ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Finally.
 
If ever one word could sum it up for Ashley Alter …
 
… that would be the word.
 
Alter poured in 19 points on Saturday afternoon, including Seattle Pacific's first 13 of the fourth quarter, and the Falcon women's basketball team gradually pulled away late to beat Westminster College on the final day of the Central Washington Tournament, 70-60.
 
That outcome in Nicholson Pavilion snapped a four-game losing streak for SPU (3-4), giving the team a split for the weekend after falling 60-55 to Metro State on Friday.
 
For Alter, it was the kind of weekend she has been working for all season – but hadn't yet seen. Through the first five games she hit just 20 of 61 (32.8 percent) from the field and 2 of 18 (11.1 percent) from 3-point range.
 
Over the past two days, she was 12 of 21 (57.1 percent) and 7 of 11 from downtown (63.6 percent). Included in those much higher numbers was a perfect 5-for-5 performance, with 3 of 3 behind the arc, during Saturday's fourth quarter. Against Westminster, she hit 7 of 11 overall, 5 of 6 from long range.
 
"It was nice just to get my groove back and hit the shots when I was open," said Alter, who actually tallied 15 straight SPU points, as she had the last two of the third quarter.. "My teammates did a really good job of finding me and getting the pass out, and I was able to bury the shots down the stretch. It felt good. It was a great team win. We all stepped up at crucial times."
 
 

Redshirt junior point guard Bayley Brennan added 14 points for the Falcons, getting 12 of those from 3-point range during the first half. Senior forward Natalie Hoff tallied 12, the last two of which were a pair of game-clinching free throws to give Seattle Pacific a 10-point lead at 68-58 with just 40.7 seconds left.
 
"To get a win like that in a close game is really good for us going forward. That was a program win," head coach Mike Simonson said. "We've been a good-shooting team in practice, but it just hasn't come through in games. Tonight, we shot it really well (23 of 51 for a season-high 45.1 percent.).
 
A part of that percentage was a season-best 57.9 percent accuracy on 3-balls, as the Falcons nailed 11 of 19. Along with Alter's five makes and Brennan's four were one each from sophomore guard Anna Eddy, who made her first collegiate start, and senior guard Kaprice Boston.
 
"All four of those players were very efficient from the 3-point line – and we needed all of them," Simonson said. "They were huge buckets."
 
Except for the opening moments of the game when Abby Mangum gave Westminster (1-3) a 2-0 lead on a pair of free throws, Seattle Pacific was in front the entire way.
 
The Falcons had a pair of 10-point runs in the first quarter – one to start, one to finish. They twice expanded the lead to 14 in the second quarter, saw Westminster get as close as seven at 33-26. But the the advantage was back in double digits by halftime at 38-26, with Brennan beating the buzzer on a 3-pointer from the right of the lane to close it.
 
Westminster tightened things up in the third, in part by converting eight SPU turnovers into 11 points. It got as close as four at 48-44 on the last of those conversions.
 
Alter started her personal 15-point scoring streak with a 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Falcons at 51-44 edge heading into the fourth. But even as she was making bucket after bucket, Westminster found a way to answer, and the SPU lead was just three at 59-56 with 6:48 still on the clock.
 
The last two of Alter's baskets – a turnaround 15-footer from the right of the basket, then a 3-pointer from the opposite corner – made it an eight-point cushion at 64-56 with 4:03 to go. The Griffins got just one field goal and two last-second free throws the rest of the afternoon.
 
 

MARLOW MAKES IT TOUGH
Westminster's big trio of Ashley Greenwood (16), Sarah McGinley (16), and Abby Mangum (10) combined for 42 points. But those were not easy points, as SPU's defense forced them into a combined 14 of 41 shooting (34.1 percent). Greenwood hit just 5 of 18, thanks in large part to the defensive effort of SPU sophomore Hailey Marlow.
 
"She guarded one of the best players in the country in Greenwood, and she worked her tail off making it hard on her," coach Mike Simonson said.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- For the weekend, the Falcons hit 21 of 48 from behind the arc (43.8 percent). That was 20 percentage points higher than their first five games (23.8 percent / 19 of 80).
-- After those eight turnovers in the third quarter, SPU had none in the fourth and finished the game with just 10.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific begins the Great Northwest Athletic Conference portion of the schedule this coming week at home against Central Washington on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m., and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday the 4th at 2:00 p.m.

 
RECORDS
Seattle Pacific 3-4
Westminster 1-3