BILLINGS, Mont. -- Starting out with hot shooting is one thing. Staying hot is another thing.
The Seattle Pacific Falcons stayed plenty hot on Saturday night.
Kelsey Burns poured in 25 points, and the 18th-ranked Falcons shot a season-high 59 percent from the floor in rolling to an 88-69 victory against Montana State Billings in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game.
Burns, a senior forward (Seattle, Kennedy HS) hit 10 of 13, including 5 of 5 from behind the 3-point arc. Junior forward Megan Hoisington (Bremerton, Wash., Central Kitsap HS) added 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
Junior guard Daesha Henderson (Snohomish, Wash., Snohomish HS) hit 5 of 9 for 12 points for the Falcons (9-2, 2-0 GNAC), and sophomore guard Maddie Maloney (Issaquah, Wash, Skyline HS) also chipped in chipped in 12 points.
“I was thrilled (with our shooting),” SPU coach Julie van Beek said. “Part of that is I think our shots were definitely in the flow of the game. We had 25 assists, so you could tell we were working together.”
Alira Carpenter, the conference's leading scorer, had 20 points, but got just five of those during the second half. Carpenter came in averaging 24.8 points per game. Billings (9-4, 1-1) was kept 10 points below its GNAC-leading scoring average of 79 points per game.
“The first half, we just ran one or two people at her. That's not true team defense,” van Beek said. “It broke down, and we didn't have very good help. The second half, we went back to the way we normally play. That tightened everything, we had more ball pressure, and that changed things.”
Seattle Pacific drained 36 of its 61 shots from the field, hitting 54.5 percent during the first half (18 of 33) and 64.3 percent during the second (18 of 28). The Falcons hit 9 of 18 from 3-point territory.
The Yellowjackets, after hitting 53.3 percent in the first half (16 of 30) cooled down considerably to 34.5 percent during the final 20 minutes (10 of 29). Montana State Billings drained 8 of 19 (42.1 percent) behind the arc.
SPU had a 36-26 advantage on the boards. Sophomore forward Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds, Wash., Meadowdale HS) grabbed a team-leading six in a reserve role. Henderson and Hoisington had five apiece. Kayla Ryan collected six for Billings, which came into Saturday's game having won six of its previous seven.
The Falcons were down by eight points at 18-10 just 7½ minutes into the game. But then, Burns got hot, draining three straight 3-pointers to help pull the SPU within 23-19.
Seattle Pacific finished the half on a 15-4 scoring run, starting it off with eight straight points, to take a 46-39 lead into the locker room at halftime. Megan Hoisington's driving lay-in at the buzzer provided the seven-point margin, the largest of the game to that point for the Falcons.
“We started off a little slow, had some turnovers, and that hurt us,” van Beek said. “The second half, we changed tactics a little bit. Kelsey (Burns) gave us a big lift in the first half, then Megan hit some big shots. Our defense tightened up, and we got some good transition.”
SPU extended its lead to as many as 22 points, 84-62, late in the game.
Both teams displayed some sharp shooting during the first 20 minutes. The Falcons drained 18 of 33 (54.5 percent), including 5 of 10 from downtown. Montana State Billings buried 16 of 30 (53.3 percent), and also was at 50 percent from behind the arc, hitting 4 of 8.
Saturday's victory allowed Seattle Pacific to square the all-time series against Montana State Billings at 14-14, having won the last seven games between the schools.
The Falcons, who played just three of their first 11 games at home, get to stay in their own gym next week, hosting Saint Martin's on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Central Washington on Saturday night at 7.
NCAA Women's Basketball
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Alterowitz Gymnasium, Billings, Mont.
(No. 18) Seattle Pacific 88, Montana State Billings 69
SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-2, 2-0 GNAC)
Burns 10-13 0-0 25, Henderson 5-9 0-0 12, Hoisington 8-12 0-0 16, Maloney 3-9 5-6 12, Hill 4-6 1-2 9, Harazin 3-4 0-0 7, Sims 2-2 0-0 4, Cannon 0-0 0-0 0, Rohrbach 1-5 0-0 2, Reich 0-1 1-2 1, Schaar 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-61 7-10 88.
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (9-4, 1-1 GNAC)
Smith 2-4 2-2 6, Ryan 3-6 2-2 8, Marquis 3-8 1-2 7, Carpenter 8-16 0-0 20, Meadors 2-10 4-6 9, Jacobs 0-1 0-0 0, Stanhope 4-6 0-0 11, Halverson 0-2 0-0 0, Kautzmann 3-5 0-0 6, Porter 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-59 9-12 69.
Seattle Pacific............46 42 -- 88
Mont. State Billings....39 30 -- 69
3-point goals -- SPU 9-18 (Burns 5-5, Henderson 2-5, Hoisington 0-1, Maloney 1-4, Harazin 1-2, Rohrbach 0-1), MSUB 8-19 (Smith 0-1, Carpenter 4-6, Meadors 1-4, Jacobs 0-1, Stanhope 3-5, Halverson 0-1, Kautzmann 0-1). Fouled out -- None. Rebounds -- SPU 37 (Rohrbach 6, Henderson 5, Hoisington 5), MSUB 25 (Ryan 6). Assists -- SPU 25 (Burns 5, Henderson 5), MSUB 22 (Marquis 10). Technical fouls -- None. Total fouls -- SPU 13, MSUB 10. A -- 612
