NAMPA, Idaho – Spend some time with the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team and you'll notice a curious thing: Seniors doing grunt work normally reserved for freshmen.

Seniors are in charge of carrying water to practice, the medical bag on road trips, washing jerseys, bringing water to the bench on road games, they run two practices coming out of winter break and they generally just try and make life easier on the rest of the team.

For senior Maya Rodgers the difference in how coach Steve Steele runs his program compared to Denver University where she played her freshman year has been noticeable from the start.

"Coming in, you are almost expecting the freshmen to carry bags and get water bottles. Normally it is the seniors who have the privilege of not having to worry about that anymore," she said. "I think it is better this way. It shows true leadership and helps ease the freshman's stress. They have to worry about so many other things."

The servant leader idea was introduced by coach Steve Steele when he took over the program in the 2016-17 season.

"The biggest thing is, you aren't a leader if you aren't serving people around you," senior Ellie Logan said. "We just focus on serving each other and taking care of each other first."

While Steele doesn't attribute the idea of having captains – or seniors – take care of the team to any one person, he does think it helps on the court as well as off.

"It instills the idea that it is about us, not about me," he said. "A lot of kids come in out of high school being the best player on their team and having to take every shot and having to carry a large burden, but here it drives the idea that we will share the burden on the court.

"If you see that lived out off the court, that helps build the culture on the court too."

The Nighthawks have had wild success under Steele which is a marked difference from this senior group's freshman year under then-head coach Ryan Bragdon. He was removed midway through the season and replaced by John Hartman as NNU struggled to a 12-15 record.

"I feel like freshman year I never got encouraged. It was really hard," senior Carly Parker said. "This program is all about encouraging each other and having each other's back no matter if you have a bad game or a bad practice, it is all about getting that next stop or hitting the next shot. It's all about love. Literally."

Five of the team's six seniors will take the court for their final regular-season home games this weekend. Rodgers has another year of eligibility and will be coming back next year. NNU hosts Simon Fraser at 7 p.m. Thursday and Western Washington at 7 p.m. Saturday.

This group of seniors has a chance to win back-to-back GNAC regular-season titles as well as earn back-to-back national tournament berths.  The Nighthawks are 45-6 the last two seasons.

"The team chemistry is a big difference," Danielle Jardine said. "Our freshman year was a rough time. Everyone had cliques, but as soon as Steele came in it's been getting a lot better with everyone loving each other.

"Having the incoming freshmen just fit in with our team – the love and chemistry has just developed over time."

The servant leadership isn't forced on the seniors either. All of them said they enjoy doing the extra duties.

"I enjoy doing it, especially on the road games," Raquel Jardine said. "It gives us responsibilities."

Walker came in with experience serving younger teammates as her high school in Moses Lake, Wash., had the same philosophy. In college, though, it has been more fun because of the different backgrounds of the players.

"I think there is just an emphasis on love and mainly just having fun," Walker said. "I think that is something that has transitioned for us. Our freshman year, we didn't have fun playing basketball, but the couple of years Steele has been here we've really had a blast with each other."