Box score, play-by-play

 MONMOUTH, Ore. – Eventually, it had to happen. On Saturday afternoon, eventually arrived.
 
Rylee Peterson poured in a career-high 32 points, offsetting matching 16-point performances by Seattle Pacific's Jordan Harazin and Rachel Murray, leading Western Oregon past the Falcons in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game, 79-74.
                   
The Wolves (5-16, 4-7 GNAC) had lost 28 straight games to SPU dating back to Feb. 26, 1982 when WOU won in Monmouth, 91-49.
         
Seattle Pacific (13-6, 7-4 GNAC) had a 65-56 lead with 5:27 left in the game in Western Oregon's New P.E. Building, but was outscored the rest of the way, 23-9.
 
“There's a fine line between winning and losing,” Heisey said. “Charge or block – and we (were called for) two charges. That changes the game a little bit. That's the type of thing that feeds momentum to the other team. We lost momentum and didn't find a way to get it back. The only way to get it back is on defense – you've got to get a stop and find a way to turn some defense into offense and gain that momentum back with an answer.
 
“We weren't able to do that.”
 
Falcons senior guard Harazin (Colfax, Wash./Colfax HS) came within one point of her career high. She also had five rebounds and handed out two assists.
 
Senior guard Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore.) tallied 11 points and 10 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. Sophomore forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) added 14 points.
 
A 13-2 run by Western Oregon turned that 65-56 deficit into a 69-67 lead with 1:56 remaining. The Falcons climbed into one more tie at 69-69 on a pair of free throws by Benson with 1:32 left.
 
Lorrie Clifford, who scored 19 points, put the Wolves on top for good at 71-69 on a pair of free throws with 1:32 remaining. She then hit a rolling lay-in at 45.8 seconds to make it 73-69.
 
A putback by Harazin with 27.7 seconds left brought SPU within two at 73-71. But on the ensuing inbounds play, Jade Haas broke downcourt all by herself for an uncontested lay-in and a 75-71 advantage. Western Oregon eventually pushed it 79-71 until a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Harazin accounted for the final margin.
 
“The hard thing tonight is they were very determined, and you could tell that,” SPU coach Julie Heisey said of the Wolves. “They did a good job on attacking the basket and a good job on boxing out repeatedly. That determination carried them through to the end.”
 
The Wolves, led by Peterson's 10-of-16 performance, had the best shooting day of any Seattle Pacific opponent this season – 55.8 percent (29 of 52). Prior to Saturday, no one had hit for even 50 percent against the Falcons. (Chico State's .492 was the previous high.)
 
The Falcons, after a solid first half of 48.3 percent (14 of 29) cooled considerably after that, hitting just 34.5 percent during the final 20 minutes (10 of 29) and finishing the game at 41.4 percent (24 of 58).
 
Western Oregon built an early 17-10 lead, then the Falcons ran off eight straight points, and the first half went back and forth the rest of the way.
 
Then SPU, down 34-32, ran off the last eight points of the half to take a 40-34 lead into the break. Sophomore guard Betsy Kingma drained a 3-pointer from the right corner with one second left, providing that six-point halftime margin.
 
The Falcons are back home next week, with Alaska Anchorage visiting Brougham Pavilion on Thursday at 7 p.m., and Alaska Fairbanks coming in  next Saturday at 7 p.m. 
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, January 28, 2012
New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.
 
Western Oregon 79, Seattle Pacific 74
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (13-6, 7-4 GNAC)
Harazin 5-8 4-4 16, Callen 1-1 2-2 4, Sims 4-13 1-2 11, Murray 5-7 6-6 16, Benson 4-16 6-7 14, Gorman 2-3 0-0 6, Ohlsen 1-2 0-0 2, Kingma 1-4 0-0 3, Reimer 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 24-58 19-21 74.
 
WESTERN OREGON (5-16, 4-7 GNAC)
Clifford 6-11 5-6 19, Peterson 10-16 10-10 32, Fowler 0-1 0-0 0,. Reade 2-5 1-2 5, Haas 7-10 1-1 15, Miller 1-1 0-0 2, Jasinski 1-3 0-0 2, Barnitz 0-0 0-0 0, Goularte 2-3 0-2 4, Topalovic 0-2 0-0 0, Titus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-52 17-21 79.
 
Seattle Pacific         40           34           -- 74
Western Oregon     34           45           -- 79
 
3-point goals – SPU 7-16 (Harazin 2-3, Sims 2-6, Benson 0-4, Gorman 2-2, Kingman 1-1), WOU 4-13 (Clifford 2-5, Peterson 2-3, Reade 0-1, Jasinski 0-2, Topalovic 0-2). Fouled out – SPU: Murray, Callen. Rebounds – SPU 32 (Sims 10), WOU 28 (Peterson 6, Haas 6). Assists – SPU 14 (Benson 4), WOU 14 (Peterson 6). Turnovers – SPU 18, WOU 14. Total fouls – SPU 18, WOU 16. Technical fouls – None. A – 218.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 13-6, 7-4 GNAC. Western Oregon 5-16, 4-7.
 
Next game – Alaska Anchorage at Seattle Pacific, Thursday, Feb. 2, Brougham Pavilion, 7:00 p.m.