NAMPA, Idaho -- For the last six years, the Northwest Nazarene women's golf team has been led by a Miller.
 
For four years Samantha Miller, class of 2017, led NNU with four consecutive all-GNAC honors.
 
Now it's sister Stephanie's turn to lead the Nighthawks during her senior campaign.
 
The two sisters from Hillsboro, Ore., played for two years together at NNU, always pushing each other to become better.
 
"We were raised to be competitive" Stephanie said, "but we were also taught to become best friends."
 
Stephanie was actually looking at playing elsewhere in college, but it was her sister Samantha who persuaded her to attend NNU.
 
"She was actually the one to recruit me to come to NNU," the younger sister said, "because she wanted to play with me in college."
 
During the two years playing alongside each other, the Miller sisters each racked up a top-10 performance at the GNAC tournament, with Samantha taking seventh in 2016 and Stephanie earning eighth in 2017.
 
"She is my number one fan, and I am her number one fan," Stephanie said.
 
Once Samantha graduated, Stephanie had a big role to fill during her junior season.
 
"Junior year was rough," she said. "I had to develop as a leader, and take up responsibility of being the lowest scorer on the team. I felt like I had to keep getting better instead of letting my game develop on its own."
 
It's something that was not lost on her coach Craig Stensgaard.
 
""People would have no idea how competitive she is because of how she handles herself," said Stensgaard, NNU's men's and women's golf coach. "Part of that is because her first two years she played with Sam and assumed the role of an underclassman and the younger sister, but it's been fun to watch that change and develop as she figured out her own leadership style."
 
Even the so-called rough years are successful for Miller. Last year she placed 11th at the GNAC championships, down a couple of spots from the eighth-place finish she earned as a sophomore.
 
This year she's trying to be even better than that.
 
"I know that one of Steph's main goals is to be an All-Conference player and take a run at winning the GNAC individual championship," Stensgaard said. "She knows the golf course very well and is doing everything she can to give herself a shot at it this spring.
 
"Steph is very competitive but keeps things inside of her and it burns inward."
 
This year, Stephanie is taking a more relaxed approach, and it's paying off.
 
Miller is playing more relaxed because she said golf isn't the most important thing in her life. She plans to graduate with her degree in Kinesiology and then attend two more years of school to become a Nurse Practitioner. 
 
So far the senior has posted great scores at the Northwest Christian University Invitational and the College of Idaho Invitational, shooting a 79-82 in the first tournament and a 77-75 in her last outing, good enough for fifth place
 
The 75 shot in her last round includes a 2-under-par nine holes, the best nine holes of Miller's collegiate career.
 
"I'm a lot better golfer when I'm relaxed and I let the cards handle themselves" she said.
 
She hopes the relaxed approach continues to work as she leads a young Nighthawks squad that features two freshmen and four sophomores.
 
So far so good for Miller, who plays at the Western Washington Invitational on Monday and Tuesday.