Box Score
       Box score, play-by-play
 
SEATTLE – Can't score without shooting. On Thursday night, the Seattle Pacific Falcons did all they could to keep Central Washington from getting any kind of a good shot.
 
Katie Benson poured in 20 points, 14 of those during the first half, and Suzanna Ohlsen added 13, all in the second half, leading SPU past the Wildcats in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game in Brougham Pavilion, 68-47.
 
Sophomore center Maddey Pflaumer (Issaquah, Wash. / Issaquah HS) tied her career high with 10 rebounds for the Falcons (15-6, 8-5 GNAC). Her first double-digit game on the boards came against Point Loma Nazarene in November.

Sophomore guard Brianne Lasconia (Seattle / Shorecrest HS) came within one point of her career high, finishing with 14.
 
SPU limited Central to just 40 shots for the game – 18 in the first half, 22 in the second. Of those, just 14 went in for a 35 percent accuracy rate.The only team that got off fewer shots than that this season was Montana Tech (38 on Nov. 15, as SPU rolled, 65-46).
 
"Defense was huge, and it starts with Suzanna," head coach Julie Heisey said. "She did a great job of picking up early, and Brianne (Lasconia) did a good job. They set the tone, and everybody else did a great job of creating pressure and not giving easy ball reversals. Our challenge at halftime was to make sure we played just as good of defense in the second half."
 




The Falcons did that, as Central (6-17, 1-13 GNAC) hit just 27 percent (6 of 22) after going 44 percent (8 of 18) through the opening 20 minutes.
 
"This week (in practice), we really had focus on controlling what we could control defensively – ball pressure, not allowing penetration, bumping the cutter, and help-side defense," said Pflaumer, whose four points pushed her past 200 for her career (202). "In the second half, we took away their tendencies and didn't let them get anything easy."
 
Seattle Pacific, which started the night in sixth place, is now in a three-way for fourth in the GNAC at 8-5 with Alaska Anchorage (idle) and Saint Martin's (which lost at Western Washington, 69-52). Northwest Nazarene, after falling 90-72 at Montana State Billings on Thursday, visits Brougham Pavilion on Saturday at 5:15 p.m.
 
SPU had a 12-point lead early in the second half at 34-20 before Central ran off eight straight – six of those on consecutive 3-pointers by Courtney Johnson – to get back into the game.
 
The Falcons responded with an even bigger scoring run – 11-0 – to take their biggest lead of the night at 45-28 with 11:02 left. The Wildcats never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.
 
Senior forward Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) scored SPU's first six points of the game, and finished at 8 of 12 from the floor. She also collected eight rebounds to push past 700 for her career (704). Her 20 points pushed her to 1,538 for her career, just seven away from moving into No. 6 on the all-time school scoring list.
 
After shooting just 38 percent through the first half, Seattle Pacific warmed up to 50 percent (16 of 32) in the second half and finished at 44.4 percent (28 of 63).
 
Johnson led Central Washington with 12 points. The Wildcats lost the services of leading scorer Jessica VanDyke (14.8 points) when she went out with an injury less than four minutes into the game and did not return the rest of the night.
 
The Falcons came up with 13 steals on Thursday, tying their second-highest total of the season. Ohlsen swiped the ball a season-high five times. SPU also kept their turnovers to single digits for the second straight game with eight.
  
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 68, Central Washington 47
 
CENTRAL WASHINGTON (6-17, 1-13 GNAC)
Courtney Johnson 3-6 3-4 12, Amber Moser 2-6 3-7 7, Jasmine Parker 4-4 0-0 8, Ally Schmitt 0-2 0-0 0, Jessica Van Dyke 0-0 0-0 0, Daisy Burke 1-5 0-0 2, Mollie Kramer 1-2 0-0 3, Hannah Shine 0-3 0-4 0, Melanie Valdez 1-3 1-4 3, Erika Locker 1-5 6-7 8, Angela Woods 0-1 0-0 0,India Matheson 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 14-40 15-28 47.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (15-6, 8-5 GNAC)
Hannah Rodrigues 1-5 0-0 2, Katie Benson 9-12 2-2 20, Maddey Pflaumer 2-4 0-2 4, Suzanna Ohlsen 6-16 0-0 13, Betsy Kingma 2-9 0-0 5, Stacey Lukasiewicz 2-5 0-0 4, Rachel Shim 0-1 2-2 2, Caitlin Heinly 0-1 0-0 0, Brianne Lasconia 6-7 2-3 14, Molly Grager 1-1 0-0 2, Mechela Barnes 0-0 0-0 0, Riley Butler 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 28-63 8-11 68.
 
Central Washington            19           28           -- 47
Seattle Pacific                      27           41           -- 68
 
3-point goals – CWU 4-13 (Johnson 3-5, Burke 0-2, Kramer 1-2, Locker 0-1, Woods 0-1), SPU 4-13 (Rodrigues 0-1, Benson 2-2, Ohlsen 1-4, Kingma 1-4, Lukasiewicz 0-1, Heinly 0-1). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – CWU 35 (Moser 7), SPU 37 (Pflaumer 10). Assists – CWU 8 (Burke 3), SPU 17 (Rodrigues 4). Turnovers – CWU 19, SPU 8. Total fouls – CWU 15, SPU 21. Technical fouls – None. A –  223.
 
Next game – Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific, Saturday, Brougham Pavilion, 5:15 p.m.