SEATTLE – Finally on Friday.
 
Ashley Alter and Rachel Berg scored 16 points apiece, and Abril Rexach Roure handed out 10 assists – her second double-digit passing night in the past three games – and Seattle Pacific rallied from a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter to snare a 66-61 women's basketball victory against Northwest Nazarene in Brougham Pavilion.
 
It was the fourth time this season the Falcons (7-4) have begun a Friday-Saturday back-to-back set against the same opponent. In each of the first three, they lost the opener before coming back to win on Saturday.
 
The lone Friday victory they have notched came in the second of a two-game series at Saint Martin's earlier this month – again, after dropping the first game the previous night.
 
"We've been wanting to win on Friday, it has been a problem to win that first game, and we've talked about, 'Hey can we just win that first game?' " said head coach Mike Simonson, whose team now has three straight victories overall. "Now we have a new challenge. We won Friday, now it's responding and winning back-to-back. That makes it exciting going into Saturday."
 




DIGGING DOWN TO COME FROM BEHIND
This one was back and forth all night long, as the lead changed hands 14 times and the score was tied six times.
 
The last of those lead changes came in the fourth quarter, part of a 12-0 run that lifted Seattle Pacific from a 54-47 deficit with 7:34 remaining into a 59-54 lead at the 4:41 mark.
 
Junior forward Natalie Hoff started it with a lay-in off a feed from Alter. A 3-pointer by Berg from the left corner on an assist by Rexach Roure cut it to 54-52, then Alter buried a trey from the left corner on a pass from Hoff with 5:27 left, putting the Falcons back on top, 55-54.
 
They weren't done. Berg drained a 17-footer from the right of the foul line, and Hoff hit a pair of free throws to make it 59-54 with 4:41 to go.
 
Northwest Nazarene (3-6) had one more run left, as Erin Jenkins nailed a 3 from the left corner, and then a lay-in, tying it at 59-59 with 1:49 on the clock.
 
Alter put the Falcons back on top for good at the 1:13 mark, setting up behind the arc from the right of the lane, then letting loose with a shot that barely rippled the net for a 62-59 lead. A scoop lay-in by Berg that banked off the board and into the net as the shot clock buzzer was sounding pushed it to 64-59 at 25.5 seconds.
 
The Nighthawks got one back on a turnaround five-foot banker by Clare Eubanks with 7.9 seconds to go. But freshman forward Beth Pettingill effectively sealed it for SPU with a pair of free throws for 66-61 with 4.3 seconds left
 
From the time they were down 54-47, the Falcons finished the game on a 19-7 scoring run.
 
 

"It doesn't have to be pretty, but it must be gritty – that's what tonight was," Simonson said. "We made a lot of gritty plays, especially in the fourth quarter. They went on a few different runs, but we responded every time. There were times when we could have wavered. But we kept pounding the drum, and next thing you know, we made a play or two, it got us out of a funk, and we responded almost every time."
 
Northwest Nazarene plays a pressing, trapping defense that typically forces teams into a lot of turnovers – an average of 23.9 coming into Friday's game. But the Falcons had just 15, which the Nighthawks converted into 10 points.
 
At the other end, SPU's defense forced 22 turnovers, which led to 24 Falcons points.
 
"Kudos to our poise at both ends of the floor," Simonson said. "On offense, we had great poise, but on defense, we really executed some great things. They were 3 for 17 from 3, and they're a really good 3-point shooting team. So we really did some things that made them miss – and we have to do that again on Saturday."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The Falcons had lost six straight games to NNU. Their last win was by a 71-60 score in the 2017 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament.
--Of SPU's 23 baskets, 17 were assisted – 73.9 percent, to be precise. Along with Abril Rexach Roure's 10, every starter had at least one..
-- Seattle Pacific hit just 39.7 percent from the field for the game (23 of 58), but was at a 41.7 percent clip from downtown (10 of 24). That marked the second straight game and the third one this season with double-digit makes.
-- Northwest Nazarene wound up at 40.7 percent overall (22 of 54).
-- It doesn't happen often, but the Falcons did get out-rebounded on Friday, 36-32. Natalie Hoff led the way with six. That's just the second time in 11 games SPU has had fewer boards than the opponent.
-- The last time the Falcons had a three-game winning streak was Nov. 20-Dec. 1, 2018, coming against Holy Names, Concordia-Portland, and Western Oregon.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons and NNU will finish the two-game series on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in Brougham.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Friday, Feb. 19, 2021
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 66, Northwest Nazarene 61
 
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (3-6()
Thabach 4-6 2-2 10, Jenkins 8-13 0-1 17, Eubanks 4-7 1-1 9, Hanson 2-8 5-5 10, Emerson 0-3 0-0 0, Bohner 0—0 0-0 0, Thurman 4-10 6-6 15, Knishka 0-4 0-0 0, Gall 0-2 0-0 0, Salisbury 0-0 0-0 0, Sampson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 14-15 61.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (7-4)
Boston 3-7 0-0 8, Alter 5-13 3-4 16, Hoff 3-8 3-3 9, Berg 6-12 1-2 16, Rexach Roure 1-4 0-0 2, Mastora 1-6 0-0 2, Pettingill 2-4 3-4 8, Burgess 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 23-58 10-13 66.
 
Northwest Nazarene           16           17           17            11            -- 61
Seattle Pacific                     17           17             9           23           -- 66
 
3-point goals – NNU 3-17 (Thabach 0-1, Jenkins 1-3, Hanson 1-6, Thurman 1-2, Knishka 0-3, Gall 0-2), SPU 10-24 (Boston 2-3, Alter 3-7, Berg 3-7, Rexach Roure 0-3, Mastora 0-1, Pettingill 1-1, Burgess 1-2). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – NNU 36 (Thabach 8), SPU 32 (Hoff 6). Assists – NNU 11 (Knishka 4), SPU 17 (Rexach Roure 10). Turnovers – NNU 22, SPU 15. Total fouls – NNU 17, SPU 14. Technical fouls – None.
 
 
Next game
Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Feb. 20    2:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.