Box score, play-by-play

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Come Wednesday night in Bellingham, the Seattle Pacific Falcons know they'll need a full game's worth of intensity against top-of-the-ladder Western Washington.

They went a long way toward getting into that mindset on Saturday against bottom-of-the-ladder Alaska Fairbanks.

Nyesha Sims scored 15 points, and freshman guard Aubree Callen put up double career highs of 12 points and six rebounds, and SPU tallied 31 straight points spanning the first and second halves to roll past the Nanooks in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball contest, 93-39.

Freshman forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) added 13 points for the 25th-ranked Falcons (13-5, 7-3 GNAC). It was a season-high scoring output, and a season low for points allowed for SPU, which last tallied in the 90s on Dec. 12, 2009, in a 92-48 homecourt victory against Concordia-Portland.

Junior guard Sims (Portland, Ore.) hit 6 of 8 from the floor, 2 of 4 from the line and also collected five rebounds and two steals.

Callen (Jerome, Idaho), with the first double-figure scoring game of her college career, surpassed her previous career high of seven points (Dec.30 vs. St. Edward's). Her rebounding total was one more than the five she hauled down in the season opener against San Francisco State on Nov. 19.

The Falcons and rival Western square off on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Vikings' house in front of a live FSN Northwest television audience.

“We've talked about it all season, but now, there's a little more sense of urgency because we haven't been able to put 40 minutes together except on a couple of occasions,” Seattle Pacific coach Julie Heisey said. “Our kids did a great job today of starting both halves with really strong defense and doing some good things offensively.”

Seattle Pacific got 12 players into the game, and all 12 scored. That was the first time this season every Falcon on the court got onto the board.

“I felt really good that we took tag-team seriously – 'When I come out, you go in, and we keep building,'” Heisey said. “Other than one stretch midway through the first half, that was the only time we lost a section of the game. We took it seriously that every time we came out of timeouts, that's a new start. We played with great intensity the whole game.”

Alaska Fairbanks (1-17, 1-10 GNAC) was led by the 13 points of senior center Nicole Bozek, who hails from nearby Mukilteo.

Coming back from Thursday's 68-56 loss at No. 17 Alaska Anchorage, SPU scored the first four points of Saturday's game and never trailed in beating the Nanooks for the 19th straight time.

The Falcons had just a six-point lead at 27-21 with 5:59 left before halftime. But from there, they put up the next 31 points – the last 18 of the first half for a 45-21 lead at the break, and the first 13 of the second half, making it 58-21 with 16:52 remaining in the game.

By the time the Nanooks finally scored again on a putback by Autumn Greene at the14:34 mark, Seattle Pacific had kept them off the board for 11 minutes, 25 seconds, forcing them into 0-for 12 shooting and 13 turnovers during that stretch.

After suffering through some cold shooting at Anchorage on Thursday (just 33 percent), the Falcons hit the 50 percent mark on Saturday, draining 30 of 60. They also had season-high marks from the foul line, making 26 of 34.

Fairbanks shot just 26 percent from the field (13 of 49), and was 11 of 15 from the line.

SPU, led by Callen's six, easily won the boards, 45-27. Sims, senior guard Maddie Maloney (Issaquah, Wash./Skyline HS) and sophomore guard Rachel Murray (Bathurst, Australia) collected five each.

“Aubree has been doing good things that don't always get on the stat sheet,” Heisey said. “She came out and played with a lot of poise and confidence, starting with her defense. She did a good job of rebounding and was able to knock down shots when she had them, and she just played within the flow of the game.” 


NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, January 29, 2011
The Patty Center/Fairbanks, Alaska

(No. 25) Seattle Pacific 93, Alaska Fairbanks 39

SEATTLE PACIFIC (13-5, 7-3 GNAC)
Harazin 2-2 2-2 7, Gorman 1-5 3-4 5, Thralls 0-1 1-2 1, Callen 4-5 4-4 12, Sims 6-8 2-4 15, Kingman 0-1 2-2 2, Maloney 2-5 2-2 7, Murray 3-7 2-2 9, Reimer 2-4 1-3 5, Benson 4-11 3-3 13, Rohrbach 4-9 0-1 9, Reich 2-2 4-5 8. Totals 30-60 26-34 93.

ALASKA FAIRBANKS (1-17, 1-10 GNAC)
W. Anderson 3-6 2-4 8, Oates 0-1 0-0 0, Harrison 3-7 1-1 7, Hamsley 0-2 0-0 0, Patto0-4 0-0 0, B. Anderson 0-1 0—0 0, Johnson 0-4 0-0 0, Greene 1-6 0-2 2, Bozek 3-10 6-6 13, Gabriel 3-7 0-0 7, Sommers 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 13-49 11-15 39.

Seattle Pacific……………. 45    48 -- 93
Alaska Fairbanks………… 21    18 -- 39

3-point goals – SPU 7-21 (Harazin 1-1, Gorman 0-2, Sims 1-1, Kingma 0-1, Maloney 1-3, Murray 1-4, Benson 2-5, Rohrbach 1-4), UAF 2-13 (W. Anderson 0-2, Oates 0-1, Hamsley 0-1, Patton 0-3, Bozek 1-3, Gabriel 1-3). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – SPU 45 (Callen 6, Sims 5, Maloney 5, Murray 5), UAF 27 (Gabriel 7). Assists – SPU 16 (Gorman 5), UAF 3 (W. Anderson 2). Technical fouls – None. A – NA.


Records – Seattle Pacific 13-5, 7-3 GNAC. Alaska Fairbanks 1-17, 1-10 GNAC.

Next game – Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, Wednesday, 6:00 p.m. (FSN Northwest TV).