HAYWARD, Calif. – They had the shots they wanted. Near the hoop. Behind the 3-point arc. At the free throw line.
 
But not enough of those good looks yielded good results on Saturday afternoon.
 
Down by 10 points early in the fourth quarter, Seattle Pacific cut that deficit all the way down to one with a 15-7 scoring run before the clock finally ran out as Cal State East Bay hung on for a 57-55 non-conference women's basketball victory in Pioneer Gymnasium.
 
The scenario, the comeback – even the final score – were similar to Thursday night in Turlock, when the Falcons took Stanislaus State down to the wire in a 57-55 defeat.
 
"Wide-open 3s at our level are high-percentage shots. Wide-open lay-ups are high percentage shots, and we came out and missed those," head coach Mike Simonson said. "We talked about it after the Stanislaus loss: We make two more 3s, two more lay-ups, two more free throws – that's 12 more points, and then we're talking about really being in control down the homestretch. Unfortunately, we didn't do that."
 
Sophomore forward Beth Pettingill, who grew up 125 miles away from here in Folsom, came off the bench to lead Seattle Pacific (4-7) with 15 points, tying her career high that she set on Nov. 13 against Humboldt State. Senior guard / forward Ashley Alter added 10.
 
After a solid start in the first quarter when they hit 57 percent from the field (8 of 14), the Falcons shot just 33 percent the rest of the way (14 of 40), finishing the game at 39.1 percent (22 of 56). That included 4 of 13 (30.8 percent from downtown). SPU got to the foul line 12 times during the second half, but hit just six, and wound up the game 7 of 13.
 
 

"I was really pleased that we got to the line as much as we did in the second half, because we've been struggling to get to the line,"  Simonson said. "Those missed free throws were extremely costly. Our margin for error is very slim. So missing lay-ups, missing open 3s, missing free throws – we cannot let that happen.
 
Cal State East Bay (8-1), which shares the California Collegiate Athletic Association lead with Stanislaus State and now has won seven straight games, put together a six-point run in the second quarter while keeping the Falcons scoreless for the first 5:08 of that period. That helped the Pioneers turn an 18-15 deficit into a 21-18 lead.
 
Pettingill finally ended an 0-for-6 SPU dry spell by nailing a 3-pointer to tie it at 21-21 with 4:52 left before halftime. East Bay eventually took a 28-25 lead into the break.
 
The Pioneers pushed the advantage out to 10 points twice during the third quarter, the last time at 40-30. Seattle Pacific responded with an 8-1 run, Pettingill supplying five of those points on a 15-footer from the left corner that bounced off every part of the rim before dropping through, and a 3-pointer from the top of the key. That brought the Falcons within 41-38.
 
A seven-point East Bay spurt bridging the third and fourth quarters produced another 10-point advantage at 48-38, and it was still 10 at 50-40 with 9:08 left in the game. Then, down by eight at 54-46 with 4:29 on the clock, the Falcons rang up seven straight points, the last two of which came on a putback by Alter with 12.3 seconds left to get them within 54-53.
 
With Seattle Pacific forced to foul, Zhane Duckett wound up on the line for the Pioneers with 8.7 seconds to go and hit both to make it 56-53. The Falcons were out of timeouts, so brought the ball downcourt looking for a 3. They couldn't find one, so settled for Pettingill's jumper from the left of the foul line with one second left, making it 56-55.
 
Duckett hit one more free throw with half a second showing for 57-55. On the ensuing inbounds pass, there was barely enough time even to fling up a three-quarter court prayer before the buzzer sounded.

"They made a good run at the beginning of the fourth, and we could have just withered," Simonson said. "But instead, we strengthened and put ourselves in position where we could have tied the game."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Along with tying her career high of 15 points, Beth Pettingill grabbed a career high nine rebounds (previous high six) and tied career highs of three assists and two steals. "I was hoping and praying for someone to be a spark today, and Beth had an amazing game for us," coach Mike Simonson said. "Being from the Northern California area, this was a great game for her. She filled the stat sheet up, and we needed that. Plus during timeouts, she was giving us encouraging energy, and people fed off that."
-- The Falcons wound up with more field goals (22-20), more rebounds (36-34) and more assists (16-9). But Cal State East Bay hit three more free throws (10-7) and had three more makes from downtown (7-4).
-- SPU's rebounding edge came despite not having starting forward Natalie Hoff, who averages a team-high 7.2 per game, along with 10.6 points. She was not feeling well and did not suit up.
-- East Bay (3-0), Stanislaus State (3-0) and Humboldt State (2-0) are the top three teams in the CCAA standings. The Falcons played all three and kept all three below 60 points: 52 for Humboldt, 57 each for Stan State and East Bay.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific wraps up non-conference play on Saturday, Dec. 18, at home against Puget Sound. Tip-off in Brougham Pavilion is at 2:00 p.m.
 
 
RECORDS
Seattle Pacific 4-7
Cal State East Bay 8-1