Box score, play-by-play
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SEATTLE – It takes playing a full game to win the game. And that's where the Seattle Pacific Falcons fell short on Thursday night.

Melissa Reich pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds, and Jordan Harazin scored a season-high 13 points for SPU, but Roni Jo Mielke's foul-line jumper with 13.6 seconds left to play gave Saint Martin's a 54-53 victory against the Falcons in Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's play.

The 20th-ranked Falcons (11-4, 5-2 GNAC), after winning twice on the road last week, lost their second straight home game in Brougham Pavilion.





“We had the momentum when we were up by six, and we weren't able to finish things down the stretch,” Seattle Pacific head coach Julie Heisey said. “It has to be a credit to (the Saints) for finishing things, but it has to be a learning experience for us. There's obviously a lot of things we need to work on and we would like to have a different outcome.

“Right now,” Heisey added,  “we just have to learn how to put a 40-minute game together, and we haven't been able to do that.”

SPU plays host to Western Oregon on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. as part of the Homecoming doubleheader.

Seattle Pacific had a 10-point lead early in the second half at 30-20. But Saint Martin's (10-6, 5-3 GNAC), which knocked off nationally ranked Alaska Anchorage last Saturday, ran off nine straight points to make it 30-29. After that, the game was tied five times and the lead changed hands five times.

The Falcons took a 52-46 advantage on a 3-pointer by senior forward Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale HS) with 3:41 left. The Saints then drained back-to-back 3-pointers – one by Kellie Snyder and one by Marelle Moehrle – to tie it at 52-52 with 2:38 to go.

Seattle Pacific's final point came with 1:54 remaining when junior guard Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore.) hit the first shot of a two-shot foul. But the Falcons, who to that point had drained all six of their free throws, missed their final three.

Mielke's game-winning shot came with 13.6 seconds remaining. After a timeout, the Falcons inbounded from backcourt, but a bad pass was stolen by Dara Zack of the Saints. Heather Worley was fouled, but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 5.2 seconds remaining.

SPU rebounded, but could manage only a desperation 3-point try by Sims from just over the midcourt line that fell short.

“All I can say is it's conference play and teams know each other well,” Heisey said. “Saint Martin's is a good team. I know we went in here tonight respecting them.”

Moehrle led Saint Martin's with 13 points, and Zack added 11. Kellie Snyder had 10 to go along with six rebounds.

The Saints had lost their last 12 games to SPU.

Senior center Reich (Bothell, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) beat her previous career high of 12 rebounds, set last February at Central Washington.

Junior guard Harazin (Colfax, Wash./Colfax HS) had her first double-figure scoring game of the season.

Sims finished with 10 points, and redshirt freshman forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) had 11.

Saint Martin's shot a sizzling 58.3 percent (14 of 24) during the second half after going just 7 of 25 (28 percent) during the first 20 minutes. Saint Martin's finished at 42.9 percent for the game (21 of 49).

Seattle Pacific hit just 35.7 percent for the game (20 of 56), including 9 of 30 (30 percent) during the second half.

“Saint Martin's ran a match-up zone tonight that caused us a lot of problems,” Heisey said.

Led by Reich, the Falcons had a 36-32 edge on the boards.


NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

Saint Martin's 54, (No. 20) Seattle Pacific 53

SAINT MARTIN'S (10-6, 5-3 GNAC)
Moehrle 4-11 2-2 13; Zack 5-9 0-0 11; Snyder 4-9 0-0 10 ;Mielke 3-7 0-0 7; Worley 2-4 0-1 4; Baker 1-1 1-1 3; Hawkins 1-2 1-2 3; McDonald 1-1 0-0 3; Schutt 0-1 0-0 0; Teade 0-2 0-0 0; Lashua 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 4-6 54.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (11-4, 5-2 GNAC)
Harazin 5-7 0-0 13; Benson 4-8 2-2 11; Sims, 3-13 4-5 10; Rohrbach 4-10 0-0 9; Callen 1-1 0-0 3; Gorman,1-3 0-0 3; Reich 1-6 0-2 2; Maloney 1-5 0-0 2; Murray 0-2 0-0 0; Thralls 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-56 6-9 53.

Saint Martin's................ 20 34 - 54
Seattle Pacific............... 28 25 - 53

3-point goals--Saint Martin's 8-20 (Moehrle 3-8; Snyder,2-3; Zack 1-3; McDonald 1-1; Mielke 1-4; Teade 0-1), Seattle Pacific 7-24 (Harazin 3-4; Gorman,1-3; Rohrbach 1-4; Callen 1-1; Benson 1-3; Murray 0-1; Maloney, 0-2; Sims 0-6). Fouled out--Saint Martin's-None, Seattle Pacific-None. Rebounds--Saint Martin's 32 (Hawkins 6; Snyder 6), Seattle Pacific 36 (Reich 14). Assists--Saint Martin's 14 (Mielke 4), Seattle Pacific 15 (Rohrbach 4). Total fouls--Saint Martin's 15, Seattle Pacific 14. Technical fouls--Saint Martin's-TEAM, Seattle Pacific-None. A-306.