FRESNO, Calif. - Northwest Nazarene women's basketball got back to their winning ways on Monday, finishing off the Southern California road trip with a 78-69 victory over Fresno Pacific.

The win is the Nighthawks' first of the young season, improving to 1-3 after a tough road stretch of four games in five days to open the campaign. 

"We had some opportunities to close out the last two games and couldn't quite finish, so it does feel nice to execute at the end," said head coach Steve Steele. "Young teams are often going to struggle in close games, especially on the road, but I'm glad that they got the win because they stayed together and stayed positive throughout the entire trip despite the struggles we had."
 
NNU enjoyed their best offensive output of the year, recording season-highs by shooting 50% (30-60) from the field and 41.2% (7-17) from deep. The Nighthawks also tallied season-bests with 78 points and 16 assists.
 
"We had much better shot selection tonight and it showed in our shooting percentages," said Steele. "We still have some things to fix on both sides of the ball and on the boards, but overall I was proud of our effort today."

A trio of Nighthawks tallied 13 points in the win, as McKenna Emerson, Jordan Pinson, and Erin Jenkins tied for the team lead in scoring. Emerson pulled down six rebounds, while Jenkins had four boards and two steals. Haley Hanson was also a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc for nine points.
 
Nyalam Thabach helped the Nighthawks finish the game out, recording six points and six rebounds in the fourth quarter to post her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 boards.

Tired of the offensive struggles from the first three games, NNU burst out of the gate this afternoon by scoring the first seven points and taking leads of 11-2, 16-4, and finally 21-9 on a Teagan Thurman layup with 3:41 to go in the opening quarter.
 
FPU battled back in the second period, cutting the deficit all the way down to two, 31-29, at the 5:50 mark. The momentum changed hands again, though, as Pinson, Jenkins, and Emerson put the Nighthawks back up by eight with six-straight points. NNU's advantage grew to nine points at the break after a pair of Jenkins free throws in the final seconds.
 
The Sunbirds put together another run to open the third, cutting the deficit down to just two again, 44-42, at the 7:34 mark. The Nighthawks were able to fend off the run momentarily, but FPU would tie the game up at 51 and then take a brief 53-51 lead with 1:52 remaining in the quarter.
 
NNU immediately countered with 10-straight points to end the period, including a pair of triples from Hanson, to take a 61-53 advantage into the fourth. FPU had yet another run in them, cutting the Nighthawk lead down to just one with 6:14 to play. NNU was able to stave off the Sunbirds again, however, finishing the game on a 15-7 run to take the nine-point victory.
 
"I was really happy with our balanced scoring, with four players in double figures and two more with nine," said Steele. "It will be nice to get home and get some practices in now that we have about 10 days before our next game."

The Nighthawks will now get that chance to recuperate after their tough road stretch, with the next competition not coming until Jan. 29 and 30 when they host Saint Martin's for two games.