three rebounds, while Raquel Jardine finished with four points and seven rebounds.

"Any time you can win on the road in this conference is a good win," Steele said. "To beat SPU on the road is a huge win. This is their first home loss and they are ranked above us."