Box score, play-by-play
FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The Seattle Pacific Falcons are officially into the dance.
Daesha Henderson scored 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds on Thursday, and the SPU reserves racked up 21 points -- including a string of eight straight to help put the game out of reach late in the second half -- as the 18th-ranked Falcons secured the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament with a 59-47 victory at Alaska Fairbanks.
SPU (23-3, 14-1 GNAC) won its 10th straight game and retained its hold on first place heading into Saturday's regular-season finale at Alaska Anchorage. If the Falcons win that game (6:15 p.m. PST), they will claim the conference crown outright. If they lose, they will share it with the Seawolves (as they did last year) and possibly with Western Washington. But Seattle Pacific has the automatic berth by virtue of being the highest GNAC team (No. 2) in this week's West Region rankings.
This is the fourth straight year SPU has claimed the automatic spot to the West Regionals, which begin next Friday. The tournament likely is headed to San Diego.
“Our bench gave us a huge lift,” said Falcons coach Julie van Beek, whose reserves outscored their Fairbanks counterparts, 21-6, and out-rebounded them, 12-3. “When we had about six minutes left, I subbed in five for five, and they put us back up. Nyesha (Sims) and Rachel (Murray) and McKayla (Gorman) gave us some good points.”
Seattle Pacific will need that and more on Saturday when it visits Anchorage with the GNAC championship on the line. The Falcons already have one victory against the Seawolves this season, a 57-42 decision on Jan. 28 in Seattle. They nearly knocked off Anchorage last year in Alaska, building a 14-point lead early in the second half before the Seawolves stormed back for a 53-49 victory. That ultimately factored into the tie between those two teams for the 2009 title.
“I know they're looking forward to Anchorage, and I know we're going to play better,” van Beek said. “The big thing with Anchorage is every possession counts. We have to take care of things we can control. We have to rebound and play defense and make lay-ups. They're not going to give us anything.”
The Falcons, whose first five baskets of Thursday's game were 3-pointers, used a 15-2 first-half scoring run to turn a 16-15 deficit into a 30-18 lead and never trailed again. Ironically, it was their first two-pointer of the night -- an eight-footer from straight in front by Melissa Reich (Bothell, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) -- that put them in front for good at 17-16.
Seattle Pacific was up by nine points at halftime, 32-23, and the Nanooks (2-24, 1-14 GNAC) never came closer than that during the second half.
It was still a nine-point margin at 49-40 with 6:11 left when the reserves effectively closed the deal.
Sophomore guard Sims (Portland, Ore.) started it with a pair of free throws. Freshman guard Murray (Eglington, New South Wales, Australia) hit a fast-break lay-in off a nice feed from sophomore guard Gorman (Parker, Colo.). Then Gorman buried a 3-pointer from just beyond the top of the key to the right side, and Sims finished the surge with a lay-in, making it 57-40 with just 3:30 to play.
Led by the eight rebounds of senior forward Megan Hoisington (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap HS), the Falcons pulled down 44 rebounds on Thursday, 13 more than Alaska Fairbanks.
“Daesha and Megan are playing like seniors,” van Beek said. “Daesha gave us a great performance, shot 50 percent (5 of 10), had seven rebounds and was super-solid. Megan was solid. They did things you don't see on the scoresheet.”
Lakeshia Levi led the Nanooks with 16 points, and Jessica Harrison added 13 and a game-high nine boards. Ronisha Edwards, who came in averaging 12.6 points per game and pumped in 20 for the Nanooks in SPU's 86-44 win at Seattle in January, was limited to just four on Thursday.
The Falcons, who rank No. 13 in all of Division II for fewest points allowed (coming in at 54.5) kept an opponent below 50 points for the 10th time this season.
Seattle Pacific now has beaten Fairbanks 17 straight times since 2002.
NCAA Women's Basketball
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The Patty Center/Fairbanks, Alaska
(No. 18) Seattle Pacific 59, Alaska Fairbanks 47
SEATTLE PACIFIC (23-3, 14-1)
Henderson 5-10 0-0 12; Hoisington 2-9 4-6 9; Sims 3-7
1-3 8; Harazin 3-5 0-0 8; Murray 3-5 0-0 6; Gorman 2-5
0-0 5; Reich 2-8 0-2 4; Maloney 1-5 0-0 3; Thralls 0-1
2-2 2; Rohrbach 1-5 0-0 2; Smith 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 7-13
59.
ALASKA FAIRBANKS (2-24, 1-14)
Levi 5-12 6-8 16; Harrison 5-8 2-4 13; Beans 2-4
0-0 6; Melonson 2-7 0-0 5; Edwards 2-11 0-0 4;
Anderson 1-5 0-0 3; Benavides 0-2 0-0 0; Hamsley 0-0
0-0 0. Totals 17-49 8-12 47.
Seattle Pacific............................. 32 27 - 59
Alaska Fairbanks........................ 23 24 - 47
3-point goals--Seattle Pacific 8-21 (Henderson,Daesha 2-6; Harazin,Jordan
2-3; Hoisington,Megan 1-2; Maloney,Maddie 1-2; Gorman,McKayla 1-3;
Sims,Nyesha 1-2; Rohrbach,Caitlyn 0-1; Thralls,Katie 0-1; Murray,Rachel
0-1), Alaska 5-13 (Beans,Adrienne 2-2; Harrison,Jessica 1-1;
Melonson,Alexandra 1-3; Anderson,Britney 1-2; Benavides,Denise 0-1;
Edwards,Ronisha 0-4). Fouled out--Seattle Pacific-None, Alaska-None.
Rebounds--Seattle Pacific 44 (Hoisington,Megan 8), Alaska 31
(Harrison,Jessica 9). Assists--Seattle Pacific 6 (Rohrbach,Caitlyn 2),
Alaska 7 (Levi,Lakeshia 3). Total fouls--Seattle Pacific 11, Alaska 14.
Technical fouls--Seattle Pacific-None, Alaska-None. A-125.
