Box score, play-by-play
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SEATTLE – It had been awhile since McKayla Gorman started a women's basketball game for Seattle Pacific.

The junior guard, used to providing a boost off the bench, showed that the different role suits her quite nicely.

Gorman, getting just her fourth start in three seasons for SPU, scored a career-high 14 points, and the Falcons had five players in double figures overall on Saturday night, rolling to a 79-58 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory against Central Washington.





The win for Seattle Pacific (15-7, 9-5 GNAC) in Brougham Pavilion also was the 300th coaching win for head coach Julie Heisey. She is now 300-151 all-time, including 138-32 in five-plus years at SPU. She was 162-119 in nine seasons at Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville, Tenn.

It also kept the Falcons knotted with Montana State Billings for third place in the conference standings. The Yellowjackets survived a triple-overtime contest at home against Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, 85-78.

The 5-foot-7 Gorman (Parker, Colo.) had just tied her career high with nine points in Thursday night's 65-62 win against Northwest Nazarene. Saturday night's output pushed her past 200 for her career. She now has 208.

Gorman started the first three games in 2009-10. She then assumed a reserve role for 26 more games last season and the first 21 games this season.

“It was awesome -- I had a great time,” said Gorman, who hit 4 of 7 from the floor (including 2 of 4 from behind the 3-point arc), drained all four of her free throws, grabbed two rebounds and handed out two assists. It was awesome that my teammates backed me up. We started off really strong, then hit a slump for a little bit. But pretty much after that, we just had a ton of chemistry and everybody was playing well together.”

Added Heisey, “McKayla has been practicing really well, and I thought she played well on Thursday (in a 65-62 homecourt victory against Northwest Nazarene). It was a good opportunity to put her in there, and I felt she did a really good job running the offense – not just making some great passes, but she was able to hit some big shots, both attacking the basket and hitting the 3.”

The Falcons return to action on Thursday at Western Oregon at 5:15 p.m.

Junior guard Jordan Harazin (Colfax, Wash./Colfax HS) came off the bench for the first time this season and provided a significant spark for SPU. Harazin tied her season high with 13 points, and everything she put up went down: 5 for 5 from the field, including 3 of 3 from 3-point range. She also grabbed six rebounds.

Senior center Melissa Reich (Bothell, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) tallied 11 points. Senior forward Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale HS) added 10 points, as did redshirt freshman forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS).

Junior guard Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore.) pulled down 11 rebounds for the Falcons.





Seattle Pacific trailed just twice, both in the opening minutes of the game. Down 4-2, the Falcons ran off 14 points in a row to take a 16-4 lead.

The Wildcats (7-14, 2-12 GNAC) got back into it, coming as close as 28-24 with 5:54 left in the first half. Seattle Pacific closed the half on an 8-3 scoring run to take a 36-27 lead by halftime, then scored the first seven points of the second half to stretch it to 43-27 and kept it in double digits the rest of the way.

The Falcons' defense forced Central Washington to miss its first five shots of the second half and allowed the Wildcats just one field goal in the first 11 minutes after the break.

“I thought our defensive intensity was really good,” Heisey said. “We held them to 28 percent shooting (16 of 56), and in the second half, we increased our rebounding and we also kept our field goal percentage up. I think we were very close to (playing a full) 40 minutes.”

By game's end, Seattle Pacific had put together one of its better shooting nights of the season at 49.2 percent (29 of 59). Central Washington, at just 28.6 percent overall, had more success from 3-point range (9 of 25 for 36 percent) than from closer to the basket (7 of 31 for 22.4 percent),

The Wildcats were led by the 13 points of Luv Rattler.

Never one to call attention to herself, Heisey's three seniors –Rohrbach, Reich and Maddie Maloney – surprised her after the game by making the announcement of her milestone victory on the PA system.

For her part, Heisey was happy just to finish the week with two straight wins after the Falcons had struggled somewhat in dropping three of their previous four, all on the road. That they became the 299th and 300th on her record was merely a nice bonus.

“Sometimes, you take winning for granted,” Heisey said, “but these (two victories) really mean a lot. We've been doing so many things well, and it's like we're 400 yards from the finish line of a marathon. We're going to finish the race, but we just have to sprint to the finish line.”

Gorman, in chiming in on Heisey's No. 300 added, “She's such a great coach, and she cares about us individually on and off the court. It's really awesome for us to be part of her success at SPU.”


NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

Seattle Pacific 79, Central Washington 58

CENTRAL WASHINGTON (7-14, 2-12 GNAC)
Gordon 1-5 3-4 6, Albrecht 3-8 3-4 9, Evans 2-7 3-3 7, Burke 3-5 0-0 9, Russell 0-6 2-2 2, Payne 2-9 2-2 8, Jacobson 0-0 1-2 1, Rattler 5-12 0-0 13, Amber Moser 0-4 0-0 0, Martinez 0-0 0-0 0, Pratt 0-03-5 3. Totals 16-56 17-22 58.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (15-7, 9-5 GNAC)
Rohrbach 4-9 2-2 10, Reich 5-7 1-2 11, Gorman 4-7 4-4 14, Sims 3-7 0-0 6, Maloney 1-5 2-2 4, Harazin 5-5 0-0 13, Teng 1-2 0-0 2, Thralls 0-3 0-0 0, Callen 0-3 2-2 2, Kingma 1-2 0-0 3, Murray 0-1 0-0 0, Reimer 1-2 2-3 4, Benson 4-5 2-2 10, Butler 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-59 15-18 79.

Central Washington............ 27 31 - 58
Seattle Pacific...................... 36 43 - 79

3-point goals--Central Washington 9-25 (Burke 3-3; Rattler 3-8;Payne 2-7; Gordon 1-4; Russell 0-3), Seattle Pacific 6-15 (Harazin 3-3; Gorman 2-4; Kingma 1-2;Rohrbach 0-1; Sims 0-1; Maloney 0-2; Callen0-2). Fouled out--Central Washington-None, Seattle Pacific-None .Rebounds--Central Washington 32 (Evans 5), Seattle Pacific 43 (Sims 11). Assists--Central Washington 8 (Burke 2), Seattle Pacific 22 (Callen,Aree 5). Total fouls--Central Washington 17, Seattle Pacific 18. Technical fouls--Central Washington-None, Seattle Pacific-None. A-385.