NAMPA, Idaho – When push came to shove Thursday night, the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team turned to its veteran leadership.

The Nighthawks had trailed throughout their Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener against Saint Martin's, but a dominant fourth quarter led to an 82-71 victory.

In the fourth quarter, the Saints took a 63-58 lead with 8 minutes, 32 seconds remaining.

That's when seniors Marina Valles, Avery Albrecht and Zoe Wessels, and sophomore Erin Jenkins took over.

The four players combined to score all 24 of NNU's points in the final quarter.

"I don't think we have to take over, but we definitely know what is going to happen or when we have to take those shots or control the ball," Valles said. "We have been in that position and we know what we can do."

Valles hit a 3-pointer at the 8:13 mark to cut it to 63-61 and Wessels tied it on a layup. Albrecht then hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 65-65 and Valles hit another 3-pointer for a 68-65 lead with 5:45.

The Nighthawks (5-3 overall, 1-0 GNAC) defense then forced a five-second violation and Albrecht hit a 3-pointer for a 71-65 lead.

"We just gained control of the tempo during the second half and it all naturally happened," Albrecht said. "Our offense started to flow smoother as our defense got better and the points just naturally came."

After a Saint Martin's (3-3, 0-1) basket, Jenkins hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to put NNU on top 77-69. Valles then hit two layups and a free throw to close the game for the Nighthawks.

"We were just talking that we have to be confident and just go play our game at our pace," Jenkins said. "Our defensive energy always translates to offense and once we started getting those stops our energy started to go up and we felt confident."

Valles scored a game-high 18 points with six rebounds and three assists. Albrecht had 15 points and seven rebounds, Jenkins had 14 points and Wessels had four points, three rebounds and two steals.

"Leaders have to lead and I'm proud of them for doing that tonight," NNU coach Steve Steele said. "It started on the defensive side and that made the offense come around."

NNU features seven freshmen and a sophomore who were playing their first conference game of their careers Thursday. Take that inexperience and combine it with ice cold shooting and poor defense and it made for a 44-37 deficit at half. Saint Martin's then hit a 3-pointer to open the third quarter and suddenly led 47-37.

The Nighthawks, though, didn't get down and started chipping away with strong defense on their press and in the halfcourt.

"We don't look at the scoreboard," Valles said. "We just keep playing and trust what coach is doing and trust that if we do the right things, then it will eventually turn our way."

In the second half, the Nighthawks forced 11 turnovers and held the Saints to 39.3-percent shooting including 25 percent from beyond the 3-point line. In the first half, the Saints shot 50 percent from the field and from beyond the arc.

"We definitely executed the offense really well in the fourth quarter and hit really important shots," Steele said, "but I think more importantly we held them to 27 points in the second half. Offense always comes easier when you don't have to take the ball out of bounds all the time. Our defense was abysmal in the first half."

Freshman Haley Hanson finished with 11 points, McKenna Emerson added nine points and had four rebounds and Nicole Gall had four rebounds and two steals.

"We're such a different team this year," Albrecht said. "There are a lot of questions floating around about how are we going to fill those spots and I think tonight we were a different team from last year, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

"We were able to prove we can still win games even with all new players who are way younger."