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ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Get used to it.
 
After needing another gritty, come-from-behind effort to pull out a road victory, Seattle Pacific women's basketball coach Julie Heisey figured that was just about the best advice she could offer to the Falcons.
 
Katie Benson scored 23 points, getting six of those in the last 6:19 while she was playing with four fouls, and SPU survived a back-and-forth battle against Central Washington to beat the Wildcats in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game on Saturday night, 73-65.
 
Betsy Kingma added 12 points, and Suzanna Ohlsen chipped in 11 for the Falcons (11-4, 4-3 GNAC), who won their third straight game. All have been single-digit margins: 63-57 against GNAC preseason favorite Montana State Billings last Saturday in Seattle, and 82-77 at Northwest Nazarene on Thursday night in Nampa, Idaho.
 
"Nothing is going to get easier," Heisey said. "We just have to find a way to continue to focus on the little things and get better. We've gained some momentum, we've won three in a row, so we just have to stay focused."
 
The Falcons also got key contributions from two of their freshmen on Saturday.
 
Hannah Rodrigues (Eugene, Ore.) had nine points and six rebounds, getting two of those points at the free throw line with 13.1 seconds left to give SPU a 71-65 lead. Stacey Lukasiewicz (Centennial, Colo.) tallied five points, effectively clinching it with two free throws at the 2.2 second mark.
 
"Hannah had some huge rebounds tonight, and she and Stacey made big plays," Heisey said. "They did a good job defensively, and they made free throws."
 
The Falcons return to the court next Thursday in Brougham Pavilion against Western Oregon at 7:00 p.m.
 




Seattle Pacific was down 58-56 with 6:19 to play when senior forward Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) came back in with four fouls. She promptly got a putback to tie the game at 58-58, starting a 6-0 run that put the Falcons in front for good.
 
Central Washington got as close as two points twice, the last time at 65-63 with 1:01 to go.
 
But SPU then closed out the game at the free throw line as Ohlsen and Benson each hit a pair, followed Rodrigues and Lukasiewicz.
 
Jasmine Parker came off the bench to lead the Wildcats (6-10, 1-7 GNAC) with 16 points.
 
Down 34-33 at halftime, the Falcons got the first four points to start the final 20 minutes, on a reverse lay-in by Benson an two free throws by Ohlsen to go up 37-34. SPU also got a critical basket from sophomore Brianne Lasconia (Seattle / Shorecrest HS). Her original shot was blocked, but the ball came right back to her, and she swished a trey from the top of the key at the shot clock buzzer for a 45-40 advantage.

They eventually stretched to as many as seven at 54-47, capping a 5-0 run with a 3-pointer by Rodrigues.
 
But Central Washington then went on an 11-2 run to go up 58-56. But then came Benson's putback, two Rodrigues free throws, an a Benson lay-in off a feed from Lukasiewicz.
 
That was the last of the game's eight lead changes. It also was tied nine times.
 
Benson also had nine rebounds as SPU won the boards, 41-37.
 
"We played tough and we played through adversity," Heisey said. "We just found a way to dig deep again, and we played together. From the six-minute mark on (in the second half), I thought we did a super job of moving the ball and making team shots – good back screens, good in-and-outs, an Suzanna did a fabulous job of managing the clock and knowing when time was running out. I'm just really proud of our poise."
 

NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Nicholson Pavilion / Ellensburg, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 73, Central Washington 65
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (11-4, 4-3 GNAC)
Hannah Rodrigues 2-2 4-5 9, Katie Benson 10-16 3-3 23, Molly Grager 1-3 0-0 2, Suzanna Ohlsen 3-13 4-6 11, Betsy Kingma 4-11 2-2 12, Stacey Lukasiewicz 1-4 3-4 5, Rachel Shim 0-1 0-0 0, Brianne Lasconia 4-7 0-0 9, Riley Butler 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 25-50 16-20 73.
 
CENTRAL WASHINGTON (6-10, 1-7 GNAC)
Courtney Johnson 6-12 0-0 14, Ally Schmitt 2-7  4-4 8, Jessica Vandyke 5-11 3-6 14, Melanie Valdez 1-3 0-0 2, Erika Locker 0-3 0-0 0, Mollie Kramer 1-4 0-0 2, Hannah Shine 2-7 2-3 7, Angela Woods 1-4 0-0 2, Jasmine Pasrker 5-12 6-6 16, India Matheson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-63 15-19 65.
 
Seattle Pacific                      33           40           -- 73
Central Washington            34           31           -- 65
 
3-point goals – SPU 5-15 (Rodrigues 1-1, Benson 0-2, Ohlsen 1-3, Kingma 2-5, Lukasiewicz 0-1, Shim 0-1, Lasconia 1-2), SPU 4-19 (Johnson 2-6, VanDyke 1-7, Valdez 0-1, Locker 0-1, Shine 1-2, Woods 0-2). Fouled out – SPU: Butler. CWU: Johnson. Rebounds – SPU 41 (Benson 9), CWU 37 (VanDyke 7). Assists – SPU 12 (Ohlsen 5), CWU 12 (Schmitt 4). Turnovers – SPU 17, CWU 15. Technical fouls – None. Total fouls – SPU 22, CWU 20. A – NA.
 
Next game – Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, Thursday, Jan. 23, Brougham Pavilion, 7:00 p.m.