NAMPA, Idaho – The Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team has been known for its vicious full-court press since Steve Steele took over the program more than three years ago.

This season, though, the Nighthawks have been getting an historic amount of steals out of that full-court press.

It was no different Tuesday night as NNU had 29 steals in a 90-61 rout of Whitworth University.

"I'm not sure honestly what it is," Steele said. "I think sometimes because you are so far from the basket that flat out effort covers a lot of mistakes. We have kids that even though they are young and make a lot of mistakes they make them going hard. Then you have some older kids sprinkled in there that read the play really well."

One of those older kids is senior Marina Valles, who had a school and GNAC record 10 steals in a win Saturday against Colorado Mesa. On Tuesday, she added six more and now has 35 in seven games this season which is the most of anyone in the country.

"Last year I played the same position in the press," Valles said. "Now I know where the rotations go and can anticipate where the pass is going to go and I can just go for it."

The program record for steals in a game is 34, set in 2001 against Walla Walla. Since the school went to Division II, the 29 on Tuesday were easily the most. NNU had 22 in a game against Western Oregon last season and 21 on Saturday against Colorado Mesa.

"We have good, long, athletic kids," Steele said. "Even some our smaller kids like Emma Clark are super athletic. Some of those other kids that aren't super athletic are really smart and see the game well.

"We have a nice mix of athleticism and kids that are willing to just take a chance."

Redshirt freshman McKenna Emerson had five steals Tuesday, giving her 18 on the year which is top 25 in the country.

"We have very talented defenders on our team," Emerson said. "Even though we are very young, we work together up there and are very aggressive."

Emerson is easily one of the most athletic players on the team and has long arms, which gives opposing players fits when it comes to getting by her in the press.

"She adds a lot," Valles said of Emerson. "She is super long and the offense doesn't expect her to go for the steal. Even if she doesn't get the steal, she gets a deflection which makes it way easier for us behind in the press."

As a team, the Nighthawks (4-3 overall) now have a nation-leading 116 steals. The pressure it puts on opposing teams is significant as Whitworth committed 41 turnovers.

That leads to easy points at the other end, which is helpful because the Nighthawks have struggled to shoot the ball in the early going.

"If we get steals our offense is literally go right up (to the basket) or we get a 3-on-2," Valles said. "It makes us want to go more because it makes our offense better."

On Tuesday, the Nighthawks shot 43.2-percent from the field and missed 10 free throws. The team is confident, though, that those numbers will get better as the season goes on.

"We are taking a lot of shots in practice and have really good percentages in practices," Valles said. "We have to keep shooting. It is going to come."

Avery Albrecht had a game-high 21 points with four rebounds and three steals. Emerson had 15 points and six rebounds to go with her five steals, while Valles had 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists to go with her six steals.

Jordan Pinson added nine points and five assists, Zoe Wessels had eight points and nine rebounds and Erin Jenkins had seven points.

NNU opens Great Northwest Athletic Conference play at 5:15 p.m. next Thursday against Saint Martin's as part of a doubleheader with the men's team.