Box Score

SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons waited a long time between basketball games.
 
Hunter Beirne waited even longer.
 
 

Beirne made her college debut with 17 points, and Ashley Alter chipped in 12 points on Monday as the Falcon women opened their season with a 56-51 victory against Pacific Lutheran in Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Falcons played a game for the first time since last Feb. 29 – a stretch of 317 days. The start of the current campaign was delayed from its usual November calendar spot because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
 
"I do believe we were very nervous to play a game – it has been a long time, and we were extremely excited to get on the court," said head coach Mike Simonson, who is beginning his third season at the helm. "I kind of felt like we had to keep shaking the cobwebs off, and it felt like multiple times when I thought we were going to get over the hump. Unfortunately, we kind of never did in regard to our nerves.
 
 

"But defense wins championships, and we take a lot pride in that," Simonson added. "We held them to 51 points and 34 percent shooting from the field (17 of 50), and that's pretty darn good. We're excited about that defensive number."
 
Beirne, a redshirt freshman from nearby Mukilteo, hit her first seven shots and wound up with a 7-for-8 night. Prior to Monday, her last game had been in 2018 as a junior at Mukilteo's Kamiak High School. She missed her senior year with a knee injury, then redshirted last year at SPU.
 
"It was so fun – I had a great time," Beirne said of her return to action. "It just felt so good to knock (shots) down and start to get into a little bit of a rhythm. … My redshirt year felt like great preparation for this year. I just felt so comfortable coming in and so grateful for the support from my coaches and teammates."
 
Simonson liked what he saw.
 
"Hunter was extremely efficient," he said. "One thing I'm so proud of for her is she took good shots and she made those shots. One thing we talk about is to make the shots we should make. If she didn't do that, we would have been in some trouble. We're lucky she had the game that she had."
 
BIG LEADS? NOT IN THIS ONE
Neither team ever built a double-digit advantage. The Falcons (1-0) were up by as many as nine at 55-46 late in the game, and the Lutes (0-1) had a five-point lead at 21-16 midway through the second quarter.
 
A 5-0 scoring run lifted SPU back into a 21-21 tie, as junior guard Rachel Berg hit a lay-in, and Beirne buried a 3-pointer – the team's only trey of the night.
 
The Lutes went back on top one more time at 23-21, then Seattle Pacific closed the half with six straight points: a putback by senior forward Ashlynn Burgess, a lay-in by senior point guard Abril Rexach Roure off a feed from Beirne, and a pair of free throws by Kayla Brundidge for a 27-23 halftime lead.
 
Alter extended that surge to 10 straight points with back-to-back baskets opening the second half. But the Lutes were always within range, getting as close as two twice early in the fourth quarter, the last time at 45-43 with 8:10 still remaining. The Falcons responded with six straight points, extending the lead back to eight.
 
"One thing I'm very excited about is now we can see us (on film) against a different opponent. We can see the defensive reads and the offensive reads and see how we performed," Simonson said. "We haven't had that for nine months, so I'm glad there's going to be a lot of stuff we can learn from.


BY THE NUMBERS
-- Alter, a junior, had an overall solid stat line that included five rebounds, three assists, and three steals to go along with her dozen points in 26 minutes.
--The Falcons shot 42 percent for the game, hitting 20 of 47. Most of those shots (39) were from medium or short range, as they fired just eight times from downtown.
--Their focus on taking it to the hoop wound up getting them to the free throw line 26 times, draining 15
-- PLU, on the other hand, shot 32 times from behind the arc (hitting nine), but just 14 free throws (hitting eight).
-- Junior forward Natalie Hoff grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, with three of those at the offensive end.
-- Rachel Berg finished with five assists.
-- Senior forward Kaprice Boston played just two games last year – the first two of the season – totaling 24 minutes before missing the rest of the year with an injury. On Monday, she started and got 24 minutes, grabbing six boards and blocking two shots.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific returns to action with a weekend home-and-home series against Saint Martin's. The Saints come to town on Friday at 6:00 p.m., and the Falcons visit Marcus Pavilion in Lacey on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.


NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Monday, Jan. 11, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 56, Pacific Lutheran 51
 
PACIIFIC LUTHERAN (0-1)
Janousek 3-9 6-12 12, Thibert 1-4 2-2 4, Marsh 1-7 0-0 3, Edmonds 6-10 0-0 16, Drake 2-10 0-0 5, Lambert 1-3 0-0 3, Gallaher 2-4 0-0 6, Mosier 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 17-50 8-14 51.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (1-0)
Berg 1-4 0-0 2, Rexach Roure 2-6 0-2 4, Boston 1-6 0-2 2, Alter 4-10 4-6 12, Hoff 1-5 0-0 4, Beirne 7-8 2-6 17, Brundidge 2-4 4-4 8, Pettingill 1-2 0-0 2, Burgess 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 20-47 15-26 56.
 
Pacific Lutheran                 13           10           16           12           -- 51
Seattle Pacific                     14           13           16           13           -- 56
 
3-point goals – PLU 9-32 (Janousek 0-4, Thibert 0-2, Marsh 1-5, Edmonds 4-6, Drake 1-7, Lambert 1-3, Gallaher 2-4, Mosier 0-1), SPU 1-8 (Berg 0-2, Rexach Roure 0-1, Boston 0-1, Alter 0-1, Beirne 1-2, Pettingill 0-1). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – PLU 20 (Janousek 4, Drake 4), SPU 42 (Hoff 7). Assists – PLU 12 (Janousek 5), SPU 12 (Berg 5). Turnovers – PLU 23, SPU 27. Total fouls – PLU 18, SPU 22. Technical fouls – None.
 
 
Next game
Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific
Friday, Jan. 15  / 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion