BELLINGHAM -- They weren't totally ready to play. And by the end of the night, the Seattle Pacific Falcons knew it
Megan Hoisington and Maddie Maloney tallied nine points apiece, but Western Washington's Amanda Dunbar torched the Falcons for 19 on Thursday, leading the Vikings to an 84-44 upset of 14th-ranked SPU in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game at Carver Gymnasium.
The Falcons (12-4, 5-2 GNAC) suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since late in the 2006-07 season. They fell short at then-No. 2 Alaska Anchorage last Saturday, 53-49.
“Part of being a champion is you have to be ready to play every single night,” SPU coach Julie van Beek said. “We didn't do what we practiced. You have to do the right things every day.”
Instead, it was Western Washington (11-5, 3-2 GNAC), which had lost four straight to the Falcons, doing all the right things in Thursday's game. It wound up being a complete turnaround from the GNAC season opener on Jan. 8 in Seattle Pacific's Brougham Pavilion, when the Falcons cruised to an 85-68 victory.
“Last time, we won because we out-rebounded them by 12 or 13, we forced 13 turnovers in the first half, and that led to us shooting 57 percent in the half,” van Beek said of the earlier contest. “We didn't have a chance to figure out what they were doing (different). We just weren't doing what we needed to do.”
SPU was down 26-20 with 7:30 left in the first half when Western Washington (11-5, 3-2 GNAC) started a 14-1 scoring run that helped give the Vikings a 40-23 lead at the break. The Falcons twice got within 15 points at the outset of the second half, but never came any closer.
Willow Cabe added 16 points, and Claire Pallansch chipped in 14 for Western.
Dunbar was deadly from the field for Western Washington, hitting 6 of 8, including all five of her shots from 3-point range. The Vikings hit a blistering 57.9 percent for the game, draining 33 of 57. Those totals included 11 of 17 (64.7 percent) from behind the arc.
“Dunbar was going off, and we gave her some wide-open shots,” van Beek said. “We talked about not letting them penetrate, but they drove whenever they wanted.”
Pressured all night by Western's man-to-man defense. Seattle Pacific hit just 32.1 percent (17 of 53), and was just 3 of 16 (18.8 percent) from downtown.
Hoisington (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap HS) also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and handed out three assists. Daesha Henderson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) added eight points for the Falcons.
Seattle Pacific returns to the court on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. for their Homecoming game against Montana State Billings. SPU beat Billings on Jan. 10 in Montana, 88-69.
NCAA Women's Basketball
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Carver Gym, Bellingham, Wash.
Western Washingon 84, (14) Seattle Pacific 44
SEATTLE PACIFIC (12-4, 5-2 GNAC)
Burns 1-4 0-0 3, Hoisington 4-14 1-2 9, Hill 3-4 1-2 7, Hill 3-4 1-2 7, Henderson 3-7 1-2 8, Maloney 4-9 0-0 9, Harazin 0-5 0-0 0, Gorman 0-1 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Sims 0-1 0-0 0, Cannon 0-1 0-0 0, Rohrbch 1-5 0-0 2, Reich 1-2 2-2 4, Schaar 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 17-53 7-10 44.
WESTERN WASHNGTON (11-5, 3-2 GNAC)
Summers 4-9 1-2 9, Cabe 6-12 2-2 16, Pallansch 6-11 2-2 14, Dunbar 6-8 2-3 19, Pinske 3-5 0-1 7, McCarrell 2-4 0-0 5, Soo 1-2 0-0 3, Moehrle 1-2 0-0 3, Wade 4-4 0-0 8. Totals 33-57 7-10 84.
Seattle Pacific.........23 21 --44
Western Washington......40 44 -- 84
3-point goals -- SPU 3-16 (Burns 1-3, Henderson 1-3, Maloney 1-4, Harazin 0-2, Gorman 0-1, Cannon 0-1, Rohrbach 0-2), WWU 11-17 (Cabe 2-6, Dunbar 5-5, Pinske 1-1, McCarrell 1-1, Moehrle 1-2). Fouled out -- None. Rebounds -- SPU 28 (Hoisington 8, Rohrbach 4), WWU 32 (Cabe 9). Assists -- SPU 13 (Hoisington 3, Rohrbach 3), WWU 18 (Cabe 4, Dunbar 4). Technical fouls -- None. Total fouls -- SPU 16, WWU 13. A -- NA.
