ELLENSBURG -- Daesha Henderson scored the first seven points of the game for Seattle Pacific and just kept going on Thursday night.
The junior standout hit 10 of her 13 shots from the field, including 2 of 4 from behind the 3-point arc, and finished with a career-high 26 points to help the 19th-ranked Falcon women beat Central Washington in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game, 73-58.
“Daesha was great, as always,” SPU coach Julie van Beek said of her versatile guard, who is in the top 10 of five different GNAC statistical categories, one of which is field goal shooting. (She started the night seventh in the conference at .467, and now is up to .493). “That was a very quiet 26 points.”
Henderson factored into the first 12 points for SPU (14-4, 7-2 GNAC), scoring nine of them herself and assisting on a 3-pointer by Megan Hoisington (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap HS).
Hoisington was the only other Falcon in double figures, finishing with 10 points. She also collected a team-leading five rebounds and handed out four assists. Freshman Jordan Harazin (Colfax, Wash./Colfax HS) also had four assists to go along with six points and two rebounds.
Amanda Murdoch came off the bench to pump in 17 points for Central Washington (0-7, 3-15 GNAC), which lost its eighth straight game since a non-conference victory against Dixie State on Dec. 18.
Seattle Pacific trailed just once, that being early in the first half when Central forged in front, 13-12. The Falcons ran off the next six points for an 18-13 edge, and were up 31-28 at halftime.
“They came out very focused,” van Beek said of the Wildcats. “We made some mistakes defensively (in the first half), but for the most part, they hit some big shots.”
Central Washington quickly got within one at 31-30 on a jumper in the paint by Shaina Afoa at the outset of the second half. But SPU put the next seven points on the board and stretched its lead to as many as 22 with 5½ minutes to play on a 3-pointer by Henderson -- her final points of the night.
The Falcons shot 44.1 percent for the game, hitting 26 of 59. They drained 9 of 17 from downtown (52.9 percent). Central, which shot at a 63 percent clip for the first half (11 of 19), cooled down during the second half and wound up at 46.3 percent for the game (25 of 54).
“They out-rebounded us in the first half (15-13), and that wasn't good, but in the second half, we came out and out-rebounded them by 12 (24-12). We stopped their penetration in the second half,” van Beek said.
The victory gave the Falcons a sweep of the season series. Seattle Pacific downed the Wildcats on Jan. 17 in Brougham Pavilion, 57-34.
SPU returns to action on Saturday in Brougham Pavilion against Northwest Nazarene in a nationally televised game that tips off at noon. The game will be shown by CBS College Sports.
Northwest Nazarene loomed as one of the teams to be reckoned with this season, and the Crusaders have been in the upper echelon of the standings from the get-go, although they dropped a three-point decision at Western Washington on Thursday, 64-61.
“They have really smart guards, they play hard, they have really good defensive players, and they're a good rebounding team,” van Beek said of NNU. “They're going to compete on every possession.”
NCAA Women's Basketball
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Nicholson Pavilion, Ellensburg, Wash.
(19) Seattle Pacific 73, Central Washington 58
SEATTLE PACIFIC (14-4, 7-2 GNAC)
Henderson 10-13 2-2 26, Hoisington 4-9 0-0 10, Gorman 2-5 2-2 8, Hill 3-9 1-2 7, Reich 2-3 2-2 6, Harazin 2-4 1-2 6, Maloney 2-6 0-0 4, Rohrbach 0-3 2-4 2, Schaar 1-4 0-0 2, Sims 0-3 2-2 2, Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 12-16 73.
CENTRAL WASHINGTON (3-15, 0-7 GNAC)
Murdoch 7-12 0-0 17, Tanneberg 4-92-4 10, Jacobs 4-8 0-0 8, Afoa 4-9 0-0 8, Radtke 3-7 0-0 6, Russell 2-4 0-0 5, Wenke 1-5 2-2 4, Busch 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-54 4-6 58.
Seattle Pacific..............31 42 -- 73
Central Washington......28 30 -- 58
3-point goals -- SPU 9-17 (Henderson 4-6, Hoisington 2-2, Gorman 2-4, Harazin 1-2, Rohrbach 0-1, Maloney 0-2), CWU 4-12 (Murdoch 3-6, Russell 1-2, Afoa 0-1, Wenke 0-1, Tanneberg 0-2. Fouled out -- CWU: Radtke. Rebounds -- SPU 37 (Hoisington 5), CWU 27 (Tanneberg 7). Assists -- SPU 18 (Hoisington 4, Harazin 4), CWU 13 (Afoa 3). Technical fouls -- None. Total fouls -- SPU 11, CWU 17. A -- 214.
