Box score
 
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Going up against one of the tallest lineups they'll likely face this season, the Seattle Pacific Falcons won the battle of the boards, but came up short on points Sunday afternoon.
 
Katie Benson scored 15 for SPU, but Oregon State went on a 3-point shooting spree during the second half and pulled away for an 80-55 women's basketball exhibition victory in Gill Coliseum.
 
Junior forward Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) also collected nine rebounds for Seattle Pacific. Senior guard Rachel Murray (Eglington, Australia) added 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting and pulled down six boards. Freshman Brooke Bowen (Vancouver, Wash. / Skyview HS) had 11 points and five rebounds in her first college game.
                                
The season officially gets started on Friday and Saturday when the Falcons are home in Brougham Pavilion for the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic. SPU will face Illinois Springfield on Friday at 5 p.m., and Western State of Colorado on Saturday at 5.
 
Alyssa Martin led Oregon State with 16 points. Ali Gibson added 12, and Ruth Hamblin chipped in 10. The Beavers started three players 6 feet or taller (6-4 Patricia Bright, 6-2 ShaKina Edwards-Teasley, and 6-0 Martin) and brought 6-6 freshman Hamblin off the bench.
 
Even so, SPU had a 42-38 rebounding advantage.
 
“They're a very large team. Rebounding was supposed to be a big thing, and we said we definitely have to control the boards,” Falcons coach Julie Heisey said. “For us to come in here and out-rebound this team was really good, especially when they run a lot of zone and a lot of press.”
 
Down just 31-25 at halftime, Seattle Pacific quickly cut that deficit in half when junior Mechela Barnes (Tacoma, Wash. / Bellarmine Prep HS), playing her first game as a Falcon after transferring from the College of Southern Idaho, drained a 3-pointer from the right of the lane.
 
But that was as close as SPU came the rest of the day. The Beavers rang up the next nine points, with Martin getting seven of those, to make it 40-28. The Falcons cut it back to eight at 44-36 with 14:11 to go. Oregon State answered with a 14-0 run in a span of three minutes, getting 12 of those points on treys, to take command for good.
 
The Beavers hit 7 of 8 from downtown in  the second half after going just 1 of 10 from that distance during the first 20 minutes. For the day, Oregon State shot a solid 51.6 percent from the floor (32 of 62). Seattle Pacific hit at a 32.8 percent clip (22 of 67), and 30.4 percent (7 of 23) from behind the arc.
 
“We felt like they had to beat us from outside – I didn't think they were a great 3-point shooting team,” Heisey said. “The second half, they hit seven 3's, and we only had two offensive boards, versus 15 offensive boards in the first half. We had 16 turnovers, and they got 20 points off of those turnovers. So they were getting easy points, and we were having to work for points.”
 
This was the only exhibition game on SPU's schedule. But Heisey clearly liked a lot of what she saw.
 
““I thought we played hard and put together some really solid minutes and got some good experience for all of our players,” she said. “Brooke played a lot of minutes (22 off the bench), and so did Michela (a team-high 33). Rachel did a good job out there, and Katie was super-aggressive on the boards and played strong against some really big players, hit some big shots, and didn't have any turnovers.
 
“Different kids at different times did a good job today.”
  
 
NCAA WOMEN'S EXHIBITION BASKETBALL
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Gill Coliseum / Corvallis, Ore.
 
Oregon State 80, Seattle Pacific 55
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC
Barnes 3-9 2-7 8, Teng 1-1 0-0 2, Ohlsen 3-7 1-2 8, Murray 5-8 0-1 11, Benson 6-18 2-2 15, Bowen 4-11 1-2 11, Pflaumer 0-9 0-0 0, Butler 0-4 0-0 0, Lasconia 0-0 0-0 0, Grager 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-67 4-7 55.
 
OREGON STATE
Martin 7-10 0-0 16, Edwards-Teasley 2-4 3-4 7, Bright 4-6 1-2 9, Gibson 4-8 2-2 12, Schwegler 0-1 0-0 0, Fambro 1-4 0-0 2, Siegner 1-1 2-2 4, Toure 4-8 0-0 9, Weisner 1-7 0-0 2, Hunter 1-4 0-1 3, Hamblin 5-7 0-0 10, Schrock 2-2 0-0 6. Totals 32-62 8-11 80.
 
Seattle Pacific      25           30           -- 55
Oregon State        31           49           -- 80
 
3-point goals – SPU 7-23 (Barnes 2-7, Ohlsen 1-5, Murray 1-2, Benson 1-3, Bowen 2-6), OSU 8-18 (Martin 2-4, Edwards-Teasley 0-1, Gibson 2-4, Schwegler 0-1, Fambro 0-1, Toure 1-1, Weisner 0-2, Hunter 1-2, Schrock 2-2). Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None. Rebounds – SPU 42 (Benson 9), OSU 38 (Hamblin 5). Assists – SPU 14 (Murray 4), OSU 25 (Gibson 6). Turnovers – SPU 16 OSU 10. Attendance – NA.
 
Next game – Illinois Springfield at Seattle Pacific, Friday, Brougham Pavilion, 5:00 p.m.