ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene University senior Lexi Tubbs poured in a career-high 31 points to lead the Nighthawks to a 74-71 victory at Central Washington on Tuesday in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game.

The win was the eighth in a row for NNU (17-3 overall, 13-2 GNAC) and clinches a berth in the conference tournament for the third consecutive season.

Tubbs was 10-of-17 from the field, including 4-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line. She also pulled down nine rebounds and dished out four assists. Her previous career high was 27 against Western Washington earlier this season.

"Everybody has known she has that ability," NNU coach Steve Steele said. "She is finally realizing it. And when she is aggressive, she is unbelievable. And I think she is learning how to be aggressive and when to be aggressive."

The Nighthawks took control with a 25-6 run over the first and second quarters, as Tubbs scored 12 points in that stretch. They led by double digits into the fourth quarter before the Wildcats made a charge and pulled within 70-67 with less than a minute to go.

Danielle Jardine made a driving layup from the high post for a 72-67 lead and after a pair of free throws by Jardine and Tubbs, NNU found itself with the ball up 74-71 with six seconds to go.

The ball was inbounded to Tubbs and a jump ball was called turning it over to Central, which missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"They've beaten some really good teams and are playing really well," Steele said of Central. "Any road win in this conference is a great, great thing and when you combine that with the fact they were on a win streak, we were short-handed, they beat us at our place – that shows that we played with a lot of heart tonight and we needed it."

NNU was playing without starting center Raquel Jardine and backup point guard Marina Valles, but got key minutes from Zoe Wessels, Carly Parker and Avery Albrecht.

All three played big minutes in the second quarter, where the Nighthawks outscored the Wildcats 18-6.

"We've been bitten by the injury bug lately which hurts our depth," Steele said. "Zoe was great. She came in and did just what she does well – she screened, played defense and rebounded and I thought that was a huge part of our second quarter being so successful."

The Nighthawks held Jasmine Edwards to five points and Beverly Verduin to three points. The pair combined for 32 points in the win in Nampa in early January.

Steele credited assistant coach Laci Effenberger for making some key changes to the game plan for the success NNU had on Tuesday.

Jardine finished with 11 points, while McKenna Walker had nine points and eight rebounds. Albrecht added eight points and Wessels finished with eight rebounds.