TURLOCK, Calif. – A big boost from the bench wasn't quite big enough for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
 

Junior point guard Bayley Brennan scored 12 points in a reserve role, with nine of those from behind the arc, and freshman center Schuyler Berry added a career-high 11, all during the third quarter, but Stanislaus State hung on for a 57-55 non-conference women's basketball victory on Thursday night.
 
The game inside Fitzpatrick Arena was never farther apart than the seven-point lead that the Warriors had at 52-45 with 5:06 left in the game.
 
SPU (4-6) outscored Stanislaus (8-1) by a 10-5 margin the rest of the way, and got as close as two at 52-50 on a Brennan 3-pointer way out on the left elbow with 3:34 left, but never could fully close the gap.
 
 

"Schuyler gave us a great lift in the third quarter. She was very efficient, and we needed her," head coach Mike Simonson said. "I thought we were going to get over the hump when she made a few good shots. However, a couple things didn't go our way. The ball bounces one way, the whistle blows another time – it just kind of killed some momentum."
 
The Warriors, who have won eight straight and share the California Collegiate Athletic Association lead with Cal State East Bay (both are 3-0 in conference play) led most of the way after making a 12-0 first-quarter scoring run. That surge turned a 7-1 deficit into a 13-7 lead as Seattle Pacific went scoreless for five minutes
 
But the Falcons climbed back in, racking up seven straight point at the outset of the second quarter to take their last lead of the night at 20-18 on a turnaround shot from the right of the hoop by Natalie Hoff with 3:43 to go before halftime.
 
Stanislaus took a 25-23 lead into the locker room. SPU tied it one more time at 28-28 on a 15-footer from the right of the lane by Ashley Alter with 6:59 left in the third. The Warriors got back-to-back 3-pointers, the first one by Kyanna Davis, who finished with 23 points (18 in the second half), and the second one by Joia Armstrong, to go up 34-28
 
Down 55-52, the Falcons had a chance to tie the game inside the final half minute. Brennan got herself wide open for a good look at a 3-pointer from almost the exact same spot on the left elbow as her previous make three minutes earlier. But this time, the ball bounced off the back of the rim with 12 seconds left.
 
SPU was forced to foul, and Taylor Pilot put the game out of reach on a pair of free throws for a 57-52 lead with 3.9 seconds remaining. Brennan's 3-pointer at the buzzer produced the final margin.
 
For the game, Stanislaus buried 15 of 21 free throws. The Falcons were 8 of 14.
 
"A big part of the game plan was to keep them off the free throw line," Simonson said. "Kudos to them – they did a good job of getting to the line. We were trying not to foul them, but we still did, and that's mostly because they do a great job of getting to places where fouls occur."
 
BUZZER-BEATER BASKETS
In a game this close, it's easy to point at any made shot as a big one – and Stanislaus State made three of them. The first was a scoop shot oft the backboard by Kyanna Davis just before the buzzer to end the first half, giving the Warriors a 25-23 lead. Then, with the third quarter about to expire, Davis was fouled on a shot, and hit 1 of 2 free throws with three-tenths of a second left to provide a 43-41 lead going into the fourth.
 
"End-of-quarter, end-of-half situations … we've been pretty good in those areas this year, better than in years past," Simonson said. "Those feel almost like four-point swings when they happen at the end of a quarter. We need to clean those up for Saturday."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Schuyler Berry's 11 points marked her first college game in double digits, as she hit 4 of 7 from the floor. Her previous high was four in the season-opener against Corban on Nov. 12.
-- Berry made it a double career high with five rebounds. Her previous best was two, which she had three times.
-- SPU's reserves produced 34 of the team's 55 points, and 15 of the 41 rebounds.
-- The Falcons had a decided advantage on the boards, 41-32. Natalie Hoff hauled down a team-high eight.
-- Seattle Pacific drained four more field goals (21 of 52) than Stanislaus (17 of 54) and shot nine points better (40.4 to 31.5).
-- This is the third time SPU has kept a team below 60 points – and Stan State's 57 was its lowest total of the season.
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific winds up its two-game California road trip at Cal State East Bay on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. That also will be its final non-conference game against a West Region opponent. "East Bay will be similar to Stanislaus State, which is a good thing because we're used to that style of game," Simonson said. "They're a really hard-nosed defensive team, and they're gritty on offense, so we have to be ready for it going into Saturday."


RECORDS
Seattle Pacific 4-6
Stanislaus State 8-1