• Final Statistics
ELLENSBURG –
Katie Benson pumped in 22 points on Saturday night, but Central Washington drained 12 shots from 3-point range and hung on to beat Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game in Nicholson Pavilion, 80-75.
Sophomore forward Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) came within two points of her career high. She made it a double-double with 10 rebounds, the third double-double of her career, all of which have come this season.
Junior forward
Rachel Murray (Eglington, New South Wales, Australia) added 14 points, and senior guard
Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore.) had 12 for the Falcons (15-8, 9-6 GNAC).
“Katie had a fabulous night tonight, and she needed that,” head coach
Julie Heisey said. “She did a lot of good things to keep us in the game. Rachel was outstanding, and I thought in the first half, we got some good things from our bench.”
“(But) We were tired and flat defensively,” she added. “We had just seven turnovers, which was amazing, but we gave up 18 offensive rebounds. They're very hard to guard, and you have to communicate well. At times, we did a very good, job, but at times, we didn't do that.
The game was tied at 66-66 when Central (7-14, 4-10 GNAC) ran off five straight points to go in front for good. The Falcons closed it to 71-68 on a pair of free throws by Sims with 2:37 to go. But Jessica VanDyke answered with a 3-pointer to make it 74-68 at the 1:32 mark.
For the game on Saturday, Central Washington hit 12 of 30 from long range, while Seattle Pacific managed just 2 of 20.
Sophie Russell had 19 points to lead the Wildcats, who had lost nine straight times to SPU dating back to the 2006-07 season. VanDyke finished with 18. They each hit five of Central's 12 treys. The Wildcats also drained a dozen from downtown on Jan. 10 at Seattle Pacific, but the Falcons pulled away in the second half to win that game, 97-79.
The first half played out almost exactly same way as did Thursday's first 20 minutes at Northwest Nazarene. On Saturday, the Falcons used a 10-0 run to take a 30-17 lead with 5:32 left in the half. Central then went on an 18-4 run to edge in front, 35-34, with half of those points coming from downtown.
But SPU still took a 38-37 lead into the locker room at halftime, thanks in part to some crisp passing (nine assists on 15 baskets) and solid ball handling (just two turnovers).
Thursday night in Nampa, it was the Crusaders who got hot from long range to wipe out a 33-20 SPU lead and take a 41-38 lead at the break on the way to an 81-77 victory.
The Falcons have Thursday off, then return to action next Saturday at Montana State Billings.
“Right now, we have to dig deep and control the things we can control,” Heisey said.
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.
Central Washington 80, Seattle Pacific 75
SEATTLE PACIFIC (15-8, 9-6 GNAC)
Sims 5-12 2-2 12, Murray 7-8 0-0 14, Benson 9-14, 4-5 22, Harazin 3-8 0-0 7, Callen 0-5 0-0 0, Gorman 3-6 3-4 9, Teng 0-0 0-0 0, Ohlsen 1-5 0-0 2, Kingma 2-8 4-5 9, Reimer 0-1 0-0 0, Butler 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-68 13-16 75.
CENTRAL WASHINGTON (7-14, 4-10 GNAC)
VanDyke 6-13, Johnson 2-4 2-2 7, Albrecht 5-9 2-4 12, Dunn 5-14 6-7 16, Russell 6-16 2-4 19, Burke 0-3 0-0 0, Valdez 2-3 1-2 6, Fettig 0-0 0-0 0, Moser 1-3 0-1 2. Totals 27-65 14-22 80.
Seattle Pacific 38 37 -- 75
Central Washington 37 43 -- 80
3-point goals – SPU 2-20 (Sims 0-3, Benson 0-1, Harazin 1-4, Callen 0-4, Gorman 0-2, Ohlsen 0-1, Kingman 1-5), CWU 12-30 (VanDyke 5-11, Johnson 1-1, Dunn 0-2, Russell 5-11, Burke 0-3, Valdez 1-2.
Fouled out – None.
Rebounds – SPU 37 (Benson 10), CWU 42 (Dunn 8).
Assists – SPU 16 (Gorman 5), CWU 16 (Dunn 6).
Turnovers – SPU 7, CWU 10.
Technical fouls – None.
Total fouls –SPU 19, CWU 17.
A – 212.
Records – Seattle Pacific 15-8, 9-6 GNAC. Central Washington 7-14, 4-10 GNAC.
Next game – Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings, Saturday, Feb. 18, 6:00 p.m. PST.
