BILLINGS, Mont. – Longtime Northwest Nazarene women's basketball assistant coach Elpidia Allen has always said she has no desire to be a head coach.
On Thursday, she had no choice.

With head coach Steve Steele in Idaho sick, Allen made her one game in the head position a victorious one as the No. 7 Nighthawks held off an upset bid by Montana State Billings 92-86 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.

"It was a great win on a tough road trip," Allen said. "For the girls to play as calm as they did … no one seemed nervous."

Steele not only missed Thursday's game, but he also missed practice all week.

"It is a testament to him trusting us," Allen said. "The upperclassmen did a great job and Ellie (Logan) did a great job of keeping the team calm and collected."

The Nighthawks (22-1 overall, 14-1 GNAC) certainly had reasons to not be calm as they battled severe foul trouble and a pesky Yellowjackets (10-11, 6-9) team that just wouldn't go away.

After a 5-0 mini-run by MSUB made it 77-71 with 7 minutes, 27 seconds remaining, freshman Jordan Pinson picked her team up with a 3-pointer, and Avery Albrecht and Erin Jenkins added layups for an 84-76 lead with 3:52 to go.

From there the Nighthawks iced the game with stellar free-throw shooting, going 8-of-8 in the final minutes.

"We had a couple of good possessions in a row," Allen said. "Jordan hit that big 3 and that gave us a little momentum. Then we got a couple of stops."

Albrecht finished with 21 points and five rebounds, while Logan had 17 points and nine rebounds. Marina Valles added 15 points, six assists and five rebounds and McKenna Walker had nine points.

The Nighthawks have the weekend off before hosting Central Washington at 7 p.m. Monday in a makeup game from earlier this week. NNU then hosts Simon Fraser on Thursday and Western Washington on Saturday to wrap up their home schedule.