Box score, play-by-play
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SEATTLE – For the past four years, Brougham Pavilion has been home for Daesha Henderson and Megan Hoisington. On Saturday night, the two Seattle Pacific seniors capped that portion of their Falcon basketball careers in statistical – and victorious -- style.

Henderson scored a career-high 30 points, and Hoisington posted her second straight double-double as the 17th-ranked Falcon women pulled away from Central Washington for a 74-48 victory in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game.

Senior guard Henderson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) topped her previous career high of 26 points, set on Feb. 5, 2009 against Central in Ellensburg. She became the first Falcon to record a 30-point game since Michelle Beaumont tallied 35 against Cal State Los Angeles on Dec. 28, 2002.

Senior forward Hoisington (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap HS) pumped in 15 points and collected 10 rebounds. It was her seventh double-double of the season.

“Daesha and Megan have spent hours in the gym and shot a lot of shots,” coach Julie van Beek said after the Falcons (22-3, 13-1 GNAC) retained their spot atop the standings, half a game in front of Western Washington. (The Vikings won at Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, 76-68). “I'm just happy for them. They have met all of my expectations and exceeded them in many areas, and that's a pretty awesome thing to say about your seniors.”

Junior center Melissa Reich (Bothell, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds, and made it a double-double with 12 points for Seattle Pacific. She hit 6 of 10 from the floor and also had two more assists, coming off a career-high of eight in that department in Thursday's 66-55 victory at Saint Martin's.

“I'm thrilled that Melissa had a double-double. I think she's capable of doing that night in and night out,” van Beek said. “It's good that she has had two games in a row with good offensive output and has been consistent with the rebounds.”

The Falcons will head into the final week of the regular-season on a nine-game winning streak. They visit Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday at 6:15 p.m. PST, then head to Alaska Anchorage on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. PST. That finale against the Seawolves could wind up being for the conference championship.

Up by just eight points, 32-24, at halftime, the Falcons went on a 14-4 run to open the second half and push the lead to 18 at 46-28. Henderson started that run with a 3-pointer, and finished it with another one.

The Wildcats (6-18, 3-11 GNAC responded with a 13-3 run, capping it on back-to-back treys by Sophie Russell and closing the gap to 49-41 with 11:20 still on the clock.

But SPU effectively shut down Central Washington after that, finishing those final 11-plus minutes with a 25-7 scoring run.

“Every team has good players and every team is capable in our conference,” van Beek said of Central keeping itself within striking distance for much of the game. “We have to make sure we're ready and not give people open looks. I like the way our kids closed out the game. That was good.”

Henderson scored 23 of her points during the second half, draining five shots from 3-point range. She tied her career high on a trey from the left of the lane with 7:26 left in the game, then set a new high when she hit another trey, this one from the right of the lane on a broken play with 6:38 to go. Her 30th and final point came on a free throw with 2:43 left.

She hit 9 of 16 for the game, including 6 of 9 from downtown. She also had three rebounds, three assists and four steals.

“It's awesome that Daesha was able to go out strong (on Senior Night),” van Beek said. “It's very fitting. Daesha has played a lot of roles for us. We focus so much on her defense sometimes that we forget she can be so explosive on offense.”

SPU came within one of its season-low for turnovers with just 14, making it nine straight games with fewer than 20.



NCAA Women's Basketball
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

(No. 17) Seattle Pacific 74, Central Washington 48

CENTRAL WASHINGTON (6-18, 3-11 GNAC)
Russell 4-12 6-8 16; Fernandez 4-7 0-0 10; Duerr 3-8
0-0 7; Bergner 2-6 2-2 6; Jacobs 2-8 0-0 5; WalkingChild 1-3
0-0 2; Betteridge 1-4 0-0 2; Albrecht 0-4 0-3 0; Afoa
0-5 0-0 0. Totals 17-57 8-13 48.
SEATTLE PACIFIC (22-3, 13-1 GNAC)
Henderson 9-16 6-8 30; Hoisington 7-15 1-3 15; Reich
6-10 0-5 12; Rohrbach 3-5 5-6 11; Harazin 1-8 2-2 4;
Sims 1-6 0-0 2; Maloney 0-5 0-0 0; Murray 0-0 0-0 0;
Thralls 0-2 0-0 0; Teng 0-0 0-0 0; Gorman 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 27-67 14-24 74.
Central Washington...............   24   24  -   48
Seattle Pacific........................   32   42  -   74
3-point goals--Central Washington 6-19 (Fernandez 2-4; Russell
2-4; Duerr 1-4; Jacobs 1-4; Betteridge 0-1;
WalkingChild 0-1; Bergner 0-1), Seattle Pacific 6-20
(Henderson 6-9; Hoisington 0-1; Harazin 0-4; Sims
0-2; Maloney,Maddie 0-4). Fouled out--Central Washington-Afoa,
Seattle Pacific-None. Rebounds--Central Washington 37 (Afoa,Shaina 7;
Russell 7), Seattle Pacific 53 (Reich 12). Assists--Central
Washington 8 (Jacobs 3), Seattle Pacific 22 (Harazin 6). Total
fouls--Central Washington 19, Seattle Pacific 12. Technical fouls--Central
Washington-None, Seattle Pacific-None. A-287