NAMPA, Idaho – On the annual team retreat back in October in Sun Valley, the Northwest Nazarene University women's basketball team set a goal of going 18-2 in conference.

The coaches initially told the players to maybe be a bit more realistic.

On Saturday, with an 89-66 win against Alaska the Nighthawks not only finished conference 18-2 but they split the regular-season title with Alaska Anchorage.

"We set some pretty big goals at the beginning of the season," senior Lexi Tubbs said. "We were just throwing numbers out there. I mean, honestly, I didn't think that was even a possibility at that point. How that we're here, it's amazing."

The win was the 13th in a row for the Nighthawks (22-3, 18-2), who will be the No. 1 seed at next week's Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament at Anchorage. They will have a bye into the semifinals and play a team to be determined on Friday.

"As coaches, we thought it was possible but not likely," Steve Steele said of the 18-2 prediction. "If you had told me we were going to go 18-2 with our injuries, I would have said no way. I guess that is just a testament to how tough they are."

NNU lost leading returning scorer Ellie Logan before the season started to a knee injury. Then they lost Division I transfer Maya Rodgers to a knee injury just five games into the season. Add in backup point guard Marina Valles going down with a hand injury seven games ago, and it was a recipe for the Nighthawks to be good this season but not great.

"We've definitely had some setbacks over the last few years and this season," senior Colette Gall said, "but each one we've taken and been able to move forward."

The regular-season title is the first for NNU since it moved to NCAA Division II in 2001 and the first since the program won an NAIA Division II league title in 1999-2000.

"In my wildest dreams I thought this could happen," Gall said. "I had hopes for it. It was hard coming off the last few years, hoping something like this could happen. But as the year progressed and progressed you could see that this was real and it was going to come true."

NNU has had four coaches in four years, but the stability Steele has brought to the program and the dedication of the three seniors – Kaitlyn Merritt, Tubbs and Gall – to stick with the team paid off on a magical night Saturday.

"I'm so happy for our seniors," Steele said. "That class has been through a lot. I'm just so happy for those kids that it ended this way. They deserved it."

Tubbs scored a game-high 27 points Saturday, while Gall was 8-of-11 from the field for 21 points. McKenna Walker added 11 points and 11 rebounds, Danielle Jardine had 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists and Raquel Jardine had 10 points.

The Nighthawks came out a bit flat early on, struggling with the emotions of senior night and beating No. 4 Anchorage on Thursday.

But they settled down and steadily pulled away to finish the regular season on a winning note.

"It was very emotional to go out there and you could tell that in the beginning," Gall said. "I think in the end, we tunneled those feelings and emotions into, 'We are a championship team and we need to take it to the next level.' We just love each other so much and we love to play with and for each other."