Box score, play-by-play
 
SEATTLE – Sometimes, must-win games don't wait until the final week or two of the season. With more than a month to go, the Seattle Pacific women had just such a game on Thursday night in Brougham Pavilion.
 
And they won it.
 
Aubree Callen pumped in 22 points, and Katie Benson added 18 as the Falcons snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Saint Martin's in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest, 71-67.
 
Junior forward Katie Benson added 18 points for SPU (11-7 overall, 5-5 GNAC). Benson and Callen had eight rebounds apiece for the Falcons, and Callen also handed out four assists.
 
Sophomore guard Suzanna Ohlsen had just eight points, but got six of those in less than two minutes – including four during a span of eight seconds – as Seattle Pacific snapped a 56-56 tie with a decisive 8-0 scoring run.
 




“Losing those last four games kind of put us back. But we really came together this week in practice,” said Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS). “We just really had a goal to get as much as we could out of practice and just come to this game with the mindset that, 'We're going to win this – and we absolutely have to.'”
 
Added Falcons coach Julie Heisey, “At halftime, we were ahead again (as they were in two of the four losses), and we talked about wanting to finish. We lost our rhythm for a little while and that hurt us, and they gained rhythm and went on a run. That'swhere we had to find ourselves. Erin Stephens came in and made those two key lay-ups, Katie hit a shot in the key, Suzanna got the steal – that's what we needed was to get that momentum back.
 
“We fought hard, we won, and we needed that win.”
 
Coupled with Alaska Anchorage's 60-52 loss at Simon Fraser, what had been a three-way for fifth place in the GNAC standings is now dissolved. The Falcons, who play host to Western Oregon on Saturday afternoon at 2 in Brougham, are alone in the No. 5 spot, with the Saints and UAA tied for sixth. The top six at the end of the regular season qualify for the conference tournament.
 
Seattle Pacific built a 15-point lead at 44-29 early in the second half. But Saint Martin's (11-9, 4-6 GNAC) climbed back and finally forged a 56-56 tie with 4:28 left – the first deadlock since 7-7 – on a turnaround 3-footer from the right side by Chelsea Haskey, who finished with a game-high 21 points.
 
Ohlsen answered immediately for SPU, hitting a 15-footer from the right of the lane for at 58-56 edge at the 4:03 mark. That started the 8-0 Falcons run. A putback by Benson made it 60-56 at 3:09.
 
Ohlsen drained a 10-footer from the right side to make it 62-56 with 2:26 showing, then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and laid it in. Just like that, it was 64-56 at 2:17. Saint Martin's, which beat SPU by a 70-66 margin on Jan. 5 in Lacey, never got closer than four the rest of the way.
 
“To give them credit, they run that match-up zone, and it's hard, it takes you out of your rhythm,” Heisey said. “They shot 50 percent from 3-point range (8 of 16), and they just nailed stuff.
 
“But it was our determination and finding ways to execute. Aubree found people, and we worked together – that was the big thing. We kept finding shots as a team and made shots as a team.”
 
Haskey, who got 19 of her points after the break, made it a double-double with 11 rebounds.


NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday January 31, 2013
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 71, Saint Martin's 67
 
SAINT MARTIN'S (11-8, 4-6 GNAC)
Haskey 9-13 2-3 21, Richardson 2-6 0-0 6, Taylor 5-13 0-0 12, Ferguson 0-1 0-0 0, Wilson 1-5 0-1 2, Skorpik 4-8 0-1 10, Stabler 4-7 1-2 10, Gelhar 1-5 0-0 2, Kosko 1-1 0-0 2, Pedroni 0-2 0-0 0, Wiedeman 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 27-63 5-9 67.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (11-7, 5-5 GNAC)
Bensonn 6-9 4-6 18, Teng 2-4 3-4 7, Ohlsen 4-11 0-0 8, Callen 6-10 6-8 22, Murray 1-4 2-2 4, Pflaumer 2-4 1-2 5, Barnes 1-4 0-0 3, Stephens 2-3 0-0 4, Butler 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 16-22 71.
 
Saint Martin's      26           41           -- 67
Seattle Pacific     36           35           -- 71
 
3-point goals – StM 8-16 (Haskey 1-1, Richardson 2-6, Taylor 2-2, Skorpik 2-5, Stabler 1-1, Gelhar 0-1), SPU 7-17 (Benson 2-2, Teng 0-1, Ohlsen 0-5, Callen 4-5, Murray 0-2, Barnes 1-2). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – StM 37 (Haskey 11), SPU 35 (Benson 8, Callen 8). Assists – StM 12 (Skorpik 5), SPU 14 (Callen 4). Turnovers – StM 14, SPU 15. Total fouls – StM 14, SPU 11. Technical fouls – StM: Coach Healy. Attendance – 201.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 11-8, 5-5 GNAC. Saint Martin's 11-9, 4-6 GNAC.
 
Next game – Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, Saturday, Brougham Pavilion, 2:00 p.m.