LACEY, Wash. – Assistant coach Elpidia Allen drew up the winning gameplan and backup post Danielle Jardine helped make sure it worked.

Jardine gave Saint Martin's best player Elin Johannson fits, helping the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team win its fourth game in a row 79-61 on Saturday in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game.

"Elpidia had a fantastic game plan," NNU head coach Steve Steele said. "We did a great job executing it. It was 60 percent Elpidia's game plan and 40 percent execution."

Johannson came into the game third in the league in scoring averaging 16.2 per game. She finished with just six points on 2-of-5 shooting in just 20 minutes as she was limited with four fouls.

A big part of that was Jardine's play. She came off the bench to score 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

"Her offense helped us defensively because she was going at Johannson and helped get her in foul trouble," Steele said. "When (Johannson) was in foul trouble, she couldn't be as aggressive and so (Jardine) helped us on both sides of the game."

NNU (9-2 overall, 5-1 GNAC) remains in second place in the conference standings, one game behind Alaska Anchorage. The Nighthawks host Central Washington at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Johnson Sports Center.

On Saturday, NNU again used a strong defensive effort – not only on Johannson, but the entire Saints team. Saint Martin's shot just 28.6 percent from the field (16-of-56) and committed 26 turnovers.

It was especially noticeable in the second half, as NNU outscored Saint Martin's 43-28 after the break.

"We did a better job in the second half of communicating in the press," Steele said. "Offensively we shared the ball better in the second half as well."

McKenna Walker's 19 points led all Nighthawks, while Lexi Tubbs added 10 points and eight rebounds and Raquel Jardine had 10 points and five rebounds. Colette Gall finished with nine points and seven rebounds and Kaitlyn Merritt had nine points.

Makenna Schultz scored a game-high 22 points, while Saniah Simpson-Patu had 13 points and 13 rebounds for Saint Martin's (5-9, 1-5).