Box Score
        Box score, play-by-play
 
BILLINGS, Mont. – Down by double digits against a team that hadn't lost on its homecourt all season, the Seattle Pacific Falcons needed good shots, and needed some extra shots on Saturday night.
 
They didn't get very many of either.
 
Bobbi Knudsen scored 21 points, getting 15 of those during the second half, and Montana State Billings dominated the boards to beat SPU in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game, 74-59.
 
Senior forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) and junior guard Suzanna Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS) each had 11 points for Seattle Pacific (14-6, 7-5 GNAC). But the Yellowjackets (18-5, 10-2 GNAC) put the defensive clamps on both through the final 20 minutes, keeping Benson off the board and limiting Ohlsen to just two points.
 
The Falcons had won three straight against Montana State Billings, including a 63-57 decision in Seattle on Jan. 11. The Jackets haven't lost since then, racking up eight consecutive victories overall (seven in GNAC play) and now are 11-0 in Alterowitz Gymnasium. On Saturday, they used a 12-0 first-half scoring run to go in front for good, and led by as many as 22 points late in the game.
 
"We felt like the two big keys coming into the game was to keep Bobbi out of the paint and make sure we controlled both the offensive and defensive rebounds," SPU head coach Julie Heisey said. "The first half, we did a super job on Bobbi (just six points on 2-of-10 shooting), but they had eight offensive rebounds to our two. They were getting second shots. That's how they got the lead."
 
The Falcons play four of their final six games at home in Brougham Pavilion. The first of those is Thursday at 5:15 p.m. against Central Washington. That's the first game of a doubleheader, with the No. 19-ranked Seattle Pacific taking the court against Simon Fraser at 7:30 p.m.
 
Knudson, who managed just 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting in Seattle last month, shook off Saturday's slow start and hit 5 of 7 during the second half, the first two of which were from behind the 3-point arc. Chelsea Banis, MSUB's 6-foot-4 senior transfer from Division I Montana State, added16 points on 6-of-9 shooting. She also had six rebounds, five at the offensive end.                                      
 
Billings had a 42-29 rebounding advantage, including 14-9 at the offensive end. The eight that the Yellowjackets grabbed during the first half led to 11 second-chance points. By game's end, they had a 15-2 advantage on second-chance opportunities, five of those points from Banis.
 
"We have six games left, and we have to realize that no matter what, we have to play defense and we have to rebound on every possession," Heisey said. We didn't do a good job of getting second shots in the second half."
 
Freshman guard / forward Hannah Rodrigues (Eugene, Ore.) led the Falcons with six rebounds. Janiel Olson, the GNAC rebounding leader, had 12 after having collected 14 against at SPU in January.         
 
Sophomore center Molly Grager (Kirkland, Wash. / Juanita HS) scored the opening basket of the second half to bring SPU within six. But Billings answered with six in a row, four of them from Knudsen, to go up 44-32 and kept its lead in double digits the rest of the way.
 
"We felt pretty good to be going into the locker room down by just eight," Heisey said. "In the second half, we broke down. We just didn't have answers to their scoring. When you're not scoring and they are, your defense has to get tougher, and we didn't."

Seattle Pacific shots just 34 percent for the game (21 of 61), while Billings hit 42 percent (28 of 66).
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
 
Montana State Billings 74, Seattle Pacific 59
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (14-6, 7-5 GNAC)
Suzanna Ohlsen 3-10 4-4 11, Betsy Kingma 4-11 0-0 10, Molly Grager 2-4 0-0 4, Hannah Rodrigues 1-4 3-4 6, Katie Benson 4-8 2-5 11, Stacey Lukasiewicz 3-5 0-0 6, Rachel Shim 0-1 0-0 0, Brianne Lasconia 2-9 0-06, Maddey Pflaumer 1-5 1-2 3, Mechela Barnes 0-0 0-0 0, Riley Butler 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 21-61 10-15 59.
 
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (18-5, 10-2 GNAC)
Austin Hanser 1-6 0-0 2, Bobbi Knudsen 7-17 3-4 21, Janiel Olson 2-3 0-0 5, Chelsea Banis 6-9 4-7 16, Kayleen Goggins 5-13 0-0 11, Quinn Peoples 4-9 0-0 10, Alisha Breen 2-6 3-3 7, Brandi Kumm 0-2 0-0 0, Tenika Capouch 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 28-66 10-14 74.
 
Seattle Pacific                      30           29           -- 59
Montana State Billings       38           36           -- 74
 
3-point goals – SPU 7-18 (Ohlsen 1-4, Kingma 2-7, Rodrigues 1-2, Benson 1-2, Lasconia 2-3), MSUB 8-27 (Hanser 0-4, Knudsen 4-8, Olson 1-2, Goggins 1-6, Peoples 2-3, Breen 0-2, Kumm 0-2).  Fouled out – None. Rebounds – SPU 29 (Rodrigues 6), MSUB 42 (Olson 12). Assists – SPU 13 (Ohlsen 3, Kingma 3, Lasconia 3), MSUB 16 (Knudsen 4, Breen 4). Turnovers – SPU 8 MSUB 8. Total fouls – SPU 10, MSUB 10. Technical fouls –None. A – 557.