Box score, play-by-play

ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Coach Julie Heisey was quick to praise Katie Benson for giving the Seattle Pacific women's basketball team “a nice spark” on Thursday night.

The words were barely out of her mouth when she stopped.

“That's probably an understatement,” Heisey added quickly.

Understatement, indeed.

Redshirt freshman forward Benson scored a career-high 21 points – all in just 17 minutes off the bench  -- and junior guard Nyesha Sims grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds as 22nd-ranked SPU rolled to a 77-52 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball victory against Central Washington.

The 6-foot-2 Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) eclipsed her previous career mark of 17 points, which she set on Dec. 30 in an 81-41 rout of St. Edwards. On Thursday, she drained 8 of 10 from the floor, including 3 of 4 from behind the 3-point line, and hit both of her free throws.

“She played with a lot of confidence, she was aggressive, and she did a good job on the boards,” Heisey said of Benson, who also collected six rebounds. “She has a pretty high 3-point shot, and it kept going in. She was in the flow of the offense.”

For that matter, the (10-3, 4-1 GNAC) were flowing much better on offense, too. After shooting just 31 percent in a 59-50 loss at home against Montana State Billings last Saturday, Seattle Pacific hit 43.8 percent on Thursday (28 of 64), and at one point midway through the second half was still hovering around the 50 percent mark. The Falcons hit a season-high 11 field goals from downtown (11 of 27 for 40.7 percent), and were a perfect 10 for 10 from the foul line.

“We shot better, we really played well together, and we were moving the ball well,” Heisey said.

Sims (Portland, Ore.) topped her previous best career rebounding game of 12, recorded on Dec. 3 in a 74-69 loss to Grand Canyon.

That was part of a dominant night on the boards for Seattle Pacific, which had a whopping 52-27 advantage on Central (5-8, 0-6 GNAC). In fact, the Falcons had five offensive rebounds before the Wildcats finally came up with their first defensive board with 12:02 left in the first half.

“That really starts with Nyesha. She was totally aggressive and going hard, and Maddie Maloney was, too,” Heisey said. “We talked about taking pride in the things we can control, and we did that.”

Seattle Pacific spotted Central Washington (5-8, 0-6 GNAC) the first basket of the game, then ran off the next 10 points and never trailed again. The Falcons effectively put it away midway through the second half with a 13-0 run, extending a 52-42 lead to 65-42. Central never got it below double-digits the rest of the way.

Senior forward Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale HS) and junior guard Jordan Harazin (Colfax, Wash./Colfax HS) added 11 points apiece for SPU. Rohrbach's total pushed her past 400 points for her Falcons career. She now has 408.

Sims finished with eight points. Senior center Melissa Reich (Bothell, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) also had eight, putting her exactly at 600 points for her career.

SPU heads to Nampa, Idaho, to face Northwest Nazarene on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PST. On Thursday, the Crusaders (9-6, 4-3 GNAC) led from start to finish at home in a 75-62 victory against Montana State Billings.

“We haven't had an easy game at NNU the whole time I've been here,” Heisey said. (The Falcons have won by five, one, four and two points, and lost by two in five games there with Heisey at the SPU helm.) “Their kids are playing with a lot of confidence and scoring a lot of points. The challenge for us is coming back and do the things we've been doing all week (in practice): stop penetration and do a good job rebounding.” 

NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Nicholson Pavilion/Ellensburg, Wash.

 

(No. 22) Seattle Pacific 77, Central Washington 52

 

SEATTLE PACIFIC (10-3, 4-1 GNAC)
Benson 8-10 2-2 21; Harazin4-7 0-0 11; Rohrbach 5-11 0-0 11; Reich 3-6 2-2 8; Sims 3-11 2-2 8; Teng 1-2 2-2 5; Gorman 1-4 2-2 5; Murray 1-5 0-0 3; Maloney 1-4 0-0 3; Callen,Aubree 1-1 0-0 2; Reimer 0-0 0-0 0; Kingma 0-2 0-0 0; Thralls 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-64 10-10 77.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON (5-8, 0-6 GNAC)
Payne 4-12 0-0 12; Love 2-6 2-4 6; Martinez 3-5 0-0 6; Russell 2-9 0-0 5; Rattler 2-10 1-2 5; Gordon 2-3 0-2 5; Jacobson 2-3 0-0 4; Albrecht 2-8 0-2 4; Burke 1-2 1-1 3; Moser 0-2 2-2 2; Evans 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-62 6-13 52.

 

Seattle Pacific.................   36   41  -   77

Central Washington..........27   25  -   52

 

3-point goals--Seattle Pacific 11-27 (Benson,Katie 3-4; Harazin,Jordan 3-5; Murray,Rachel 1-3; Maloney,Maddie 1-2; Teng,Michelle 1-2; Rohrbach,Caitlyn 1-2; Gorman,McKayla 1-4; Kingma,Betsy 0-1; Thralls,Katie 0-1; Sims,Nyesha 0-3), Central Washington 6-18 (Payne,Nneka 4-7; Russell,Sophie 1-4; Gordon,Deaira 1-1; Rattler,Luv 0-4; Jacobson,Kelsi 0-1; Love,Alisha 0-1). Fouled out--Seattle Pacific-None, Central Washington-None. Rebounds--Seattle Pacific 52 (Sims,Nyesha 13), Central Washington 27 (Rattler,Luv 5; Albrecht,Stacy 5). Assists--Seattle Pacific 18 (Maloney,Maddie 4), Central Washington 12 (Rattler,Luv 4). Total fouls--Seattle Pacific 12, Central Washington 12. Technical fouls--Seattle Pacific-None, Central Washington-None. Att--192.

 

Records – Seattle Pacific 10-3, 4-1 GNAC. Central Washington 5-8, 0-6 GNAC.

 

Next game – Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene, Saturday, 12:30 p.m. PST.