Box Score
        Box score, play-by-play
 
SEATTLE – Betsy Kingma found her shooting touch again – and the Seattle Pacific Falcons found the women's basketball win column again.
 
Kingma scored a season-high 15 points, Katie Benson recorded a double-double, and Suzanna Ohlsen added 16 points as the Falcons defeated Montana State Billings on Saturday afternoon, 63-57.
 
The result in Brougham Pavilion and in front of a ROOT Sports regional television audience snapped a three-game losing streak for SPU (9-4, 2-3 Great Northwest Athletic Conference).
 
Junior guard Kingma (Bellevue, Wash. / Newport HS) got all 15 of her points behind the 3-point arc. In fact, all seven of her shots were from downtown, as she hit five of them.
 
"Shooting is so much confidence," Kingma said. "It's true: Once you hit one, they all feel a little bit easier."
 




Kingma's previous season high was 13 in a 66-63 victory against UC San Diego on Nov. 22 – a game she won with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
 
None of Saturday's points were quite that dramatic, but all of them were crucial for the Falcons as they took down the preseason GNAC title favorite.
 
"It was nice to hit some shots," Kingma said. "I've been feeling a little frustrated with shots the last couple of weeks and to start the season, so it was nice. My teammates gave me the ball in great situations, and I felt like I was catching more in rhythm tonight."
 
SPU coach Julie Heisey was just as happy as Kingma to see some key shots go through the basket.
 
"Betsy has been doing so well in practice, and she has been doing a lot of things defensively and passing that people haven't seen," Heisey said. "But we needed her to have a big game, and she hit some big 3s for us."
 
Seattle Pacific, which hasn't been away since the first week of December, returns to the road next week, visiting Northwest Nazarene on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time, and Central Washington next Saturday night at 7.
                                
Saturday's double-double for senior forward Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) was her sixth of the season and the 16th of her career. Her 18 points included a stretch of seven in a row for Seattle Pacific late in the game. Her six field goals for the night put her at 500 for her career.
 
Junior guard Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS) handed out five assists to go along with her 16 points.
 
Chelsea Banis led Montana State Billings (10-5, 3-2 GNAC) with 15 on 7-of-11 shooting. Bobbi Knudsen, who came in averaging 16.2 per game, was limited to 12 on just 4 of 16 from the floor.
 
"The key to the win was defense – we did a super job," Heisey said. "We held them to 33 percent shooting (21 of 63), and they're averaging 73 points a game, and they had 57 tonight. Bobbi Knudsen is an amazing player, but we were able to hold her back a little bit to only 4 of 16 from the field. That doesn't happen very often."
 




Seattle Pacific went up 53-46 on a 3-pointer by Kingma with 5:55 left. But the Yellowjackets ran off seven in a row to tie it, getting to 53-53 on a pair of free throws by Knudsen with 3:11 left.
 
Benson answered with a 3-pointer from the left of the lane on a pass from sophomore guard Brianna Lasconia at the 2:45 mark. Billings cut it to one at 56-55 when Banis got her hand on what was almost an SPU steal and put it in just before the shot clock buzzer and 2:18 still on the game clock.
 
Benson made two trips to the foul line in the next minute, hitting all four shots to make it 60-55 at 1:18. The Yellowjackets got seven more shots after that, but the only one that went in was a jumper by Annie DePuydt with 57 seconds left to make it 60-57. A lay-up by Ohlsen at 29 seconds, and a free throw by freshman Hannah Rodrigues with 10.9 left sealed it.
 
The lead changed hands seven times and the score was tied three times during the first half. A Kingma trey with 1:01 left put the Falcons on top, 28-26. That was the score at the break, and SPU never trailed again.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (10-5, 3-2 GNAC)
Janiel Olson 1-9 1-2 4, Kayleen Goggins 0-1 0-0 0, Chelsea Banis 7-11 1-2 15, Bobbi Knudsen 4-16 2-2 12, Annie DePuydt 4-11 0-0 9, Austin Hanser 2-4 2-2 6, Quinn Peoples 3-10 0-0 9, Alisha Breen 0-1 2-2 2, Tenika Capouch 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-63 6-8 57.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-4, 2-3 GNAC)
Hannah Rodrigues 2-4 3-6 8, Katie Benson 6-18 5-7 18, Maddey Pflaumer 0-0 0-0 0, Suzanna Ohlsen 6-17 4-4 16, Betsy Kingma 5-7 0-0 15, Stacey Lukasiewicz 2-2 0-0 4, Brianne Lasconia 1-5 0-0 2, Molly Grager 0-0 0-0 0, Riley Butler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-53 12-17 63.
 
Montana State Billings       26           31           -- 57
Seattle Pacific                      28           35           -- 63
 
3-point goals – MSUB 9-26 (Olson 1-3, Goggins 0-1, Banis 0-1, Knudsen 2-6, DePuydt 1-3, Hanser 2-2, Peoples 3-9, Breen 0-1), SPU 7-16 (Rodrigues 1-3, Benson 1-2, Ohlsen 0-3, Kingma 5-7, Lasconia 0-0). Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None. Rebounds – MSUB 40 (Olson 14), SPU 36 (Benson 10). Assists – MSUB 14 (Knudsen 6), SPU 16 (Ohlsen 5). Turnovers – MSUB 13, SPU 12. A – 216.
 
Next game – Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene, Jan. 16, 6:00 p.m. PST.